This is a devastating account of the war in Darfur which has been called a genocide perpetrated by the Arab Sudanese north against the non-Arab Sudanese south. Here, the conflict is seen through the eyes of Brian Steidle, a one-time American Marine who agreed to be an unarmed observer of the war for the African Union, a war which has displaced more than five million Darfurians, the strain of which probably triggered a civil war in neighboring Chad.
There are three major threads running through Mr. Steidle's powerful recounting. He details the difficulties of being a war-time observer tasked with capturing evidence of atrocities, all the while knowing that he has no weapon with which to defend himself against combatants who have every interest in keeping the atrocities they commit secret. He relates the subsistence level conditions of many of the Darfurians, men and women who live with so little that Mr. Steidle finds re-adjusting to life in America difficult -- our overabundance of stuff overwhelms him. And finally, he covers the war itself, its origins and it's tragedies. Deeply affected by what he has seen, he attempts to draw international attention to the war, speaking with human rights groups and heads of state in hopes of improving the situation.
Though Mr. Steidle's account is tinged with a certain religiosity, that is about the only flaw I can find in a compelling book about a part of the world unfairly and cruelly bathed in blood. All this ruin over territory, and pride, and racism, and a false sense of superiority. This is an excellent and worthwhile read. (4/5 Stars)
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