Darfur crisis rooted in economic causes

By Shao Jie

KHARTOUM, Sept 4, 2004 (Xinhua) — The 18-month conflict between horse-mounted Arab militia and black African farmers in the western Sudanese region of Darfur seems ethnic on the surface but is actually rooted in economic causes, analysts said.

The armed rivalry and the ensuing humanitarian debacle in Darfur reveals a deepening economic crisis in the largest country on the African continent, they said.

As one of the world’s least developed countries listed by the United Nations, Sudan’s gross domestic production (GDP) totalled 13.5 billion US dollars in 2001, about 0.1 percent of the US GDP in the same period.

Prone to drought, flood and desertification, the country’s backbone agricultural industry is more subject to the whims of changing climate than to intensive cultivation.

With 80 percent of the population engaged in unsophisticated farming, Sudan’s industrial sector is fettered not only by a shortage of skilled workforce but also a weak industrial base and scarce natural resources.

Deputy Governor of South Darfur Adam Ibrahim said that the Darfur clashes between the Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, and African farmers were in fact triggered by a grab for land, forest and water.

Encroaching poverty, in both cities and countrysides, became another cause behind the Darfur conflict, which had killed at least 50,000 people and displaced over 1.2 million in the past 18 months, the deputy governor said.

In Nyala and Fasher, the capital cities of South and North Darfur, pitch-paved roads and brick bungalows are the best infrastructure that they can boast.

The scenario is even worse in the countryside, where thatched huts queue on both sides of rough dusty roads.

In Darfur, vast expanses of a region the size of France, Xinhua correspondent was told by some refugees that those who had the lowest living capacity would not choose to live in camps.

But some said that although the conditions there were dire, it was still better living in the camps than back home.

A local official said polygamy still prevailed in the region, under which one man could marry as many as four wives and raise up to 15 offspring.

All these raise the spectre of future conflicts and present a daunting challenge to the government.

Khartoum has realized all the hardships it has to overcome, and correspondingly embarked on a development plan for the country.

Since 1999, Sudan has begun tapping its known 700 million barrel oil reserves and become an oil exporter.

However, with an output capacity of less than 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), about 3.12 percent of Saudi Arabia’s daily output, the oil sector is far from being able to play the role of locomotive to lead the overall economy onto a fast track.

Weaning the country’s economy off its heavy dependency on natural resources and foreign aids also tops the government’s working agenda.

In the 1990s, the government spelled out new economic laws to lessen governmental regulations, promote market-oriented economy and create a foreign investment-friendly environment.

All these measures helped Sudan register a relative fast development rate in black Africa.

Nevertheless, more efforts are needed by both the Sudanese government and the international community to stabilize the volatile situation in Darfur first and combat poverty at the same time.