Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Published in Southern Africa by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za ISBN (soft cover) 978-0-7969-2252-6 ISBN (pdf) 978-0-7969-2253-3 Published 2009 © 2009 Mahmood Mamdani First published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited The views expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Human Sciences Research Council (‘the Council’) or indicate that the Council endorses the views of the author. In quoting from this publication, readers are advised to attribute the source of the information to the author and not to the Council. Cover by FUEL Design, Cape Town Printed by Logo Print, Cape Town, South Africa Distributed in Southern Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Map of Sudan viii Introduction 3 Part I: The Save Darfur Movement and the Global War on Terror 1 Globalising Darfur 19 2 The Politics of the Movement to Save Darfur 48 Part II: Darfur in Context 3 Writing Race into History 75 4 Sudan and the Sultanate of Dar Fur 109 5 A Colonial Map of Race and Tribe: Making Settlers and Natives 145 6 Building Nation and State in Independent Sudan 171 7 The Cold War and its Aftermath 206 Part III: Rethinking the Darfur Crisis 8 Civil War, Rebellion, and Repression 231 Conclusion: Responsibility to Protect or Right to Punish? 271 Notes 301 Select Bibliography 357 Index 375 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I went to Sudan in 2003, I could not have imagined that it would be the beginning of an incredibly rewarding five-year-long journey. This acknowledgment is an opportunity to thank those family, friends, and colleagues, without whose solidarity I doubt I would have been able to complete it. I was lucky to have two old and dear Sudanese friends who were then resident in Khartoum: Mohamed el Gaddal, historian at the University of Khartoum, and Abdelrahman Abu Zayd, a colleague at Makerere University in 1972 and, subsequently, vice chancellor of a number of universities in Sudan. Both took time to introduce me to a wide of range of intellectuals and activists. Alas, both passed away before this book was finished. I was also lucky that a friend from my days in Dar es Salaam, Jyoti Rajkudalia, was working with World Food Programme in Khartoum and knew the ins and outs of the international developmental bureaucracy in Sudan. To Jyoti, who was my host in 2003, and to Nazar and Hanan, who welcomed me into their home time and again over years, and to Samia Ahmed and Mohamed, who I turned to every time I needed a guiding hand in the world of NGO activism, my deepest thanks. The Sudanese are a generous people, and particularly so once they are convinced that you do not have a hidden agenda. Many helped me with their time and contacts as I tried to identify and connect with various tendencies – whether in the academy or in political parties, or in the world of Darfuri politics – even when they were not always wholly com- fortable with my line of inquiry and the tentative conclusions I seemed to draw from findings. It is difficult to recall every helping hand, but there were some who helped me so willingly and unselfishly that I devel- oped a habit of turning to them every time I was stuck: Salah Hasan at Cornell; and in Sudan, Mohamed al-Amin el Tom; Siddiq R. Umbadda; Atta el-Batahani; Adlan A. Hardallo; Amal Hamza; Farouk M. Ibrahim; Ali Saleiman; Nasredeem Hussein Hassan; Salah Shazali; Dr. Eltayeb Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za vi Acknowledgements Hag Ateya, director, Peace Research Institute; and Professor Yusuf Fadl Hassan, the doyen of Sudanese history; Mansour Khalid of SPLA; and Abdulqadir Mohammed of the African Union. Every endeavour has its infrastructure, and research is no exception. I am grateful for the generous technical assistance of a number of librari- ans: Yuusuf Caruso, the Africa librarian at Columbia University; Abdul Fattah at Graduate College Library, University of Khartoum; Abbas Azzain at Sudan Library; Khalda at Sudan Records Office; and Jane Hogan at Sudan Archive of Durham University. Professor Ash Amin, executive director of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham Univer- sity, of which I was a fellow for a short but invaluable period in 2008, was thoughtful and gracious in meeting my needs. A number of research assistants helped me identify sources and gather information: Amel al-Dehaib at the University of Khartoum; and Brenda Coughlin, Anders Wallace, Rebecca Yeh, and Sarah Kim at Columbia University. Most important of all, I have benefitted from invaluable interlocutors and guides: Tim Mitchell at Columbia University; Jay Spaulding at Kean University; Bob Meister at the University of California, Santra Cruz; Tomaz Mastanak at the University of California, Santa Clara; Abdelwahib el-Affendi at the University of London; Noah Soloman at the University of Chicago; and, above all, members of my study group in New York City: Talal Asad, Partha Chatterjee, David Scott, and Carlos Forment. They read at least one draft, sometimes several, and made invaluable suggestions, some of which I eagerly embraced and incorporated into the manuscript. Without their solidarity, writing would have been a lonely exercise. It is a pleasure to thank my editor at Pantheon, Shelley Wanger, for her valuable guidance and generous support. The funding for this research came from several sources: the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the African Union. I thank them here, and explain the precise nature of their assistance in the introduction. Finally, I take this opportunity to thank those who tolerated me under trying conditions. My