الصراع العربي والفروي

في عام 1987، خاطب زعماء القبائل العربية الرئيس السوداني الصادق المهدي برعاية جماعة التجمع العربي المتطرفة . ودعا هؤلاء الزعماء صراحةً في خطابهم إلى تدمير الحكومة الإقليمية وقتل الزرقة ( مصطلح ازدرائي يُطلق على سكان دارفور السود ). ويُعتبر هذا الخطاب بداية الصراع، على الرغم من أن الأعمال العدائية كانت مستعرة منذ المجاعة. ^{[ 3 ]}

The conflict was marked by extreme ethnic based violence. Arab militias called Janjaweed conducted numerous raids to Fur villages. In the raids they burned and looted the villages leaving behind hundreds of dead civilians. Historian Sharif Harir alleged that the goal of the Janjaweed was settlement of Fur owned land and expansion of the "Arab belt". The Fur militias responded similar attacks burning Arab herders tents and killing civilians. Fur militias also burned Arab pastures and rustled their livestock to "starve them out".^[4] Both communities were saturated by arms. Recent war between the government Hissene Habre and Muammar Gaddafi had flooded the region with weapons. The government of Sudan also funneled weapons captured from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to Arab groups in Darfur.^[2]

In the end the conflict had killed around 3,000 people of which 2,500 were Fur and 500 were Arab. The attacks destroyed around 400 villages and caused a huge influx of refugees to IDP camps in Darfur and Chad.^[5] In May 1989 leaders of the Fur and Arabs met in El-Fasher to negotiate for peace. The negotiations reached a deadlock in June. In July Nation Islamic Front (NIF) overthrew the government of Sadiq al-Mahdi. The coup sped up the negotiations and in 8 July both groups signed a reconciliation agreement which brought the end to the conflict. Under this agreement, the Arab and Furs militias pledged to lay down their arms and disband in a process overseen by the government. The agrmement also lead to the disbanding of Tajammu al-Arabi^[4]