GERARD PRUNIER. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. (Crises in World Politics.) Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. 2005. Pp. xxiii, 212. $24.00

Abstract

This volume places the recent Darfur crisis in western Sudan in deep historical perspective. Termed “genocide” by the international community, the crisis began three years ago when rebels, disgruntled with the central government's neglect in their far western province, attacked government outposts. In response the latter sent in armed bandits, janjaweed (evil horsemen), to punish the rebels. This resulted in the death of a quarter of a million people, while a third of the province has been displaced, many Sudanese fleeing west into Chad. There are five chapters. Gérard Prunier begins with deep background into what was originally an Islamic sultanate, birthed in the fourteenth century and annexed by the British to Sudan in 1916. The following chapters concern the relationship between Darfur and Khartoum, Sudan's capital; the region has never been fully integrated into the modern nation of Sudan but remains peripheral. The volume then proceeds quickly to the initiation of the present-day tensions when neighboring Libya and Chad became involved during the devastating famine of 1984. Chapters four and five cover the subsequent Darfur revolt and the resulting retribution and slaughter by agents of the Sudanese fundamentalist Islamic government.