Albaqir Mukhtar will discuss the current peace process in Darfur and the role of marginalized identities as both a root cause of the conflict and a potential spoiler of an already fragile peace process.

As regional campaign coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa for the International Secretariat of Amnesty International and a scholar of Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic law, and human rights, Dr. Mukhtar has played a pivotal role in framing the Darfur crisis as one that hinges on the marginalized identities of the 1.8 million people of the region whose lives "hang in the balance."

Dr. Mukhtar‘s work tells us that the Arab identity constructed by northerners places Darfurians on the fringes. Northerners neither "fit" the prototype for Arab identity nor do the Darfurians fit in the Northern constructed illusion.

In his project report, Dr. Mukhtar will discuss how such questions of identity relate to the peace process. He will analyze the shortcomings of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) and discuss why the majority of the opposition groups have refused to sign it.

Speakers

• Albaqir Mukhtar
  Senior Fellow, U.S. Institute of Peace

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