Have you been the one who looks at a T-shirt that says "Save Darfur" on it and asked, "Who's Darfur?" only to be laughed at or frowned upon? Are you curious about what's actually going on in that obscure, remote place called "Darfur" that comes up in African news? Then you've come to the right place.
There are ten things you need to know about Darfur to understand and engage in conversations about it and to have a greater awareness of current events.

1. Darfur is a region the size of France located in western Sudan.
   
2. The capital of Darfur is El-Fashir, located in central Darfur.
   
3. There are three main ethnic groups in Darfur: the Fur living mainly in the south, from which "Dar Fur" (land of the Fur) derives its name; the Zaghawa living mainly in the western region, sharing their ethnicity with neighbouring Chadians; and the Masalit, living mostly in the northern-central region.
   Desertification has made the far northern part of Darfur virtually uninhabitable, though nomads often traverse the region.
   
4. Around the last two decades of the twentieth century, drought began to scourge Darfur.
   This caused trickling down of northern nomadic herders into the lands of southern farmers.
   Any clashes were settled by tribal leaders, though general tensions increased, and the people blamed the government for not helping.
   
5. Omer al-Bashir took control of Sudan through a military coup in 1989 and established a totalitarian regime that called for Islamization of the nation.
   He launched a jihad against the Darfuri tribes of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa in the form of a clandestine ethnic cleansing operation.
   
6. Bashir secretly employed a proxy militia called 'Janjaweed', which loosely translates to "Evil horsemen.
   " These militia men are ordered to destroy villages, rape women, and murder men in Darfur.
   As payment the Janjaweed are encouraged to profit from whatever they can pilfer from villages-animals and grain, for example.
   
7. Sudanese government troops play a role in the ethnic cleansing by distributing weapons and supplies to Janjaweed militias and by dropping bombs on villages right before Janjaweed men go in to rape, kill, burn houses, and pillage.
   
8. Rebel groups such as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) emerged in Darfur to fight for government representation and an end to the atrocities committed by the government and the Janjaweed.
   
9. Bashir's two arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court have been the result of his ethnic cleansing operation in Darfur.
   He has been counted for charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
   
10. This conflict has been going on since February 2003 and there is still no end in clear sight.
    Peace talks started in Doha in 2010 but the ceasefire was breached by both the Sudanese government and rebel groups, and no solutions were implemented.
    There are an estimated three million Darfuri civilians still displaced in camps in Darfur and neighbouring Chad under the care of international humanitarian aid organisations.
    It is unsafe for them to return home or go back to their old lives.