Peace And Justice in the Perspectives of Darfur War Victims at Abushock Camp in Elfashir District, Sudan

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine the prioritizations of peace and justice in the perspectives of the Darfur war victims at Aboushock Camp in the North Darfur. The main focus of the study is the peace and justice’s correlational factors, mainly to assess on the one hand the kinds of the crimes committed, who committed them, and to assess on the other hand, the perspectives of the war victims regarding passed negotiations on peace and justice issues, what their attitudes have been on the matter of reconciliation, as well as on who ~should be charged of criminal justice trial in the Darfur crisis, which is yet another issue of concern in the study. A total sample of 389 victims was given the questionnaires; but only 266 questionnaires were recovered. Data were analyzed descriptively, ‘using frequencies and percentages as the main statistical tools. bescriptive research design was used by the researcher and frequencies and percentages were used as the main statistical toll. The findings revealed that the majority were in the age brackets of 41- 60, female, were married, while in terms of education, majority, ~namely, had certificates. In terms of findings, respondents want justice first and also revealed that they ranked justice first rather than peace. War crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide were all committed. The respondents thought that hybrid courts, national courts and national traditional courts were all not acceptable to them, and that the ~Darfur people, Darfur rebel forces, and the ICC are willing to bring peace and justice, but that the government was not willing to encourage or work for peace and justice. Recommendations need for increase commitment of the Intenational community to exert pressur on Government of Bashir.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

~Chapter Page

One INTRODUCTION 1

Background 1

Statement of the Problem 5

Pupose of the Study 6

General objective 6

Specific Objectives 6

Research Questions 7

Scope of the study 7

Significance of the Study 8

Operational Definitions of Key Terms 9

Two REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 11

Introduction 11

Conceptual framework 12

Concepts, Opinions, Ideas from Authors/ Experts 14

History of Darfur 14

An Independence Sultanate 14

Colonial Benign Neglect 15

Independence Brings War 16

Bashir Seizes Power 17

The Janaweed Counterinsurgency 17

The Comperhensive Peace Agreement 18

The Rebels Attack 18

The Effects of the War 19

Opinoin of the Victims on peace and Justice 19

Peace and Justice in International Law 23

Peace and Justice in Regional Law 24

Function of PSC 25

Efforts towards Peace and Justice in Darfur 25

International Level 25

Regionanl Level 29

National and Local Level 32

Reconciliation at the Global Level 34

Reconciliation of the Post-Conflict in Africa 35

Reconciliation in Darfur 37

Three METHODOLOGY 41

Research Design 41

Research Population 41

Sample Size 42

Sampling Procedure 44

Research Instruments 44

Reliability of the Instruments 45

Data Gathering Procedures 47

Data Analysis 47

Ethical Considerations 48

Limitations of the Study 48

vi

Four DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 49

Introduction 49

Demographic Information 49

The kind of crimes committed in Darfur 57

Assessment of past negotiations on peace and justice 60

Assessment as to who should be charged of criminal

offences committed in Darfur and the attitudes of victims

on the matter of reconciliation 63

Five SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUTIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS 68

Summary of findings 68

Conclusion 71

Recommendations 74

Government of Sudan 73

Civil Society Organization 74

Local Community 74

International Community 75

REFERENCES 77

APPENDICES 82

APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE 82

APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW GUIDELINES 88

APPENDIX III: INTRODUCTORY LETTER 90