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Darfur: A Short History of a Long War
Sudan's westernmost region, Darfur, sprang from oblivion into sudden notoriety early in 2004, when a war of hideous proportions unleashed what the United Nations called 'the world's worst humanitarian crisis' and the United States labelled 'genocide.' For the last two years, the conflict has been simplified to pictures of immense sprawling refugee camps and lurid accounts of 'Arabs' murdering 'Africans.'
Behind these images lies a complex and fascinating story of a unique and remote region of Africa, home to Muslim peoples with a unique history. In the 20th century, Darfur became synonymous with poverty and neglect, culminating in famine and a series of undeclared and unacknowledged wars in the 1980s and '90s. This book details the history of Darfur, its conflicts, and the designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli.
Much of the story of the war in Darfur has remained untold until now. This book investigates the identity of the infamous 'Janjawiid' militia, tracing its origins, organization and ideology. It inquires into the nature of the insurrection launched by two rebel groups, the radical Sudan Liberation Army and the more Islamist-oriented Justice and Equality Movement. It charts the unfolding crisis and the confused international response, including the African Union's first major venture into peacemaking and peacekeeping. The book concludes by asking what the future holds in store for Darfur.
Behind these images lies a complex and fascinating story of a unique and remote region of Africa, home to Muslim peoples with a unique history. In the 20th century, Darfur became synonymous with poverty and neglect, culminating in famine and a series of undeclared and unacknowledged wars in the 1980s and '90s. This book details the history of Darfur, its conflicts, and the designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli.
Much of the story of the war in Darfur has remained untold until now. This book investigates the identity of the infamous 'Janjawiid' militia, tracing its origins, organization and ideology. It inquires into the nature of the insurrection launched by two rebel groups, the radical Sudan Liberation Army and the more Islamist-oriented Justice and Equality Movement. It charts the unfolding crisis and the confused international response, including the African Union's first major venture into peacemaking and peacekeeping. The book concludes by asking what the future holds in store for Darfur.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2005
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February 29, 2012
In the predominantly Kobe village of Girgira close to the Chad border, local people said that Antonovs, gunships, troops, and militia from West Darfur killed 148 people in January 2004. [the quote relates the story of one woman who was held and raped for 7 days, whose handicapped brother was shot and his body tied to hers, and who was lit on fire. She eventually died of burns in a hospital after telling her story.] In Girgira, Cox [a journalist] found five freshly dug graves 3 meters long and 2 wide. Decomposing bodies were piled on top of each other, with loose earth tossed over them. Grain stores, the village school, and mosque had all been burned. Almost every mud hut was destroyed. Cox was struck by the attackers' 'attention to detail.' 'Many hundreds of cooking bowls and utensils were littered around-- they all had a bullet put through them, rendering them useless,' he said. 'This was not just a frenzy of murder. Time had been taken to target the things that would be needed for survival.' [p. 133-4]
This book surveys of the history and stakeholders at play and then provides in-depth coverage of the 2002-2007 or so height of the Darfur conflict. Darfur: A New History of a Long War is the most definitive political history of the recent Darfur conflict available, as far as I know.
I should have read this book with a large piece of paper and markers at hand, to create a visual of events and their corresponding feedback loops. Flint and De Waal include a timeline at the end of the book and a glossary of people, but those two references plus a map are not nearly enough to wrap ones head around the extreme complexity of the Darfur situation. At once and interacting, in Darfur there are at play physical and diplomatic wars between nations from the US to Eritrea; there are civil wars between North and South Sudan and the active Chad rebel movements' stronghold; there are Arab supremacist intellectual groups; there are UN troops, African Union troops, and of course Sudanese government troops who fight at times alongside & provide airstrikes for and at times directly combat the 'Janjawiid' local Arab militias; there are multiple Black African rebellion movements along political sectarian lines, ethnic lines, geographic lines, and various backdoor deals; and there are villages at times uniting across all of those lines to bring local peace as well as the dire, brutal resource wars between people of the same locales which seems to be the root and sustainer of everything.
