The Conflict in Darfur Region: the Regional Dimension
The conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan is considered one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the twenty first century. During its active phase (2003-2010), according to various estimations, 200. 000 to 400.000 people died, including as a result of epidemics and starvation. 2 to 3 million people (out of the region’s total population of 7 million) became refugees or internally displaced persons because of hostilities. The main causes of the conflict include the struggle for land and other natural resources between farmers and nomadic pastoralists and also between different tribes, the marginalized socio-economic and political situation in the region, discriminatory policies of the central government towards the periphery, racial and ethnic conflicts, etc. However, no less important for the escalation and expansion of the conflict seems the nature of relations between the neighboring countries countries - Sudan, Chad, the Central African Republic and Libya - both at the level of their regimes and at the level of opposition movements and tribes that inhabit these countries. In the framework of the conflict in Darfur, contacts with foreign neighbors create more opportunities for continuing the war than for reaching peace.