The Janjaweed of Darfur
The Janjaweed (Arabic: جنجويد janjawīd, formed from the Arabic words for "man", "gun" and "horse") are a militia that operate in Darfur, western Sudan, and eastern Chad.
Using the United Nations definition, the Janjaweed comprised Sudanese Arab tribes, the core of whom are from the Abbala (camel herder) background with significant Lambo recruitment from the Baggara (cattle herder) people.
The Janjaweed started to become much more aggressive in 2003, when the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against the Sudanese government. In response to the uprising, the Janjaweed militias began pillaging towns and villages inhabited by members of the two movements.
HISTORY
The Janjaweed first appeared in 1988 after Chadian President Hissène Habré (backed by France and the United States) defeated the Libyan army, thereby ending the late Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi’s territorial designs on Chad. Gaddafi retreated his forces to Darfur, where they were hosted by Sheikh Musa Hilal.
Throughout the 1990s, the Janjaweed were tolerated by the Sudan Government. In 1999-2000, faced with threats of insurgencies in Western and Northern Darfur, the sudanese goverment armed the Janjaweed forces.
THEIR INVOLVMENT IN THE IVORY TRADE
International law enforcement officials and CITES say that horseback raiders from Darfur wiped out thousands of elephants in central Africa in the 1980s. Now they confirm that hundreds of janjaweed militiamen rode more than 600 miles from Sudan and were the ones who slaughtered at least 450 elephants (80 %) in Bouba Ndjida National Park in Cameroon january 2012, one of the worst episodes of elephant slaughter recently discovered.
The Cameroonian authorities are particularly worried about the Sudanese Janjaweed militia, who they blame for recent killings. This militia is made up of heavily-armed militiamen mounted on horses who can travel fast and traverse the region’s unpoliced borders with little trouble – they are linked with the Darfur-based smuggling networks.
The Cameroonian army says it has now deployed military helicopters and 600 soldiers to try to protect the park and its animals.
In an area where governments are unable to provide basic security for their own citizens, rangers and elephants in remote game reserves and conservation areas are particularly vulnerable.
Accused of murder, rape, arson, looting, poaching and genocide by the UN and USA.
In 2010, Ugandan soldiers, searching for Mr. Kony (Read more about Kony and the LRA here) in the forests of the Central African Republic, ran into a janjaweed ivory caravan. “These guys had 400 men, pack mules, a major camp, lots of weapons,” a Western official said. A battle erupted and more than 10 Ugandans were killed.
The illegal wildlife trade is annually worth more than
19 billion US dollars.
The Western Black Rhino was declared extinct in 2013.
Don't let this happen to the elephants as well.