The book is incredibly, exhaustively good for what it is, but it is only what it is-- a political history-- and there are also some huge perspectives of inquiry that the books ignores completely. Which is ok; what they do give is dense and succinct and masterful. But readers need to be conscious of what distinct part of the story they are getting. Flint and de Waal focus on leaders, politicians, and the military to narrate the sweeping, overarching events. While they record a few quotes from villagers who survived conflict, they do not adequately represent the voices or experiences of the targets of violence. Particularly absent is women. For a war in which rape and sexualized violence was used commonly and barbarically as a method of torture and a spoils of war, the absence of women and survivors' opinions, conclusions, and experiences is kind of glaring. A villager-centered, women-centered, and survivor-centered history (and peace process!) must exist (even if it doesn't yet...). This is not that story. But studying this book will help me understand some of the many dynamics at play when/if I find it.
Note that because of this marginalization of conflict victims, when the story does turn to them, it is incredibly jarring. Flint and de Waal will go dozens of pages discussing militia movements and political machinations when suddenly they'll drop a horrifying dose of casual torture mid-paragraph-- a child who was doused in boiling water in front of his mother, a group of women enslaved for sex and cooking and 'housework' for weeks, men hogtied and hung from trees, the impact of tactical starvation of particular regions and peoples. Because the authors focused on leaders and big figures who are mostly immune to the violence, the examples the authors do give feel out of context, inexplicable, and insane. I don't doubt that they are insane, but there's also a logic dictating the depth of brutality, and an explanation of that logic is another important absence in this book.
And finally, just a note that I picked this book up as a peripheral read while I interviewed for a post in South Sudan, and while I was reading it I was notified that I was being considered for a different post near Darfur. Neither panned out, but as I'm still pushing forward with this humanitarian aidwork job search process, it was pretty intense & important to read this at this time.
This book surveys of the history and stakeholders at play and then provides in-depth coverage of the 2002-2007 or so height of the Darfur conflict. Darfur: A New History of a Long War is the most definitive political history of the recent Darfur conflict available, as far as I know.
I should have read this book with a large piece of paper and markers at hand, to create a visual of events and their corresponding feedback loops. Flint and De Waal include a timeline at the end of the book and a glossary of people, but those two references plus a map are not nearly enough to wrap ones head around the extreme complexity of the Darfur situation. At once and interacting, in Darfur there are at play physical and diplomatic wars between nations from the US to Eritrea; there are civil wars between North and South Sudan and the active Chad rebel movements' stronghold; there are Arab supremacist intellectual groups; there are UN troops, African Union troops, and of course Sudanese government troops who fight at times alongside & provide airstrikes for and at times directly combat the 'Janjawiid' local Arab militias; there are multiple Black African rebellion movements along political sectarian lines, ethnic lines, geographic lines, and various backdoor deals; and there are villages at times uniting across all of those lines to bring local peace as well as the dire, brutal resource wars between people of the same locales which seems to be the root and sustainer of everything.
The book is incredibly, exhaustively good for what it is, but it is only what it is-- a political history-- and there are also some huge perspectives of inquiry that the books ignores completely. Which is ok; what they do give is dense and succinct and masterful. But readers need to be conscious of what distinct part of the story they are getting. Flint and de Waal focus on leaders, politicians, and the military to narrate the sweeping, overarching events. While they record a few quotes from villagers who survived conflict, they do not adequately represent the voices or experiences of the targets of violence. Particularly absent is women. For a war in which rape and sexualized violence was used commonly and barbarically as a method of torture and a spoils of war, the absence of women and survivors' opinions, conclusions, and experiences is kind of glaring. A villager-centered, women-centered, and survivor-centered history (and peace process!) must exist (even if it doesn't yet...). This is not that story. But studying this book will help me understand some of the many dynamics at play when/if I find it.
Note that because of this marginalization of conflict victims, when the story does turn to them, it is incredibly jarring. Flint and de Waal will go dozens of pages discussing militia movements and political machinations when suddenly they'll drop a horrifying dose of casual torture mid-paragraph-- a child who was doused in boiling water in front of his mother, a group of women enslaved for sex and cooking and 'housework' for weeks, men hogtied and hung from trees, the impact of tactical starvation of particular regions and peoples. Because the authors focused on leaders and big figures who are mostly immune to the violence, the examples the authors do give feel out of context, inexplicable, and insane. I don't doubt that they are insane, but there's also a logic dictating the depth of brutality, and an explanation of that logic is another important absence in this book.
