SUMMARY

The Governmental militia Janjaweed have mostly been involved in one-sided violence, deliberate attacks on civilians. But at some times it has also been involved in fighting against the rebel movements in Darfur. This type of fighting is small in comparison to the attacks on villages. Fighting between the Darfurian rebels and Janjaweed is understandable if you look into the Darfur context. The Janjaweed is closely connected to the Government of Sudan that the rebels are fighting and the Janjaweed are attacking villages inhabited of the ethnic groups that the rebel groups are recruiting from. It has also several times been reported that many people have joined the Darfurian rebel groups because their village has been attacked by the Janjaweed. The rebel groups have sometimes been asked by villagers to protect them against the Janjaweed and some clashes between rebels and the militia are attributed to this. Fighting between Janjaweed and the Darfur rebels has involved both Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). The focus here is the fighting between Janjaweed and the SLM/A but the Janjaweed fighting against JEM has similar causes and is of the same type. The SLM/A fighting against the Janjaweed is mostly concentrated in 2005.

The non-state conflict between Janjaweed and SLM/A is first included in UCDP data in 2005. By April that year clashes had resulted in at least 25 battle-related deaths.