From the author of the acclaimed Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, this is the first analysis of the crisis in Darfur to consider the events of the last few years within the context of Sudans history, and to critically examine the efficacy of the worlds response to the crisis.
Illuminating the deeply rooted causes of the current conflict, Mahmood Mamdani explains how British colonialism tribalised Darfur, dividing its population into so-called native and settler tribes, and creating homelands for the former at the expense of the latter. A severe drought triggered a civil war between these groupings in 198789, and the conflict reignited in the 1990s when the government tried unsuccessfully to tackle the issue of land allocation. The effects of the Cold War in exacerbating the 40-year civil war in Chad, and how this impacted on Darfur, are analysed.
In 2003, the rise of two rebel movements led to a brutal insurgency and counter-insurgency campaign. By then, the conflict involved national, regional and global forces, including a powerful western lobby dressed up as humanitarian intervention and calling for military involvement in Darfur.
Incisive and authoritative, Saviours and Survivors radically alters our understanding of the crisis in Darfur and inspires readers to look beneath the media hype that often accompanies reporting on Africa. Mamdani cautions against drawing simple caricatures of conflict in Africa and encourages us to look more deeply into the causes of conflict in order to be able to address it effectively.
Co-published with Pantheon Books, New York
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Acknowledgments
Map
Introduction
Part I: The Save Darfur Movement and the Global War on Terror
1 Globalizing Darfur
2 The Politics of the Movement to Save Darfur
Part II: Darfur in Context
3 Writing Race into History
4 Sudan and the Sultanate of Dar Fur
5 A Colonial Map of Race and Tribe: Making Settlers and Natives
6 Building Nation and State in Independent Sudan
7 The Cold War and Its Aftermath
Part III: Rethinking the Darfur Crisis
8 Civil War, Rebellion, and Repression
Conclusion: Responsibility to Protect or Right to Punish?
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
In this first segment of a five-part podcast package, the HSRC’s Suren Pillay introduces Professor Mahmood Mamdani, who looks at divergent claims on the number of people killed in the conflict.
Duration: 4 min 25 sec
