Darfur Timeline

Early Warning and reporting on the Crisis in Darfur:

3 February 1997: the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, Gaspar Biro, warned of serious intertribal clashes in West Darfur between the Rizeighat, Missirya and other Arab nomadic tribes, on the one hand, and the Zaghawa and Masalit tribes on the other.

March 2004: UN coordinator Mukesh Kapila called Darfur “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” and compared it to Rwanda

5 October 2005: the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Juan Mendez, warned of the alarming security situation in Darfur, as well as the lack of accountability. He recommended that the Security Council and the AU elaborate a strategy to neutralize the Janjaweed in the absence of GoS cooperation.

October and November 2006: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour released two reports condemning government support for attacks carried out on civilian populations in Darfur. The attacks clearly took place with Government blessing and tangible backing, such as the support of the Sudanese armed forces in the form of vehicles and weapons.

The Humanitarian Situation:

January 2005: The UN International Commission of Inquiry estimated 700-2000 villages in Darfur were destroyed. It determined that the Government of Sudan (GoS) and its Janjaweed militia were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the Commission could not find evidence of a policy of genocide.

April 2005: The Coalition for International Justice, working with researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Toronto, announced that the death toll in Darfur could be as high as 400,000, with an estimated 140,000 killed as a direct result of Janjaweed and GoS attacks, and 250,000 deaths from disease, starvation and other causes.

March 2006: UNHCR cut 44% of its operations in Darfur because of heightened security risks.

October – December 2006: The World Food Programme reported that it could not reach as many as 350,000 people in August 2006, with dire consequences for the conflict-affected population. The Norwegian Refugee Council, whose operations had been repeatedly suspended by the GoS, closed down its relief operations in Darfur, a move that affected 300,000 IDPs. Oxfam International warned that a third of Darfur’s conflict-affected population was out of bounds to aid agencies. More than three years into the conflict in Darfur, two million people have had to flee their homes to live in IDP camps in Darfur and 200,000 refugees from Darfur live in camps in neighbouring Chad.

17 January 2007: Fourteen UN agencies operating in Darfur warned that unless the security situation improved, they would no longer be able to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need. In a statement, they explained: “Access to people in need in December 2006 was the worst since April 2004 … In the last six months alone, more than 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting, many of them fleeing for the second or third time”.

June 2007: Oxfam pulled out of Gereida - the largest refugee camp in Darfur in order to protect their staff as they increasingly had become the targets for violence.

8 October 2007: OCHA reported an estimated 160,000 newly displaced people since January 2007. The number of civilian IDPs in Darfur rose to 2.2 million.  Nearly two-thirds of Darfur's population, 4.2 million people were now thought to be dependent on relief aid.

February 2008: Government perpetrated violence against civilians in Darfur dramatically increased, reminiscent of the scale of violence seen in 2003 and 2004. In west Darfur a new GoS bombing campaign forced 13,000 Sudanese to flee into remote parts of the southern border of neighbouring Chad.  By the end of February the UNHCR estimated that there were 3,000 new Sudanese refugees.  The west Darfur region was rendered practically empty, with only around 20,000 inhabitants.

March 2008: The UNHCR had to relocate Chadian camps further inland into Chad as the camps on the border were subject to intense cross-border violence.

28 March 2008: Former U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland announced that he estimates that tens of thousands more people have died in Darfur since he made his first estimate of 200,000 dead in 2006.  He suggested that 400,000 dead is closer to the truth, especially in light of the recent upsurge in violence.

March 2009: Thirteen international NGOs were expelled from the Darfur region by the Government of Sudan as well as three national NGOs leaving huge gaps in humanitarian aid.

October 2010: Clashes between the Government and the Sudan Liberation Army–Abdul Wahid Faction (SLA-AW) in eastern Jebel Marra led to the displacement of up to 40,000 people.  The total number of displaced Darfuris reached approximately 106,715 for 2010 alone. 

December 2010: There was an upsurge in fighting in Darfur as the ceasefire between the SLA and the government broke down, followed by the end of the peace talks in Doha. According to the United Nations, the violence in December alone caused 40,000 people to flee their homes. Many took refuge near African Union/United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) bases in Khor Abeche, Shearia, and Shangil Tobayi.

According to OCHA, there were 2,321 people violently killed in Darfur in 2010.

February 2011: Sudanese authorities expelled Medecins du Monde from South Darfur after accusing them of spying on the government and helping rebels.  Medecins du Monde, a humanitarian organisation, was one of the last aid groups working in the central Jabel Marra region.

May 2011: Airstrikes on Darfuri villages by Government of Sudan forces continue.

There has been little UN response to the humanitarian situation in Darfur.  Instead, Khartoum has been praised for its handling of the referendum on the independence of South Sudan.

