As already mentioned, Darfur is a wide area bordered by three other countries, which has contributed to the existing diversity in the demographics of the region as a result of tribes spilling across borders. This demographic diversity has influenced the kinds of human relationships with nature which overlap throughout the region (settled agricultural, pastoral, and nomadic) (Al Malool 2005, p. 50). Likewise, one of the most important features of the region is that it has a diversity of vegetation. While in the north there are thorny plants that grow in dry climates, the south has tropical forests. There is also in region also diversity in terms of soil quality and plant height, as a result of the wide range of temperatures and rainfall (Al Ddla 2007, p. 10).
The region has suffered for more than three decades from increasing cases of security, economic, and political instability. Like many parts of Africa, it has experienced successive periods of drought and desertification, which have led to three major famines in 1973, 1985, and 1992 (Raafat 2004). This deterioration in weather conditions has had a significant impact on the restructuring of demographic structures and on economic developments in the province, both having played a pivotal role in provoking the conflict between the pastoral and sedentary tribes. The north and central regions have turned to desert and semi-desert areas due to desertification, which has stretched from the north to the south at a rate of three kilometres a year (Cockett 2010). This has caused large losses in cattle, which has reflected negatively on the standard of living, especially among the pastoral tribes that depend on this style of farming and the grazing of cows and camels. Ultimately this has increased the rates of poverty and generated issues of security, such as armed robbery (de Waal 2005c, p. 8).
Darfur is divided into four different climatic regions. First, the desert region which is characterised by a shortage of rainfall and higher temperatures, particularly in the summer. This area is virtually unoccupied and therefore it has no human activities
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that use water or land for agriculture or grazing. The second area is the arid region that covers the middle of the northern parts of the province. The average rainfall in this zone is low with high variability and ranges from 100 to 300mm. The third zone is the poor savannah area which covers the middle of the Darfur region with an average annual rainfall of between 200 to 400mm, and a rainy season ranging from 3–4 months a year. The fourth zone is located in the southern part of Darfur where the savannah is rich and rainfall average is approximately between 500 mm to 800mm a year, with a rainy season that lasts for about 5 months per year (Fadul 2006, p. 33).
According to the ecological habits of the respective tribes, Darfur8 is divided into three main regions or Diar9: the first region contains Camel Nomads, while the second, middle, region comprises settled farmers, and the last region contains Cattle Nomads, see maps No 2 and 3 (cited in Suliman 2008, p. 9). Deteriorating climatic conditions of drought and freshwater scarcity have pushed a lot of northerners towards the forested areas in the south of the province, where the most fertile areas of savannah and freshwater resources are found. For this precise reason, several tribal disputes have erupted, due to the competition for access to natural resources between sedentary farmers and nomadic pastoralists (Hakim 2011, p. 815). In addition, there has been a shortage of food and fuel, resulting from climate change in the province and the deterioration this has brought to the environment in Darfur (Brown 2010, p. 2514).
This has contributed to provoking collisions and a high frequency of conflicts between sedentary tribes and newcomers in southern Darfur. These conflicts have been violent, bloody and armed battles that have often led to many deaths and casualties (Kiernan 2007). Given the ecological and demographic transformation, overall, it can be observed that the lack of rain and desertification have negatively influenced the relationships between the tribes in Darfur in general and in particular in the middle and southern areas (Sunga 2011, p. 70).
8 Darfur, linguistically, in Arabic means the homeland of the Fur. The Fur is the main indigenous tribe of the region. Each Dar has own special political, social, and cultural identity and prestige.
9 Diar is the plural of Dar. Dar is locally known as a sub-territorial tribal area or the homeland of each tribe.
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Map No 2: The Ethnic Structure of Darfur
Map No 3: population distribution by mode of living in Darfur
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Darfur accounts for over 85% of the tribal conflicts that took place in Sudan, especially in the 1970s and 1980s (Hassan and Ray 2009) (see Table No: 1).
Table No 1: The key tribal conflicts 1957–2006: the parties, causes, and places10
Conflicting tribes Year(s) Key causes of the conflict
Province
1 Meidob and Kababich 1957 Theft of camels North Darfur
2 Rizeigat and Almaalaa 1968
6 Rizeigat against Fur and Beja 1980
Grazing and
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15 Rizeigat and Almaalaa 2004 Grazing and
water, and land
South Darfur
16 Dajo and Misseriya 2005 Rebellion South Darfur
17 Rizeigat and Rizigat 2006 Rebellion and
land
In addition to this, the increasing migration of nomadic groups from Chad has placed greater pressure on Darfur’s natural resources and worsened living conditions overall (Sudan Watch 2006). The link between land degradation and desertification and the conflict in Darfur is very strong (Sunga 2011, p. 64). Waves of environmental degradation have resulted in deep imbalances in the local environment and Darfurian
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society. Furthermore, these extreme environmental conditions have exacerbated other phenomena that have significantly contributed to the outbreak of the Darfur Crisis. In order to understand in more detail the role of environmental degradation, it is useful to discuss the most important of these accompanying phenomena.
