Genocide in Darfur Trivia Quiz

Answer: Central African Republic, Chad, Libya

Darfur is an area in the western region of Sudan, bordered by the Central African Republic, Chad and Libya. Darfur is comprised of three federal states-West Darfur, South Darfur and North Darfur. It is about the size of Texas. The literal translation of Darfur is "Home of the Fur", the Fur being one of the largest ethnic African tribes involved in the conflict.

Answer: True

Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, has denied any such oppression and any connection with the militias. In March of 2007, al-Bashir granted a rare interview with NBC News correspondent Ann Curry, in which he insisted that his government has not taken part in any crimes against humanity in Darfur. The Darfur conflict began in July 2003. There has been a history of problems in the region going back centuries.

Answer: Devils on horseback

The Janjaweed have been mainly comprised of nomadic Arabic-speaking African tribes, sometimes referred to as "black Arabs." The majority have been from camel and cattle herder backgrounds. Conflicts between this group and Darfur's settled farming population have existed for a very long time.

In Darfur most of the residents have been Muslim, including the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed have been in at war with Darfur rebel groups - the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.

They have been well-armed, allegedly aided by the Sudanese government. Although the Sudanese government has denied any connection to the militia, it has given them financial aid, and has even participated in raids with them, raids which target non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.

The result has been many thousands of refugees fleeing their homes and villages to go into refugee camps. There have been skirmishes between the Janjaweed and troops from those countries offering assistance to the refugees. In late 2006, Arabs in Darfur organized another rebel group, The Popular Forces Troops, and announced that on December 6 that they had turned back an assault by the Sudanese army.

In their statement, they referred to the Janjaweed as "mercenaries" who did not represent all of Darfur's Arabs. Since the conflict began, several Darfur Arab groups made announcements stating their opposition to the Sudanese government, including some groups who signed accords with rebel organizations.

Answer: True

Twenty-three Fur villages in the Shataya area of Darfur were totally destroyed. At the same time, right alongside the burnt remnants of these villages stood Arab settlements, completely unharmed. The distance between the destroyed villages and the intact Arab settlements was often less than 1500 feet.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned in January 2007 that the possibility of genocide in Darfur was quite real. The brutal Janjaweed tactics were similar to those used in the "ethnic cleansing" of the former Yugoslavia.

Answer: Chad

Since the conflict began, several hundred thousand civilians, most of them women and children, have entered Chad, to escape the violence in Darfur. Although the local Chadian population have been willing to share resources, those resources are limited, which has lead to tension among the locals and the refugees.

Answer: True

There is indeed a browser game online about the conflict in Darfur online. "Darfur is Dying" was created by USC graduate Susana Ruiz. In one section of the game, the player selects one member of a Darfuri family to venture out of the camp to a well to get water for the family. Players learn about the obstacles faced by the Darfur refugees, and to how to take action to help. Since its release in April 2006, almost a million people have visited the site at mtvU.com. If you are concerned about Darfur, it's worth taking a look.

The game is well done and educational, and horrifying.

Answer: African Union

The African Union, called the AU, is comprised of fifty-three African countries. The African Union is the successor to two combined groups, African Economic Community and Organization of African Unity. Formed in 2001, its goal is to have a universal currency and a unified defense force. The AU's main purposes also include bringing to an end the disastrous conflicts that have caused such suffering in Africa, and to foster economic growth.
There has been an AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, but it has been poorly funded, and made up of only around 7,000 troops.

Answer: All of these

The suffering of the people of Darfur is beyond description. High officials have called it an humanitarian catastrophe, with accusations of civilians being bombed, of food aid being cut off from hundreds of thousands of men, women and children. There have been many thousands of rapes reported, including public rape, which appears to be a favored tactic of the Janjaweed. Entire non-Arab villages in Darfur have been burned to the ground, while villages with Arab residents have been left untouched. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated that the Sudanese government has known of raids by the Janjaweed in South Darfur beforehand, attacks in which many civilians were killed.

Answer: True

There have been several attempts to negotiate a peace settlement, which has proven to be nearly impossible, at least up till early 2007.
The government in Khartoum, Sudan's capitol, has remained against any United Nations peacekeeping force, with Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir stating that "we do not want Sudan to turn into another Iraq." On November 17, 2006, there were reports that a compromise was imminent, but it was soon rejected by the Sudanese, who insist that the role of the United Nations should only consist of technical support.

Answer: Russia and China

Apparently they took this position to serve their own economic interests. China is always in need of oil from Sudan, Russia is interested in the enormous amounts of money that come from the sale of nuclear reactors and weapons.
Unites States President George W. Bush has imposed sanctions against anyone deemed complicit in the Darfur atrocities. Stern measures have been taken to prohibit U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions having to do with oil in Sudan. Some sanctions have been in place for quite a while.
Aid workers have said that their access to Darfur is severely limited, and have warned that the situation could deteriorate to levels seen earlier, when the Darfur conflict was considered to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis. This quiz was written in early 2007. I sincerely hope that somehow there will be a resolution to this terrible crisis soon.