Small arms trafficking across the western half of the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has remained largely unexamined. The legacy of armed conflict in both countries, the presence of armed groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on both sides of the border, and poor border control would suggest the possibility of a robust trade in small arms.

In early 2003, after several years of simmering violence, rebel groups in Darfur launched a full-scale rebellion against Sudanese government targets. Two groups emerged. The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) enjoyed early successes, capturing el-Fasher airport, but then nearly succumbed to Khartoum’s brutal counter-offensive. It was further weakened by internal tensions between its two leaders, Abdel-Wahid Mohammad Nur (a Fur) and Minni Arku Minawi (a Zaghawa). The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) was more developed politically than the SLA but less significant militarily.

During celebrations commemorating the second anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Government of South Sudan (GoSS) President and Vice-President of the Republic Salva Kiir made clear that the agreement was facing a crisis and there was a growing risk of a return to war. In particular, he blamed Khartoum’s continuing support for Other Armed Groups (OAGs).

The ongoing peace talks between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army/Movement (LRA/M) in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, have created renewed international interest in the conflict in northern Uganda. While the negotiations have proved extremely difficult, they have opened up new channels of communication with the LRA. The talks have also allowed the affected population of Eastern and Western Equatoria, South Sudan, to voice their grievances against the LRA and raise questions about the conduct of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) in Sudan.

Borderlands in the Horn of Africa have long been the focus of conflict, partly because they are ill-defined, but more because they are areas where government authority tends to be minimal. As a result, they provide a suitable environment for the development and operation of armed groups dedicated to political or criminal activities. Where these groups have a political character they are largely a response to state domination by minority groups or are the product of government efforts to destabilize or overthrow neighbouring governments.

A Paramilitary Revolution: The Popular Defence Forces provides a historical review of the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) from 1989 until 2006, focusing on its emergence and evolution as a national institution. The objective is to provide a historical view of an organization that has remained vaguely defined, as well as an analysis of its role and capabilities since the signing of the CPA.

The contention that the Darfurian conflict is being ‘exported’ to eastern Chad via janjawid militia has received widespread coverage. However, this is a dangerous oversimplification of the ethnic and political dynamics of the region, and most especially neglects the importance of the political crisis in Chad. Khartoum and N’Djamena have been engaged in an on-again, off-again proxy conflict using one another’s rebel movements since the Darfur conflict began in 2003, most intensively since 2005.

In recent years, the presence of arms in refugee and internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the Darfur region has led observers to describe them as militarized. Though the term is evocative, it is imprecise and does not adequately describe the complex situations in which many displaced Darfurians are living.

Beyond 'Janjaweed': Understanding the Militias of Darfur is not a comprehensive account of the scores of tribal militias that have been armed by, or cooperated with, the government. Its subject is not the human rights violations committed in the course of the counterinsurgency. Rather, it seeks to disentangle the militias and to begin to understand their motivations and grievances.

Rhetoric and Reality: The Failure to Resolve the Darfur Conflict, based on interviews with mediators, government officials, humanitarian workers, and militia and rebel leaders, traces the troubled history of peace efforts after Abuja.