The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur

In September 2004 Colin Powell officially labeled the atrocious killings in Darfur as genocide. The author, a former United States Marine, was one of only three Americans hired by the African Union to document those killings. He had neither a mandate to protect civilians nor the directive to fight back if aggressed. His job was only to observe and take pictures. He remained in Darfur for over 6 months, longer than any other observer, and was regarded by many Sudanese as family. When he finally left back to the States, many were saddened by his departure. The title of the book refers to the "Janjaweed", a tribe supported by the Sudanese government, who attacked not just rebels, but black African civilians. The civilians referred to them as the devil on horseback. According to the author, the Janjaweed, together with government troops, murdered the black African civilians because their skin color was blacker, or darker, than the Arab blacks. The government wanted to get rid of all the `black' non-Arab Africans living in Sudan. When I read this, I had to pause and ask two Sudanese friends of mine if this was true. "Could the Sudanese government be killing its own citizens based on skin color?" I asked. The answer I got was one I did not expect. The following might just be a conspiracy theory, who knows. According to my two Sudanese friends, the situation in Sudan is political, not racial. Darfur is rich in oil and other minerals. China is in Sudan drilling for oil and mining for other natural resources. The US is not too happy about this situation, and wants China out of Sudan (and out of Africa). So my friends think that the US is behind these killings. Remember the saying, "divide and rule"? The US is not doing the killings itself, but supporting various groups and turning tribes against each other to instill chaos. I do not believe this could be possible. Still, I lost a lot of sleep over what my two Sudanese friends had told me. After all, the CIA is notoriously known for supporting rebels when it suits its purposes. For example, it supported the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation; its support for rebels in Cuba and Nicaragua; its role in the overthrow of governments both in Africa and in the Far East during World War II and the cold war. In the book, `Charlie Wilson's War', for example, the author describes how the US was helping the Mujahedeen secretly, and how they had to give them Soviet made weaponry as well as unconventional weaponry tinkered by the CIA in order that no trace points back to the US. In other words, the US would always be in a position to deny any support for the Mujahedeen, and no proof could ever be found indicating the contrary. The author describes in detail the horror he saw in Darfur: the mutilated bodies; children crushed to death; eyes plucked out; limbs chopped off; decaying bodies in the sun...the real work of the devil. How could anyone do such atrocities? Worse, how could anyone allow s

Last night I saw the film `The Devil Came On Horseback'. Through the efforts of Brian and Gretchen Steidle, I was able to sweat in the baking sun and travel the raw dirt roads of Africa to bear witness to outrageously evil and willful acts of violence. I was also able to sit and sob with the victims of these horrendous acts - those who had lost their homes, their families and some their very flesh during this still ongoing genocide in Darfur. I was given the opportunity to see their beautiful souls as well as their great and dire need. To say that `The Devil Came On Horseback' was a wonderful and awe-inspiring film may sound strange. But as I watched the stories of individual survivors and the atrocities they had suffered, I felt my own sleeping spirit rise and a deep desire to help these people with whom I now felt so connected. I felt alive and blessed, strong and powerful and more fully awake than I had in years. Ironically, I am able to empathize with some of the individuals in the film. I believe we all have faced tragedy and loss in our lives. We all have scars from our personal battles - we have all felt alone and scared. The people of Darfur are right now fighting for their very existence. Why? Because they had the audacity to be born on a particular piece of land that some insane people think they should own exclusively? And doesn't this all sound awfully familiar? Haven't we seen these same hideous events way too many times in the past? Did you have the nerve to be born brown or Jewish or female? We are born into our various shapes, colors and beliefs. We are all different and yet so very much the same. We cannot be silent and accept the torture and murder of our fellow humans. We must tell all those who seek to harm others and specifically now those committing genocide in Darfur - WE SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND IT IS NOT OKAY. YOU WILL STOP AND YOU WILL PAY. Please help open the eyes and raise the voices of everyone you know.

I just got The Devil Came on Horseback, Bearing witness to the genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace. OH MY GAWD!!! I read an article in the Calendar section about a documentary that was playing in Laemmle theaters either based on this book, or based on the same experiences that the book is based on. I followed a link or two on the internet and found this book. Basically, the author was assigned to Darfur to monitor a cease fire, and to document any violations (which were apparently rampant). I'm only 19 pages into the book so far, and OH MY GAWD!!! Well it's eye-opening. I've been listening to the news about Darfur, and was curious to know about what is behind the conflict (or who more particularly), and why is it persisting. I thought a first-hand account of someone who was actually there would be the best way to find out. I have to give you a little snippet here that evoked the most emotion from me so far: As far as I could tell, for women life was extremely difficult. Sudan was primarily a patriarchal society, yet the women were the laborers. They might walk five or six hours with huge bundles of firewood or five-gallon buckets on their heads to collect their daily water. Girls could be sold by their fathers into marriage for as little as two cows--roughly $400--and human trafficking was not uncommon. Women were stoned to death in some places if they cheated on their husbands, but men were legally allowed to take up to four wives. In almost all circumstances, men would not even stand next to a woman. The men would sit, and the women would stand behind them. I had heard that approsimately 90 percent of Sudanese women still undergo female genital mutilation, and I learned that there are two methods. The first removes only the clitoris, but the second procedure involves sewing the vagina closed, often using thorns. I have certainly heard about the first form of mutilation, but not the second. I just think it is something no human should have to experience. And then a little later on the next page there is this little tidbit, "... there was a broadly believed myth that having sex with a virgin would cure you of AIDS." My goodness. No wonder AIDS is such an epidemic! Confronted with the same risks, I might want to sew up my vagina too. But I suppose it doesn't really stop the rapes. I remember in school learning about things like the Holocaust and thinking, "Those were the olden days. The world is civilized now." Naive doesn't even begin to cover it. No, I think atrocities like these will never really end unless and until we can confront the evils within ourselves. What can lead a human to do to another human such inhumane things?

The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace is the story of Captain Steidle's year as an observer with the African Union Mission in Darfur. The book is an earnest account of attacks Steidle witnessed and investigated, and the photographs section is particularly powerful. It's a must-read to understand what life on the ground for Darfuri civilians was like during some of the worst of the genocide in 2004. There are some very disturbing descriptions of attacks but there are also heartwarming moments of international (and local) understanding that will someday help end the crisis.