ConflictBarometer_2016

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
near Yei town. On November 16, SPLM/A-IO gained control
over Bazi, a border town to DRC, Morobo in Yei River, and
Kaljak in Northern Liech. The same day, opposition and government
forces clashed in Adaab el Bahr, Unity State, killing
at least 15.
At the beginning of December, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to
close all offices held by SPLM/A-IO on their territories. On
December 4, SPLM/A-IO claimed to have gained full control
of Lasu in Yei River, killing at least 16 soldiers and capturing
heavy arms. Three days later, SPLM/A-IO announced they had
seized Ombachi town in Yei River. Kiir and Machar rejected
a peace meeting proposed by South African President Jacob
Zuma the same day.
On December 8, Kiir ordered the deployment offurther troops
to oil producing regions. The UN Human Rights Council held a
special session on December 14, discussing the increasingly
ethnically motivated violence. The same day, Kiir initiated
the so-called National Dialogue, aiming at the integration of
all political forces, a move rejected by Machar but welcomed
by JMEC. On December 19, renewed clashes erupted in Renk
and Mundri counties, Wau, leaving several dead. On December
23, the UNSC dismissed a resolution drafted by the US,
proposing an arms embargo and further sanctions. This was
welcomed by the government and criticized by Machar.
In mid-December, at least 15 people, including four soldiers,
were killed in separate incidents around Torit town, Imatong.
Also, SPLM/A soldiers carried out massive lootings of
churches, schools, and residential areas in Morobo County,
Yei River. During clashes between government and opposition
fighters in Daplual and Male villages, Southern Liech,
over 20 civilians were killed and thousands displaced on
December 28. On December 30, three SPLM/A-IO generals
reportedly defected to the SPLM/A-IO faction led by Gai. One
day later, SPLM/A carried out adisarmament operation in
Juba. Both the UN and the regional body Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) repeatedly condemned
the systematic killing of civilians committed by both conflict
parties, calling for an arms embargo on December 16.
In the course of the year, more than 320,000 fled to neighboring
countries, particularly Sudan and Uganda, while at
least 200,000 were internally displaced. Throughout the
year, reportedly at least 1,200 people were killed. While
many deaths remained unregistered, the estimated death toll
since the outbreak of the conflict in December 2013 varied
between 50,000 and 300,000. This year, SPLM/A soldiers
carried out repeated attacks against foreign aid workers. In
December, SPLA chief of staff, General Paul Malong Awan,
urged troops to refrain from violence against aid workers.
As in previous years, the food and health situation further
deteriorated, leaving millions at risk. According to UNICEF,
1,300 children were recruited by government forces as well
as armed groups in this year. ves, nbm, jaw
SUDAN (DARFUR)
Intensity: 5 | Change: | Start: 2003
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
SRF, SLM-AW, SLM-MM, JEM vs. government
autonomy, resources
The war over autonomy and resources, such as water and
land rights, as well as control over gold mines, between various
armed groups and the government continued. As in the
last 13 years, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) contested
ethnic Arab domination over African tribes in the country's
peripheral regions with conflict-related actions intensifying
as compared to last year. SRF is an armed opposition's
platform comprising the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM),
including its factions led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW)
and Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM), led by Gibril Ibrahim, as well as the Sudanese
People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which mostly
operated in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan [→
Sudan (SPLM/A-North /South Kordofan, Blue Nile)]. The government
employed its regular armed forces, the Sudanese
Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudanese Air Force, as well as
the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), mostly comprising
the so-called Janjaweed and the Popular Defence Forces
(PDF). The African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur (UN-
AMID) also continued to operate.
In recent years, the conflict developed a new dimension,
thereby increasingly overlapping with inter-communal fighting,
since Arab tribes that had been armed by the government
to fight insurgency groups as part of the RSF, started to compete
over precious metals with the government as well as
amongst each other. Former Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal, for
instance, reportedly controlled Darfur's biggest gold mines
and increasingly contested the central government. When
the UNSC issued a resolution to extend a panel of experts
monitoring violations of the UN arms embargo for Darfur in
April of this year, Russia, who had signed an agreement on
gold extraction rights with the government in 2014, put on
hold the publication of a panel report describing militia and
government involvement in unregulated gold mines in Darfur
[→ Sudan (inter-communal violence)].
At the end of December 2015, the government under President
Omar al-Bashir had extended the latest ceasefire for
the Darfur region for one additional month. In early January,
both the government and the SLM-AW accused the other
side of breaking the ceasefire in the region of Jebel Marra,
a mountain range located in the states of South, North and
Central Darfur. This year, SLM-AW was involved in most of the
fighting, while the other armed groups reduced their armed
activities in the context of peace negotiations.
Beginning on January 15, SAF, supported by RSF, conducted
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