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| SUDAN'S NEIGHBORS Some say that Sudan's neighbors have exerted more influence over Darfur than Sudan's national government. The conflict among the inhabitants in Sudan's western region can be traced back to a number of external forces, including Colonel Muammar al Qadhafi and his expansionist plan for Arabs. Libya's leader dreamed of carving out an Arab homeland in the Sahel, a narrow belt of land south of the Sahara stretching through Sudan. In the late 1980s, al Qadhafi used Darfur as a back door into neighboring Chad, where he claimed land in the north. Al Qadhafi recruited Darfuri and Chadian Arabs into his "Islamic legion" to set up camp on the border; they brought guns along with a new ethno-racial ideology -- Arabism. Soon after, Darfuris were subdividing along Arab and black African lines, even though the vast majority of Darfuris are Muslim. In 1988, Chadian forces defeated Libya's invasion, and al Qadhafi turned his attention elsewhere, dismantling his legion and ultimately rejecting Arabism. But Darfuris identifying as Arabs still had hopes of emancipation, and the region's other communities, seeking a common label, aligned as Africans. President Isaias Afewerkiof neighboring Eritrea has also contributed to the instability in Darfur. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is believed to have cultivated ties with Afewerki, and one of the JEM's top spokespersons, Professor Sharif Harir, lives in Eritrea. Another leading figure among Sudan's neighbors is Chad's president, Idris Deby, who belongs to a clan closely related to Darfur's Zaghawa tribe. His home village, Furawiya, has been bombed by Khartoum and attacked by the Janjaweed. But Deby is friendly with Sudan's president, Omar al Bashir, who backed the coup that brought Deby to power in 1990. Others in Deby's cabinet and some officers in Chad's army who have kinship ties with Darfuri rebels aren't as sympathetic to Khartoum and are believed to have supplied rebels with arms. Sudan neighbors Chad and Libya are seen as having a role in bringing the conflict in Darfur to an end. Chad is hosting more than 200,000 displaced Darfuris, and fighting has spilled into the country. And Libya, interested in maintaining its restored diplomatic relations with the United States, has proposed a peace accord between the Khartoum government and rebels. |