eighty-six-year old father, who spends the warmer parts of the year with us, has learned to endure long periods of rude silence from his eldest son, as we sit and read in the same room. My wife, Mira, has been a constant source of inspiration and support, as she Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za vii Acknowledgements teaches one and all how to combine work and family, life and love; and our rapidly growing son, Zohran, continues to look with curiosity and concern at the world his parents’ generation made. I dedicate this book to those who inspired the African Union’s work in Darfur. Unsung and unacknowledged, they had the foresight, tenac- ity, and vision to work for a tomorrow in which Africa may be able to identify and correct its own problems. They understood that the right of reform can only belong to those who are able to safeguard their inde- pendence. Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za To those who seek to make an independent African Union, and especially to Abdulqadir Mohammed, Sam Ibok, Salim Ahmed Salim, and Alpha Oumar Konaré Who understood that only those who are able to safeguard their independence can dare to pursue a path of reform Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za [...]... sultanates of Funj, Dar Fur, Wadai, Baguirmi, and Bornu Centered on the tenth parallel north, the belt consists of broadly similar weather, soil, and vegetation features and is particularly suited to nomadic cattle keeping The area is inhabited by many groups, Arab and non-Arab, pastoral and agricultural, but the Baggara 12 Saviours and Survivors are characteristic of it and the most numerous In contrast, the... region of Darfur, between the highlands and the border with Chad, are among the richest agricultural lands in Sudan, where farmers grow grains for domestic use and fruits (mangoes, oranges) for markets The second geographic zone in the province is the qoz, or the southern savanna region This vast flat and sandy region of dunes extending across central and southern Darfur and neighboring Kordofan supports... zone suffered devastating drought and famine in the early 1970s and then again in the 1980s In Sudan, the worst impact was felt in the central and northern states, particularly in Northern Kordofan, Northern state, North Darfur and West Darfur, and the Red Sea and White Nile states The most severe drought occurred in 1980–84 and was accompanied by widespread displacement and localised famine A comparison... camels and sheep and is the home of nomadic camel pastoralism For as long as its inhabitants can remember, the Sahelian belt has been spotted with baobab and acacia trees and sparse grass cover But since the late twentieth century, it has been subjected to desertification and soil erosion caused by a combination of natural climate change and human activity.6 Corresponding to this natural habitat—highlands,... natural habitat—highlands, savanna, and the Introduction 11 Sahel7—are distinctive ways of life Rain-watered hand-hoe agriculture is practiced in the central highlands; cattle nomadism prevails in the southern savanna and camel nomadism in the northern and northeastern parts of the province.8 Camels and cattle occupy different ecological zones Camels will not survive in land that is wet or muddy or where... reconciliation in one country and genocide in another, none of us could have been expected to identify the locations correctly—for the simple reason that 1984 was the year of reconciliation in Rwanda and repression in the townships of South Africa Indeed, as subsequent events showed, there was nothing inevitable about either genocide in Rwanda or reconciliation in South Africa 8 Saviours and Survivors Thus, the... trees, and many food crops, both rainwater-fed and irrigated, from citrus trees to bulrush millet, tobacco and cotton, and even tomatoes and melons The rainfall in the central qoz is sufficient to support agriculture through the runoff that collects in transient surface drainage systems With a relatively regular rainfall and seasonal watercourses, the qoz is home to both permanent settlement and cattle... assumptions that underlie contemporary discussions on Darfur, and the more I was led to think through—academics would say, 14 Saviours and Survivors problematise—these assumptions My way of examining an assumption was to unravel its genealogy: When and in what context did it come into being, and how does it facilitate or obscure an understanding of contemporary realities? Over time, this reflection gave... claims to have learned from Rwanda But what is the lesson of Rwanda? For many of those mobilised to save Darfur, the lesson is to rescue before it is too late, to act before seeking to understand Though it is never explicitly stated, Rwanda is recalled as a time when we thought we needed to know more; we waited to find out, to learn the difference between Tutsi and Hutu, and why one was killing the other,... in central Sudan and that of Dar Fur to its west, and the third was the southern periphery, which both sultanates had over the centuries turned into a reserve for the capture of prized booty, mainly slaves and ivory The two sultanates—Funj and Dar Fur—make up the bulk of northern Sudan and encompass its two major ecological zones Central Sudan is watered by the Nile River year-round and, for that reason, . of natural climate change and human activity. 6 Corresponding to this natural habitat—highlands, savanna, and the Saviours and Survivors 10 Free download. government and now the government of China and turn a deaf ear to experts who they claim only complicate the story with so many Saviours and Survivors 6 Free