The little-known Sudanese region of Darfur achieved sudden notoriety in 2003–2004 as the locus of an intense civil war, massacres of civilians, a severe humanitarian crisis, and a strong campaign led by young Americans to intervene to halt what they identified as genocide. Almost from the outset, the Sudanese conflict in Darfur was internationalized in multiple ways, involving neighboring countries (Chad and Libya), the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), and the United States in a remarkably comprehensive manner, in part because of international engagement with Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and in part because of an activist campaign led by the Save Darfur Coalition. The Darfur crisis set a number of significant precedents for international conflict resolution, including AU leadership in mediating peace talks and dispatching a peacekeeping force; an official US determination that genocide had been committed; a UN Security Council resolution calling for a peace support operation under Chapter VII, mandated to protect civilians; a hybrid AU–UN peacekeeping operation (the largest in the world); an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against a sitting head of state; and diverse approaches to mediating a resolution of the conflict.
“Sudan: Darfur.”Responding to Conflict in Africa: The United Nations and regional organizations. Jane Boulden ed. 12: 283–306. London: Palgrave Macmillan, May 2013