And finally, just a note that I picked this book up as a peripheral read while I interviewed for a post in South Sudan, and while I was reading it I was notified that I was being considered for a different post near Darfur. Neither panned out, but as I'm still pushing forward with this humanitarian aidwork job search process, it was pretty intense & important to read this at this time.
March 16, 2007
As someone who studies genocide professionally, I can tell you there’s no modern case of ethnic conflict that’s harder to understand, particularly for Westerners, than the current crisis in Darfur. At the onset, the western press was billing the violence as religious based, or merely as spill-over from the years long Civil War in South Sudan. As the government began enlisting the aid of janjaweed militia to fight armed rebels, it became increasingly hard to understand exactly who was fighting who and why.
When Julie Flint and Alex De Waal released Darfur: a short history of a long war, I hoped to find a concise account that would put the entire crisis in easy to understand terms for the average reader. And while this is a concise book, and it does follow a logical format, my major concern is that it’s so top heavy with names that it winds up being too dense for most people.
I will say that the sections on the janjaweed (janjawiid) and the various rebel groups are filled with solid information that’s suitable for anyone with an understanding of the violence in the region. Not only do Flint and De Waal cover the basic ideas that everyone should know, they manage to pack an enormous amount of history and detail into these chapters that I’ll gladly take into the classroom with me.
By comparison, the chapters on the violence and the recent developments come across as rather thin. Even though you’d expect to see a fair amount of detail about the budding humanitarian crisis and the kind of atrocities that led the US to label Darfur a genocide, these are only touched on with a few examples before moving on to other details.
Even as someone who’s been following this crisis since 2002, there were times when I had trouble following the convoluted path of historical facts that Flint and De Waal were attempting to present. While it’s obvious they know their subject, I felt it could have been edited and presented in a slightly easier to follow format. Nonetheless, I find myself wanting to recommend A short history of a long war, merely because it’s the best book on the subject I’ve found thus far.
When Julie Flint and Alex De Waal released Darfur: a short history of a long war, I hoped to find a concise account that would put the entire crisis in easy to understand terms for the average reader. And while this is a concise book, and it does follow a logical format, my major concern is that it’s so top heavy with names that it winds up being too dense for most people.
I will say that the sections on the janjaweed (janjawiid) and the various rebel groups are filled with solid information that’s suitable for anyone with an understanding of the violence in the region. Not only do Flint and De Waal cover the basic ideas that everyone should know, they manage to pack an enormous amount of history and detail into these chapters that I’ll gladly take into the classroom with me.
By comparison, the chapters on the violence and the recent developments come across as rather thin. Even though you’d expect to see a fair amount of detail about the budding humanitarian crisis and the kind of atrocities that led the US to label Darfur a genocide, these are only touched on with a few examples before moving on to other details.
Even as someone who’s been following this crisis since 2002, there were times when I had trouble following the convoluted path of historical facts that Flint and De Waal were attempting to present. While it’s obvious they know their subject, I felt it could have been edited and presented in a slightly easier to follow format. Nonetheless, I find myself wanting to recommend A short history of a long war, merely because it’s the best book on the subject I’ve found thus far.
May 1, 2023
Finished and still utterly confounded (& depressed). Sudan, man, does not look good, at all. Over and over you read about failed negotiations & pointless peace talks. Strongmen leaders who are power hungry & suspicious. Governments that have no ability. Corruption isn’t even the word—. It’s so easy to shake my head at things, as if I know what needs to be done, but I know better: You gotta live in Sudan to comprehend. And I don’t wanna ever live in Sudan. It makes the whole continent look bad, especially when The African Union has been powerless to effect anything. Just bad all around. It reminds me of the pre-Islamic times when tribal politics was the rule of the land. It was pretty bad back then. It’s pretty bad now, worsened by guns. We should all pray for Sudan.
