Warfare between government forces and the rebels has quieted somewhat but armed tribal fighters, known as the janjaweed, continue to attack civilians, especially those from certain non-Arab tribes.

"I am a Fur," said Fatouma, a woman who sells millet in the market, naming the largest non-Arab tribe in the region.

The population consists primarily of non-Arab tribes.

Both are non-Arab tribes.

The Mawali were non-Arab Muslim nomadic tribes who dominated northern Syria prior to the 18th-century.

Alongside the rebels were armed nomadic herdsmen from the Zaghawa, a non-Arab tribe that is supposedly fighting for the people of Darfur against the government.

The crisis began in 2003 with a rebellion that sought to end the marginalization of non-Arab tribes by the Arab-dominated government.

In this part of the world, lifestyle and ethnicity are closely connected, with most farmers belonging to non-Arab tribes, while most nomads consider themselves full-blooded Arabs.

The broad outlines of the conflict are that non-Arab tribes felt excluded from Sudan's Arab-led central government, and formed rebel groups to attack government forces.

The government responded by unleashing Arab militias upon non-Arab tribes, using the militias, known as janjaweed, as a counterinsurgency force.