Rope from the Sky in Around the World in 80 Books

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Feb 15, 2019 Andrea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: east-africa, africa, geography

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, no political cause in Africa has captured the sympathies and imaginations of both Africans and Westerners alike in the way of the fate of South Sudan and its people. Held in oppression and economic exploitation for decades by the Sudan government in Khartoum, the people of South Sudan were led in rebellion for decades by John Garang, a charismatic Western educated man who managed to not only organize constant military harrassment of the northern govern Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, no political cause in Africa has captured the sympathies and imaginations of both Africans and Westerners alike in the way of the fate of South Sudan and its people. Held in oppression and economic exploitation for decades by the Sudan government in Khartoum, the people of South Sudan were led in rebellion for decades by John Garang, a charismatic Western educated man who managed to not only organize constant military harrassment of the northern government but also to mobilize supporters worldwide for the noble cause of South Sudanese self government. Garang and other in the south effectively sold a narrative of a poor, oppressed and nominally Christian south tormented and harrassed by a greedy, cruel Islamic north. After considerable involvement and pressure from the US and other western groups, the people of South Sudan voted in a referendum in 2011 to declare themselves an independent country. This was met with wild rejoicing and enthusiasm in South Sudan and in the US. Many South Sudanese returned "home" from northern areas, from Kenya and neighboring countries and from the US, where many of the "lost boys" settled as refugees during the civil war had built new lives for themselves.

Sadly, in a pattern familiar throughout Africa, the lack of strong governing structures and the greed of former rebel leaders led to instability in the new country. John Garang's sudden death shortly before independence quickly illustrated the weaknesses of his personality centered leadership. By 2013, the president, Salva Kiir, and vice president, Riek Machar, were locked in military combat for control of the government and the country's oil producing regions. A ceasefire negotiated in 2016 has not dealt with the fundamental weakness of civil society structures and South Sudan, full of promise and hope, has become a place of violence and despair.

Vertin, a foreign policy analyst and former diplomat with the US government, has written a readable but detailed history of Sudan from approximately 1991 to 2016, the timespan in which South Sudan moved from rebellious territory to independent state and on to one of the most fragile states in Africa. Vertin does an excellent job of creating memorable pictures of the major figures involved while touching frequently on the often naive and frequently unhelpful role of Western "activists" in promoting oversimplified narratives and in uncategorically supporting South Sudanese leaders, even when those leaders betray the people they claim to fight for. Of course, as always, the real victims are the ordinary South Sudanese people whose lives are torn apart by unbelievable violence and destruction, still denied the basic services people in neighboring African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda take for granted. A tragic story well told. ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 Erica marked it as to-read

Shelves: history, non-fiction, africa

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Around the World in 80 Books