Such thinking was Ahmat Acyl’s “gift” to Sudan and an important factor, according to de Waal, in explaining Darfur’s landslide into war. Another perceived oversight is a lack of discussion on the “Arab supremacist ideology, which holds that the lineal descents of the Prophet Mohammed and his Qoreish tribe (to which Ahmat Acyl belongs)” 1 are entitled to rule Muslim lands.

Indeed, some authorities, most notably Alex de Waal, African scholar and program director of the Social Sciences Research Council in New York, lament the gaps in Prunier’s research.įor example, key actors like Ahmat Acyl Aghbash, who, according to de Waal, is the legacy behind the Janjawiid militia, have been omitted from Prunier’s account. Prunier’s account of the current crisis in Darfur is conduced by four important factors: 1) Khartoum’s role and its militia 2) the Sahelian famine of 1985 and general economic disparity in particular parts of the country 3) the interference by outside actors and states, especially Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi of Libya, and President Idriss Deby of Chad and 4) the continuous relegation and marginalization of Darfur in Sudanese history and politics by successive Sudanese governments and by bordering state governments.įor all that is good about the book, it is not the final word on the crisis. Although Prunier’s style of writing is fluid, the number of facts presented means that, inevitably, readers are forced to re-orient themselves, using either the glossary of Arabic terms, the map, or a list of abbreviations. In less than 200 pages, Prunier provides a competent sketch of the history of Darfur, and the current crisis within the politics of Sudan and the region.

Furthermore, he wisely counsels readers against seeking a coherence of facts: teleology, the doctrine of design and purpose in the material world, he says, is a “pitfall to be avoided.” Indeed, he stresses the need for a separate ethnographic study of Darfur as a region.

Prunier avoids a simplistic, binary “Arab versus African” conclusion. For more information on accessing this file, please visit our help page.Īuthor of The Rwandan Crisis: History of a Genocide, Gérard Prunier’s latest book on the crisis in Darfur provides a more sophisticated context in which to “understand” the political violence in Sudan.

Darfur by Gérard Prunier