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Ovaherero Genocide Foundation

2003 Sudan

Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit (Durfur)

In the 1990s there was a civil war in Darfur with violence over land and power. Members of the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit ethnic groups started the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). They attacked a government airfield in April 2003. After that the Sudanese government responded by targeting the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit groups with local militia known as the Janjaweed. In 2003 over 300,000 people were killed in the Darfur region of Sudan in what’s known as the first genocide of the 21st century. Men, women, and children were slaughtered and many were also raped and over three million were displaced.