Analysis of the Darfur genocide through a critical and political perspective after 20 years of conflict

Abstract

This year 2023 is the 20th anniversary since the conflict in Darfur started. After more than 300.000 casualties and almost 2.5 million displaced persons, Darfur has an active genocide that mixed with the recent Civil War leaves a discouraging scenario. Based on the ‘never again, but again Darfur’, this thesis studies why ethnic cleansing seems inevitable after 20 years and how the external powers’ interests have influenced such an extension. The complexity of the ethnic situation and the controversy defining the crimes as genocide has been the rhetoric used for more than 20 years to justify non-intervention. This thesis provides a detailed explanation of the political and economic interests of the so-called “triangle of black interest”: the US, China and Russia. Those who happened to be the majority of the members of the UN Security Council are the ones in control of humanitarian responses. Despite the human rights motives that should dictate the UN Resolutions, the state’s actions in Darfur have been driven by the war on terror narrative, the control of petroleum and the commerce of armament. This political use of the UN human rights protection mechanism has been nourishing the ‘African solutions for African problems’ narrative adopted by the AU which has indirectly positioned the organisation on the perpetrators side. Those actions have triggered the so-called ‘African Revolution’ by the African continent in other UN dependent instruments such as the ICC. This intersectional scenario has led to two decades of conflict without a solution, ongoing violence, and no reparations for the victims. Is Darfur the new Rwanda? How many deadly conflicts are needed to show the international community the inconsistencies of the human rights system? Keywords: Darfur, Sudan, genocide, humanitarian emergency, Al-Bashir, US, UN Security Council, China, Russia, African Union, International Criminal Court, political and economic interests.