The Baggara or Baqqarah are a nomadic Bedouin people inhabiting the Darfur region of western Sudan and Chad. They are cattle-herders, migrating seasonally between grazing lands in the wet season and river areas in the dry season. They are mostly Arabic speaking Muslims, thought to be the descendents of Arab tribes who settled the region during the Middle Ages. Their name is a term widely used in western Sudan for Arab pastoralists, meaning literally "cattle herder."
The Baggaras' pastoral lifestyle has led to conflict with the sedentary African farmers of the region concerning access to water and grazing land. This has been the source of ethnic tensions for many years, culminating in the bloody Darfur conflict which began in 2003.
This breed was found chiefly in the western savanna regions and in fewer, although significant, numbers farther to the east from Aali an Nil to Kassala in Ash Sharqi.
The majority of the Baqqara strain of cattle belonged to the BaqqaraArabs.
The expansion of mechanized rainfed agriculture in the region used by the Baqqara, continued government efforts to enlarge the cultivated area, and pressures on the land from the growing population have gradually reduced grazing areas.
The village of Baqqara is situated within the demilitarized zone on the western side of the Jordan River in the Huleh area.
During the night of 5 April 195 1, several houses in the Arab villages of Baqqara, Ghanname, and Khoury Farm in the central sector of the demilitarized zone, and Nuqueib in the southern sector of the demilitarized zone, were destroyed by explosives or by fire.
This hostile and inhuman act by Israel forces which had occupied the demilitarized zone was committed with the intention of hindering the Arabs of these villages from returning to their homes and with the intention of placing the United Nations authorities, in charge of assuring the return to normal civilian life, before a fait accompli.
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