Silent Spread

More than 100 countries are at the risk of desertification. Left unchecked, this could fuel conflicts and displace 700 million people worldwide by 2050

ON AUGUST 17, Sudan’s military council and civilian opposition leaders signed a landmark peace agreement, paving the way for democracy in the most impoverished and volatile country that was under dictatorship for nearly 30 years. As preparations for signing the agreement were still on in capital Khartoum, violence erupted in the country’s far-west wilayat or state, North Darfur. About 25 armed herders, riding camels, and motorcycles opened fire on people working on farms next to an internally displaced person camp in Shangil Tobaya locality. People in the camp say it was a “revenge attack”. A few days earlier, the farmers had impounded the herders’ camels and other livestock as they trespassed on the farms and handed over the animals to the police.

Soon after the incident, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)—a joint peacekeeping mission trying to bring stability to the war-torn Darfur region since 2007—issued a statement calling on both farmers and pastoralists to exercise restraint. While confrontations in Darfur are commonly framed as “ethnic hatred”, UNAMID links such incidences to farmers attempting to access land for farming and being prevented from doing so by armed pastoralists. It says the incidences particularly increase during the rainy season. According to media reports, at least 37 such confrontations have been reported from Shangli Tobaya in July alone.