August 1, 2011
The title of this book includes the word 'short' - and it is, but WOW is it DENSE. It took me forever to read because it is packed with people, events, and acronyms that kept me flipping back to the glossary several times on each page (for example: SLA vs SPLA vs SLA W vs SLA M) that said - if you slow down and take the time to absorb the detail this book does do a good job of explaining the roots of this conflict, which is something western news sources fail to do. The best chapters dealt with how anglo- egyptian colonization developed much of the rest of the nation and left Darfur without a even a road to the nearest market, so of course this region is going to attract conflict due simply to the peoples' economic weakness. Another enlightening chapter was about the Janjawiid and how they are a proxy for Khartoum. I was surprised that China wasn't mentioned in the book since I understand that they have oil interests in the region and I was also surprised at the lack of information about the humanitarian crisis (though the authors did do a great job of explaining how governments are manipulating aid and using it as a weapon against those who need it). If you are looking for a book that explains the major players and political activities that have lead to the crisis then this is it.
June 3, 2019
An excellent primer on the genocide in Darfur with a clear analysis of the role of Empire and the processes of decolonization in establishing the relevant factions and patterns of conflict. Particularly well developed are the ethnic disctinctions between the North and South, the varied legacies of British colonial occupation, and the ongoing importance of Saudi support for the al-Bashir regime. Utterly miserable and persistently horrifying, this is history which comes very close to nightmare.
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July 30, 2011A must-read book for any humanitarian aid worker going or working in Darfur. It's the essential book of intensive Darfur 101 course. Alex de Waal and Julie Flint's first book "A short history of a long war" was my helper to understand the situation in Darfur before I arrived and this new book was the more comprehensive summary of the events unfolded in Darfur and allowed me to understand some of the complex dynamics of Darfur after I left. I think the book is well researched, well analysed and well written. It's not easy to understand the Sudanese and Darfurian situation, but this book (and its predecessor) makes it easier to comprehend. Highly recommended.
January 2, 2025
I got this book from the library and it was so good I read thrice. I must have this book in my own personal library. It unpacks a lot of information in a short amount of pages, but it does in such away that holds you. A great and interesting breakdown of Darfur tragedies. Must read playa!!! (2005)
December 24, 2016
Rating: 3.5* of five
A very good potted history of a horrible, horrible humanitarian disaster. It made me feel ill as I read it. Humanity is irredeemable, I fear.
A very good potted history of a horrible, horrible humanitarian disaster. It made me feel ill as I read it. Humanity is irredeemable, I fear.
May 2, 2023
The book is very informative and well written. It analyses a lot the role of regional tribal leaders and individuals in the war, and really emphasises the desperation felt by pragmatic decision makers lost in a sea of blood/money/power thirsty war criminals unable to make a dent in the world system of chaos and impunity. Because it’s such a concise history, it attempts to pack many facts in 134 pages which makes it hard to follow at times, to this I would recommend adding a visual map of who is involved in what with names and organisation affiliation.
More importantly, the event recounted in the book are atrocious, it highlights the futility of war… it is so easy to draw parallels between the lack of humanity that happens in Darfur and the lack of humanity that happens in war like Yemen, Syria and many other places. I would recommend reading it now to get informed about the context behind the current situation in Sudan
More importantly, the event recounted in the book are atrocious, it highlights the futility of war… it is so easy to draw parallels between the lack of humanity that happens in Darfur and the lack of humanity that happens in war like Yemen, Syria and many other places. I would recommend reading it now to get informed about the context behind the current situation in Sudan
June 9, 2024
This book concisely summarizes the conflict in Darfur until 2005. I appreciate the lack of gratuitous descriptions of violence. After all, we should be capable of concern and compassion for others without reading pages and pages of gory details about the suffering they experienced. While not Darfurian or Sudanese, Alex and Julie are both knowledgeable and considerate in their account.
The weak points:
1. It's very dated, at this stage, given ongoing developments in the region and Sudan more broadly. Hence it's not the introduction to the conflict that it once was.
2. It's very focused on individual leaders, tribes, militias, and regimes, which makes it (even for someone who studied the conflict before) challenging to follow at times and difficult to remember. I would need a reread to be able to pass a quiz based on the book.
