Social Science Research Council

The year 2009 and early months of 2010 witnessed consistent trends by some analysts and beneficiaries to describe the Darfur problem as a “low-intensity conflict” or a war that is already “over.” This is false: the war is not over. The former UNAMID Joint Special Representative Rodolph Adada used the term ‘Low-intensity conflict,” while briefing [...]

May 2010 saw the largest number of recorded violent fatalities in Darfur since the arrival of UNAMID in January 2008. According to the figures compiled by the Joint Mission Analysis Centre (JMAC), there were 491 confirmed fatalities and 108 unconfirmed but very probable fatalities during the month, about five times higher than the average for [...]

Hundreds of civilians are feared killed in Jebel Marra, and tens of thousands thought to be displaced without relief within the mountain, as government forces besiege the stronghold of the absentee SLA Chairman, Abdul Wahid Mohamed al Nur, after a month-long land and air offensive. The little information that is coming out is sporadic and [...]

A new publication by the Small Arms Survey, “Supply and Demand: Arms flows and holdings in Sudan,” provides the most up-to-date assessments of the military capacities of Sudan’s contending parties. The briefing documents the ongoing supplies of weaponry to the governments in Khartoum and Juba. Among the major supplies to the Sudan Government are Belarus, [...]

This article emerges from an assignment which the author completed for Dr. Jo L. Husbands-Rosenberg at Georgetown University in Spring 2009. Using only open-source material — whatever could be obtained with a library card and the World Wide Web — students were asked to profile the commercial defense habits of a particular state actor. What [...]

The AUPD Report includes an Appendix that compiles the existing data for violent fatalities in Darfur from 1 January 2008 until 31 July 2009. As many people have not read that part of the report (pages 107-115), it is excerpted and reproduced here: AUPD Annex B fatalities in Darfur Some assistance may be helpful in [...]

The advent of the Thuraya phone has radically changed warfare in across the Sahara desert, as illustrated in the case of Darfur. Twenty five years ago, I remember travelling across Darfur with no phone lines, with telecommunication possible only through ageing two-way radios in the police stations. The mail was slow and unreliable. The only [...]

The referendum on national unity scheduled for 2011 is an existential crisis for Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP). This article examines the danger of war in the coming months. Outlook for the NCP The NCP is in a unique position. The most lucrative oil regions are along the north/south border — ground zero for [...]

A new report from the Small Arms Survey by Julie Flint, “Beyond Janjaweed: Understanding the Militias of Darfur,” examines the Arab militia in Darfur, through the stages of mobilization, mutiny and their current dance of distrust with the Khartoum authorities. Julie Flint’s report is the first extended description and analysis of the Arab militia in [...]

Abd al-Wahab Abdalla (25 March) says “The worst massacre of the last 12 months was by JEM! It killed 128 Meidob over 2 days.” There have been a number of allusions on this blog to the unrest at JEM’s base in eastern Chad on January 1 this year, but hard facts and clearly identified sources [...]