An unquestionably important, oral-history collection presents the first-person stories of survivors of the genocide in Darfur, a region in western Sudan where the Sudanese government is accused of abetting the murder of an estimated 400,000 persons.
The genocide in Darfur erupted in 2003 but its seeds had been planted years before. Following years of attacks on their villages, livelihoods and persons, as well as political and economic disenfranchisement by the Government of Sudan, the black Africans of Darfur rebelled. In retaliation, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had his troops and an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, carry out a scorched earth policy that resulted the in killing of noncombatants, men, women, children, and the elderly. In the process, females of all ages were raped, hundreds of villages were burned to the ground, and over two million people were forced from their villages. By mid-2007, estimates of those who had been killed or had perished due lack of water, starvation, or injuries, ranged from a low of 250,000 to over 400,000.
This two volume set presents the harrowing stories of survivors of this genocide, and includes a collection of official documents delineating the international community's reaction to the crisis in Darfur. The author has interviewed two dozen Sudanese refugees who fled their homes and made their way to the neighboring country of Chad, recording their experiences prior to the war, during various genocide events, and following their escape. Those interviews comprise Volume One. In Volume Two, the author has selected critical documents issued by the United States, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court, each of which presents critical insights into how the international community viewed the scorched earth policy and atrocities and how it reached to such. An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide is an invaluable record of how easily a powerful government can turn against a country's weaker minorities.