Janjaweed

/ ˈdʒænˌdʒəwɪd /

noun

1. an armed tribal militia group in the Darfur region of western Sudan

Word History and Origins

Origin of Janjaweed¹

Arabic: a man with a horse and a gun

Example Sentences

The eight-member jury sided with three plaintiffs originally from Sudan, awarding a total of $20.75 million in damages, after hearing testimony describing horrors committed by Sudanese soldiers and the Janjaweed militia.

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The trial, which began September 9 and will be decided by a jury of eight, has heard the claims of three Sudanese plaintiffs, who testified on a litany of horrors committed by Sudanese soldiers and the Janjaweed militia.

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A panel of three judges at the ICC in The Hague convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman of being a commander in the Janjaweed, a feared militia of mostly Arab fighters who terrorized civilians across the Darfur region in 2003 and 2004, in a conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Janjaweed have morphed into a militia known as the Rapid Support Forces that has been accused of attacks against Darfur’s Black indigenous communities.

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The Darfur war began after the Arab-dominated government at the time armed the Janjaweed, in an attempt to suppress an uprising by rebels from black African ethnic groups.

Read more on BBC