Darfur Rebel Groups and Janjaweed

In 2003, various Darfur rebel groups started to launch attacks on various government targets in Sudan. The major groups were the Sudan Liberian Army (SLA), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM). Since most of the rebels were "Africans", the government started to support the various nomadic "Arab" tribes against the various rebel groups. Due to the brutality of the raids (the militiamen raped girls as young as 2 years old), the "Arabic" militias were given the names Janjaweed (loosely translates to "devils on horseback"). These raids got international attention for its genocidal brutality of the raiders. Their was also a racist aspect to the Janjaweed, as one survivor was told "Girl, you are too black. You are a dog. You must make a light baby", during her rape [Wikipedia].

However, things are more complicated in Darfur then "African" vs "Arab". Many of the "Arabic" tribes that made the Janjaweed were virtually indistinguishable from the "Africans", with the only main deference is that the "Arabic" tribes were vaguely Muslim. Also both the pro-government Janjaweed and the insurgent groups were prone to inter-factional clashes. Since the Janjaweed is nothing more then a lose term for both vaguely pro government and Muslim militias, their is little that unites them. As a result, clashes between rival Janjaweed militias are quite common. One incident is that a couple of Janjaweed militiamen from different tribes were having a dispute about cattle stolen from a raid, and one of the Janjaweed shot the other one. This resulted a nasty clash within the Janjaweed, with Janjaweed militiamen from rival tribes shooting at everything in site (I covered this incident in an early post on my blog) [UCDP conflict database].

As mentioned before, clashes between rival rebel factions were common in the conflict. The SLA and its splinter faction SLA-MM often clashed violently, and JEM and the LJM were bitter rivals. All the rebel movements are made up of several splinter factions that clash with fellow splinter factions. Alliances between splinter are consistently changing and breaking apart in the conflict. Currently, a coalition known as the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) has formed between factions of JEM, SLA, and even a SPLA faction. They are still fighting the Sudanese government, and JEM is reported to be fighting alongside the South Sudan government in its civil war against the Nuer White Army and the SPLA-In Opposition.