A - Conflict
of Marahil11, Tracks and PasturesAmongst the most important and frequent conflicts in Darfur are those that arise between the pastoral tribes and sedentary tribes that practise agriculture. They are a result of competition for the resources of scarce fresh water and arable land due to drought and desertification since the late 1960s (Brown 2010, p. 2513). This, in turn, has led to a decline in the scope of pasture, freshwater resources and fertile soil.
These disputes were traditionally addressed and resolved through tribal councils and customary laws agreed by all the tribes (Hakim 2011, p. 816; Sunga 2011, p. 4). In Darfur there have been 11 Marahil since the 1950s, stretching from the northern region to the south; their size varies between 250sq. kilometres and 600sq.
kilometres, and the longest Merhal is Alokaim in North Darfur stretching to Um Davouk in South Darfur, with a size of 606sq. kilometres. The shortest Merhal is Kazan from the north of El Fasher to Dar Rizeigat in the south (Fadul 2006). The areal width of a Merhal ranges mostly between 6 and 10sq. kilometres in populated areas, expanding to become Merhal and pasture in the free areas of the population and farms (Regulation Act for pastures and Marahil, 1999. p 9). Some Marahil continent (the path of cows), others Abala (the camel path). However, due to environmental degradation and agricultural expansion that have prevailed on those Marahil – where there are freshwater wells – the Baggara’s Marahil faded, forcing most Baggara to flee to the south and south-west of the province (Alawad 2007, p.
202). Darfurians have made a compromise formula for peaceful coexistence among
11 Marahil (the plural of Merhal) are animal tracks used by camel and livestock herders in Darfur.
These are “areas between the farms plots designated for nomads to pass through during their movements from south to north during the rainy season and from north to south during the dry season”
(Fadul 2006, p. 39). This helps herders to access places rich with grass and fresh water, without violating the rights and property of farmers and with respect for customs and traditions (El-Tigani 2005, p. 67). Merhal is an administrative and social place well known to everyone and has certain limits in terms of latitude and longitude, named Merhal because it connects the two points at the departure of people from one place to another.
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pastoral and agricultural tribes. One of the most important laws, for example, is not to arrive during the harvest seasons so giving farmers a chance to secure their food and livelihoods. Other than at that specific point for watering their livestock, herders do not enter these areas until they are authorised to do so. In addition to this, one of the main rules here is that nomadic herders should notify the heads of local administrations of the region through which they are to pass well in advance of their arrival in order to facilitate their passage (El-Tigani 2005, p. 67).
Although the Marahil system has existed as a formula for coexistence, changes in climate conditions in Darfur, in recent decades, have led to the erosion of the effectiveness of this system. First, drought and desertification have changed the map of the old agreed tracks. Second, increasing numbers of camels and cattle, as well as newly emerging villages across these tracks, have significantly contributed to the inability of the nomadic communities to honour the commitments to move within the selected tracks. Third, agricultural expansion into the territory that the nomadic tribes walk through. Fourth, blocking roads that lead to the freshwater sources and the spread of the phenomenon of burning grass, under the pretext of land ownership, around villages and farms to keep nomads away from the region,. Fifth, neglect by the local authorities monitoring the seasonal movement of nomads and determining tracks before the arrival of nomadic tribes to agricultural areas in the south of the province, as well as non-compliance with the specific dates for the movement of pastoralists (Beheiri 2010, p. 94).
It should be noted that the transmission of pastoral groups from north to south in agricultural areas, especially after the drought of 1971, has formed a high-pressure breach of the natural environment, due to the vast number of human and animal groups that came with new patterns of behaviour, leading to the reluctance of the people of the settled areas to expand to accommodate the new arrivals. Government authorities failed at nomadic administration in the required form, such as the establishment of semi-regular forces for nomadic insurance, where farmers accused them of being forces loyal to the shepherds to protect them and fight with them. This has challenged the credibility of the government's attempts to resolve the tracks problem. As a result, all the tribes resorted to the use of civil military systems, depending on them for protection, as well as in raids (Musa 2009, p. 88). All these factors have pushed pastoral tribes to commit numerous abuses as a result of moving
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cattle into farmland and the destruction of crops, which was one of the most important factors leading to the collisions that inflamed the conflict between shepherds and farmers in the region.