Saviors and survivors: Book cover.
Book review by Joshua F Leach.
Saviors and survivors
Darfur, politics, and the war on terror
Mahmood Mamdani
Pantheon, 2009.
Nowhere in the entire book the figure of 2.7 million is mentioned. That is the 2.7 million Darfuris who have been internally displaced by the fighting. Meanwhile, Mamdani does his best to make a case for ludicrously low estimates of mortality figures in Darfur — little more than a few hundred a month after the worst period of fighting ended in 2005 — while brushing off the figures reported by human rights groups and experts such as Eric Reeves, which put the death toll between 300,000 and 400,000. He also gives an account of the history of the atrocities which is belied by the facts.
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That other conflicts outside of Darfur are not receiving their fair share of media attention is no doubt true and regrettable, which is why we have a need for independent media committed to holding all human rights abusers to account. But, instead of making this legitimate point, Mamdani has chosen to act as an apologist for the Sudanese regime, to stifle progress towards justice, and to stand up for some of the world’s worst human rights abusers. One wishes he could have used his intellect in the service of a better cause.
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