The weak points:
1. It's very dated, at this stage, given ongoing developments in the region and Sudan more broadly. Hence it's not the introduction to the conflict that it once was.
2. It's very focused on individual leaders, tribes, militias, and regimes, which makes it (even for someone who studied the conflict before) challenging to follow at times and difficult to remember. I would need a reread to be able to pass a quiz based on the book.
May 15, 2023
A great overview to a very complicated situation. The authors do a great job explaining the details within the conflict, and attempt to show multiple viewpoints.
October 12, 2022
This an excellent work of reporting that covers the near-term causes and immediate events of the bout of ethnic cleansing that plagued Sudan's Darfur. It is likely of particular salience as West Africa deals with a bout of ethnic conflicts between herders, farmers and Islamists which I suspect differs little from the events this book illuminates.
Its one downside is a flood of information which might require broad existing knowledge of the region. I don't have that, but I never felt swamped--a testament to the authors' skill.
Its one downside is a flood of information which might require broad existing knowledge of the region. I don't have that, but I never felt swamped--a testament to the authors' skill.
January 14, 2010
Alex de Waal is one of the foremost experts on the situation in Darfur as it stands. This book is comprehensive and fascinating. I learned a lot about the area before the current conflict, as well as what caused the massacres and bloodshed in more recent years. Highly recommended if you want an overview of the conflicts in Darfur's history, and of what's going on now. "Making Sense of Darfur", de Waal's blog, is another great resource.
January 29, 2014
This book was rough to read. It very much reads like a textbook. Most names were long and difficult to recall, although that can't be helped.
I'll be honest in that I wasn't able to retain too much; but, I was able to get a better grasp of the conflict in Darfur. Including the cause, parties, and a general history. I am most definitely better informed but wish I could have retained more.
I'll be honest in that I wasn't able to retain too much; but, I was able to get a better grasp of the conflict in Darfur. Including the cause, parties, and a general history. I am most definitely better informed but wish I could have retained more.
July 27, 2009
Two words: overwhelmingly informatively. But necessary if you really care to understand the context of the Darfur conflict. Highly recommended with one reservation: you have to be rather "committed" to push through the dense text (that often reads like research notes), thin as the book is.
May 31, 2008
There is no more comprehensive book on the causes of the Darfur conflict, but this book is unfortunately very dense and fairly hard to read for anyone who is not already familiar with the region. The information in this book is invaluable, but it's a bit of a slog.
September 9, 2012
One of the best accounts of the conflict(s) in Darfur -- suitable for beginners, as well as those familiar with the region. A must-read before moving on to more analytical books that focus on a particular facet of the conflict (such as Bec Hamilton's excellent "Fighting for Darfur").
December 5, 2007
This is a good short introduction to Darfur for people who just want to get a sense of the conflict and historical background.
April 3, 2008
Amazing job at explaining the intricacies of the conflict without trying to pretend it's not atrocious. And for such a short book, the period it covers is amazingly complex. And sad.
December 16, 2008
Quick print so it was a little rushed, but not a bad book to better understand the roots and the depth of the crisis.
March 18, 2009
this book was very poorly organized and lacked the political and economic analysis i prefer in understanding conflict. instead it attributed much of the conflict to tribal and ethnic identity.
February 20, 2016
There were a lot of opinionated remarks in this book, remarks that are based off documented quotations and situations in the affected regions of Sudan and Chad, especially Darfur.
December 26, 2013
Information overload....
November 10, 2014
A detailed but very dense description of the events of the war in Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.
Read
February 25, 2018Tartuin kirjaan yleissivistyksen nimissä, koska Darfurin konflikti ja sen syyt ovat itselleni käytännössä tuntemattomat. Yleissivistävä kirja onkin puuduttavuuteen asti ja se aloittaa perkaamalla eri heimosuhteita 1800-luvulta alkaen. Tutkijoiden käsialaa oleva kirja on perusteellinen, mutta ei erityisen mielenkiintoinen sisäänheitto kriisiin ja sen syihin.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews