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In 2003, a conflict broke out in Darfur, Sudan’s western province, between the mainly “African” rebels and the government forces and their proxy “Arab” militias. It is estimated that about 200,000 people have so far died in the conflict from fighting, diseases, and starvation. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over two million Darfurians, out of the population of about six million, are living in refugee camps. Even though the majority of all deaths in Darfur have occurred in 2003 and 2004, the conflict is nowhere near the end.

Even after more than five years since the Darfur conflict began, there is hardly any comprehensive information about the rebels’ aims, objectives, and plans for the future. We cannot fully understand the conflict and plan peace negotiations between the warring parties if we do not know enough about the rebels.

This study critically explores the aims and perspectives of the Justice and Equality Movement, currently the most powerful Darfur rebel movement. The author has used the first-hand information gathered through interviews with the representatives of the rebel movement and additional data about the conflict and the rebels collected through an extensive literature analysis to portray the movement and its aims, perspectives, and plans for the future. Using the grounded theory approach as the data analysis tool, the author has presented key findings about the Darfur conflict from the perspective of the Justice and Equality Movement that have emerged from the data collected in this study.

The study was written in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Philosophiae in Conflict Transformation and Management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The study was supervised by Dr. Gavin Bradshaw.

From the examination report by Dr. Gavin Bradshaw, the professor of conflict management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa:

In his extensive study of the Darfur conflict from the perspective of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Savo Heleta has made a real contribution to our understanding of the complexities of the conflict in Darfur and also in respect of the possibility of resolving this deep-rooted conflict. Heleta has identified the lack of knowledge of the rebel movements in Darfur as one of the major stumbling blocks in the way of resolving the conflict and has set out to address this through the current research.

Savo Heleta has shed a new light on the conflict and challenges the conventional, simplistic wisdom of mainly western media. Furthermore, Heleta has made a set of recommendations that, if properly heeded, would enable at least the possibility of progress towards a sound negotiation process and possible solution to the Darfur conflict.

The Darfur Conflict From the Perspective of the Rebel Justice and Equality Movement