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xx | Introduction ­ whether Sudanese government officials, rebel leaders, and other actors had commit- ted war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression, and genocide. Since June 2005, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for six current and former Suda- nese government officials for their alleged involvement in crimes committed against the ­ people of Darfur: Ahmad Muhammad Harun, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-­Al-­Rahman (Ali Kushayb), Omar Hassan Ahmed al-­ Bashir, Abu Garda (case closed, charges not confirmed), Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (case terminated ­ after his passing on Octo- ber 4, 2013), and Abdel Raheem Muham- mad Hussein. The suspects range from government officials, militia/Janjaweed lead- ers, and leaders of the Re­sis­tance Front and include charges for the crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Notably, Bashir, Harun, and Hussein contin- ued to hold prominent positions within the Sudanese government and are suspected of committing further atrocities against Suda- nese civilians of the Nuba tribe in the Nuba Mountains within the context of an ongoing conflict with the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), which began in June 2011. While the fighting and atrocities commit- ted against civilian populations reached their highest levels between 2003 to 2006, insecu- rity within Darfur continues to the pre­sent day, despite the presence of UNAMID and the conclusion of two, largely unimple- mented, peace agreements. ­ Causes The ­causes of the genocide in Darfur are complex and multifaceted. It is a common misconception that the under­lying ­causes of the conflict relate exclusively to dis- putes over scarce natu­ral resources. While the government of Sudan capitalized on tra- ditional tensions between nomads and sed- entary farmers over land and ­water resources in Darfur, the under­lying ­causes of the conflict are also related to the gov- ernment’s economic, po­liti­cal, and social marginalization of populations living in the peripheries of Sudan. Tensions Over Natu­ral Resources in Darfur Traditionally, Darfur’s population was roughly divided between nomadic herders, commonly referred to as “Arabs,” and sed- entary farmers, typically referred to as “non-­ Arabs” or “black Africans.” Given centuries of intermarriage, the distinction between Arabs and non-­Arabs or black Africans in this context speaks more to a difference in lifestyle and cultural affiliation rather than a difference in “race.” However, the black African farmers tended to be from two tribal groups: the Fur and Massalit. A third group, the Zaghawa, identify as non-­Arabs but, nonetheless, herd camels. ­ Until the late 1980s, the “Arab” nomads and “black African farmers” lived in relative peace, with the farmers tolerating the nomads as the latter traversed Darfur’s farmland to graze their herds. However, climate change brought on by droughts in the 1970s and 1980s caused farmers to fence in their lands to protect them from passing herds who ­ were forced to graze their animals closer to villages. The nomadic herders viewed this as a provocation by the farmers. In 1987, fight- ing broke out between the nomads and farm- ers, resulting in thousands of deaths and the destruction of property. During this period, the Sudanese government armed nomadic Arab tribes. Despite the introduction of a peace agreement in 1989, fighting flared again in the 1990s. The nomads banded together in an alliance known as the Arab