International Response

Throughout 2005 and 2006, UN independent human rights experts warned of the deteriorating human rights situation in Sudan as a whole, and Darfur in particular. The reports condemned the Government of Sudan’s ruthless and disproportionate attacks on civilians in Darfur, its continued support for the Janjaweed militia, its reluctance to prosecute the perpetrators of human rights abuses – especially the security services, and the dramatic increase in sexual violence and rape. The experts also condemned the lack of efforts on the Government’s side to fully implement both the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Darfur Peace Agreement.

June 2004: US Congress described Darfur as ‘genocide’.

30 July 2004: UN Security Council Resolution 1556 demanded that the Government of Sudan disarm the Janjaweed and bring them to justice, and called for unobstructed humanitarian access, all within 30 days.

September 2004: The European Parliament declared that the actions of the Sudanese Government in Darfur were ‘tantamount to genocide’. By including the qualifier that Khartoum’s actions were virtually genocide, the EU puts itself on the record as deploring the crimes, yet avoided the contractual obligation under the UN Genocide Convention to act.

March 2005: The House of Commons International Development Select Committee took the unusual step of reprimanding DFID Secretary of State Hilary Benn for downplaying the scale of the disaster in Darfur.

September 2006: At a UN General Assembly Meeting in New York, George W. Bush declared that "if the Sudanese government does not approve this peacekeeping force quickly, the United Nations must act".

13 December 2006: In the Financial Times, Tony Blair declared his support for a no-fly zone in Darfur and called for “tougher action”. He warned that “If rapid progress is not made, we will need to consider alternative approaches, with international partners”.

February 2007: The International Criminal Court (ICC) completed its first case on Darfur as it appealed to the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue summonses (not mandated warrants) for two Sudanese individuals wanted for wars crimes: Ahmad Haroun - a Sudanese Government Minister involved in the Government of Sudan’s initial Darfur policy in 2003 where the Janjaweed militias began attacking Darfuri civilians, and Ali Kushyb - a prominent leader of the Janjaweed.

May 2007: President Bush announced further economic sanctions as well as support for the UNAMID peacekeeping force.

31 July 2007: UN Resolution 1769 is approved by the UN Security Council authorising the 26,000 AU-UN hybrid force (UNAMID). UNAMID’s deployment garnered consensual cooperation by the Sudanese Government and is intended to take over the AU peacekeeping mission (AMIS) which has been operating in Darfur since 2004.

May 2007: President Bush announced further economic sanctions as well as support for the UNAMID peacekeeping force.  Bush also ordered the US Department of Treasury to block the assets of three influential Sudanese individuals accused of taking part in Sudan’s genocidal campaign, including sanctioning 31 companies owned or controlled by the GoS.

13 April 2008: On the Global Day for Darfur, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that Britain would be willing to hold peace talks in order to end the conflict in Darfur. "Britain is willing to invite all parties to London for talks to see if there is a way to make some progress." Brown stated that he was frustrated at the "appalling situation and the slow progress" in brokering peace talks.  He promised to raise the issues of deploying peacekeepers in Darfur during talks with US President Bush and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to America in mid-April.

4 March 2009: The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur – its first action against a sitting head of state.

Al-Bashir expels 13 international aid organisations accusing them of working with the ICC on the arrest warrant. Three local groups are also shut down.

February 2010: The Appeals chamber of the ICC directs judges to rethink their decision to omit genocide from the warrant out for al-Bashir's arrest.

June 2010: The ICC issues an arrest warrant for al-Bashir for three counts of genocide.

January 2011: The UN Security Council (UNSC) showed the special joint representative of UNAMID Ibrahim Gambari its displeasure for failing to discharge the force’s mandate in Darfur effectively. U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice stated that the United States’ view and the view of many members of the Council ... “is that we expect UNAMID, as one of the UN’s largest and most costly operations, with one of the most robust mandates passed by this Council, to be very active and, when necessary, aggressive, in fulfilling its mandate to protect civilians.  We have been frustrated and dismayed by repeated instances of UNAMID being denied access in its freedom of movement restricted.”

June 2011: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, reported to the UN Security Council that “crimes against humanity and genocide continue unabated in Darfur”. The Government of Sudan has denied the allegation of genocide. According to Ocampo, however, the government targets specific ethnic groups including civilian populations. He said that “most of the Fur, Zaghawa and Massalit now live in IDP camps. These millions of victims displaced are still subjected today to rapes, terror and conditions of life aimed at the destruction of their communities, constituting genocide.” The Prosecutor also stressed that the Government of Sudan was actively trying to suppress information about rape cases. He said that victims of sexual and gender based violence report cases less frequently because “they know they will suffer retaliation for doing so.”

The international community’s response to the violence in Darfur has been lacking in the past 18 months with focus directed towards South Sudan and the referendum.  Despite President Obama’s pre-election pledges, his government has made little effort to highlight the plight of Darfuris.