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Darfur

Darfur

Julie Flint | Alex de Waal

(2008)

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Book Details

Abstract

Written by two authors with unparalleled first-hand experience of Darfur, this is the definitive guide. Newly updated and hugely expanded, this edition details Darfur's history in Sudan. It traces the origins, organization and ideology of the infamous Janjawiid and rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. It also analyses the brutal response of the Sudanese government. The authors investigate the responses by the African Union and the international community, including the halting peace talks and the attempts at peacekeeping. Flint and de Waal provide an authoritative and compelling account of contemporary Africa's most controversial conflict.
Alex de Waal is a writer and activist on African issues. He is a programme director at the Social Science Research Council, a fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and a director of Justice Africa. His books include Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan (1989), Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa (1997), Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa (2004) and Aids and Power: Why There is No Political Crisis - Yet (2006) Julie Flint is a journalist and film-maker. She divides her time between London and the Middle East. She has worked on from Colombia to China and has won several awards. She has been writing about Sudan since 1992, initially as Horn of Africa correspondent for The Guardian and later as a freelance with a special interest in human rights. Her work includes the BBC film Sudan's Secret War (1995) and The Scorched Earth (2000) and Darfur Destroyed (2004).
'Disentangling myth from reality in Darfur is so difficult that the credentials of those who judge events there are particularly important. Those of both authors of this ... work are excellent' 'A masterpiece.' Sudan - The Passion of the Present http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/11/the_word_is_gen.html 11-29-2005 'This brilliant book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the complex history of Darfur and how the very name became synonymous with suffering.' Mia Farrow 'Alex de Waal and Julie Flint have written the definitive history of the Darfur conflict. Very detailed and thoroughly documented from first hand sources, the book will quickly become a classic and will correct some of the outside misperceptions of who did what to whom and why. They have written a balanced account of a very disturbing story, made more confused by government and rebel propaganda, by letting participants and eyewitness observers tell their stories.' Andrew Natsios, Former Administrator of USAID and US Special Envoy to Sudan 'This is among the best works available on the current Darfur crisis. For a blow by blow account of developments, there is none better.' Mahmood Mamdani, University of Columbia ‘The book is an impressive source of detailed information about a conflict that has been grossly over-simplified by most western reporters and advocacy groups.' Alan J. Kuperman, Lyndon B. Johnson, School of Public Affairs University of Texas 'That is the book Darfur: fast: moving, insightful, elaborate and intriguing; ... So graphic the stories, it is as good as watching a movie on Darfur; you see what you read' 'For anyone who wants to understand the politics of Sudan, the history of the suffering peoples and the possible solutions, this is the right book.' Sunday Monitor Praise for the First Edition: 'The best introduction is Darfur: A Short History of a Long War by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal...their accounts are as readable as they are tragic' Nicholas D. Kristof in 'The New York Review of Books' ‘A very clear-sighted account ... the book I would give first to anyone wanting to become acquainted with the crisis in Darfur.’ African Affairs

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
About the authors\r i
African Arguments\r ii
Contents\r vii
Acknowledgements\r viii
Preface to the second edition\r ix
1 | The people of Darfur\r 1
Dor village\r 2
A history of statehood and ethnicity\r 6
Islam in Darfur\r 9
Becoming Sudanese\r 11
2 |\rThe Sudan government 16
Sudan's Islamic revolution\r 17
Counter-insurgency on the cheap\r 23
Ali Osman Mohamed Taha,\r 'hero of Sudan' 25
3 | The Janjawiid\r 33
Musa Hilal, a big sheikh\r 35
Roots of the northern Janjawiid\r 40
The death of the old order\r 44
The Arab Gathering\r 47
The Masalit war: 'the beginning of the organization of the Janjawiid'\r 56
From Aamo to Misteriha\r 64
Arming the South Darfur Arabs\r 66
Countdown to war\r 68
4 | The rebels\r 71
The Fur resistence\r 75
The Zaghawa link\r 77
When did the insurrection begin?\r 81
Looking for friends\r 87
Search for a cohesive leadership\r 94
The Justice and Equality \rMovement 99
From The Black Book to guerilla operations\r 102
Throwing off the past\r 105
'The Kobe control everything!' 110
5 | A war of total destruction, 2003-04\r 116
'The planes are ashes'\r 120
Unleashing the Janjawiid\r 123
Bombing Darfur\r 131
Impunity\r 132
Minni Minawi's war\r 135
The war spreads south\r 140
Starving Darfur\r 145
Keeping the secret\r 147
6 | Wars within wars, 2005-06\r 150
South Darfur burns\r 152
Criminality and confusion\r 153
The Baggara struggle for neutrality\r 158
The intra-rebel war\r 162
7 | International reaction\r 167
'Africa responded with its heart, not its head'\r 173
Opening the eyes of the world\r 179
'The biggest activist movement since anti-apartheid'\r 183
'Things are getting worse'\r 187
The responsibility to protect\r 191
8 | The Abuja peace talks\r 200
Fighting and talking\r 205
Confusion in Abuja\r 208
Drafting the Darfur Peace Agreement\r 211
Forcing the peace\r 217
Obituary on Abuja\r 225
9 | Endless chaos\r 230
'We can kill anyone who is against this agreement'\r 231
'What peace are you talking about?'\r 236
'God willing, on our way to Khartoum'\r 242
Double-dealing in Asmara\r 249
The elusive search for unity\r 252
The neglected soldiers\r 257
The attack on AMIS at Haskanita\r 262
Getting the UN to Darfur\r 267
The politics of exhaustion\r 273
Chronology\r 277
Glossary\r 281
Dramatis personae\r 283
The government 283
Arab leaders 284
Northern Sudanese political leaders 284
The Rebels: Sudan Liberation Army 285
The Rebels: the Justice and Equality Movement 285
The rebels: others 286
Sudan People's Liberation Army 286
Chad 287
Notes\r 288
Chapter 1 288
Chapter 2 288
Chapter 3 289
Chapter 4 291
Chapter 5 294
Chapter 6 298
Chapter 7 299
Chapter 8 302
Chapter 9 303
Bibliography\r 307
Index\r 311
Photo plate section\r Plate1
1 Suni market in Jebel Marra, 1986 Plate1
2 Lake Gineik in North Darfur, 2004 Plate2
3 The road to Aamo, 1985 Plate3
4 Shiekh Hilal Mohamed Abdalla, 1985 Plate4
5 Musa Hilal, 2004 Plate4
6 Um Jalul boys at Aamo, 1985 Plate5
7 A Masalit rebel, 2004 Plate5
8 A Masalit village, 2004 Plate6
9 Shoba village, 2002 Plate7
10 Abdel Wahid al Nur, 2005 Plate8
11 Zaghawa fighters, 2004 Plate8
12 JEM fighters, 2004 Plate9
13 Ismail Adam Mohamed 'Abunduluk', 2007 Plate9
14 Shoba village, 2002 Plate10
15 Fur rebels from Korma, 2007 Plate11
16 Food distribution, 2005 Plate12
17 The DPA signing ceremony, 2006 Plate12
18 Heavy weapons, 2007 Plate13
19 Al Salam camp, 2005 Plate14
20 Bir Maza village, 2007 Plate15
21 AMIS personnel, 2007 Plate16
22 Anwar Ahmad Khater in jail, 2007 Plate16