ABSTRACT
Again, the Darfur crisis does not unfold as a linear sequence of events between two definable protagonists. The crisis simply cannot be reduced to a single conflict. Therefore the predominant interpretation—that the crisis represents a tumult between African farmers and Arab nomads over essential resources—founders on many counts. Careful study of the Darfur crisis exposes a medley of conflict parties contending over a wide array of contrasting issues, interests, and needs, and motivated by manifold causal factors across Darfur, Sudan, and neighboring countries. The perception that the Darfur crisis boils down to Africans clashing with Arabs stems from a bogus division of ethnic identities, since all the conflict parties in Darfur live in Africa and almost all speak Arabic.
