Emma’s War
I read this book during my most recent trip to Africa. This is a great book to read if you want to get a background on the current situation in the Sudan. Emma’s War tells the true story of British aid worker Emma McCune. While working in the Sudan, she falls in love with and marries a Sudanese warlord named Riek Machar. Don’t get the wrong idea, this is by no means a romance novel. Riek is a Nuer, one of the largest tribes in southern Sudan. The Nuer and Dinka tribes of southern Sudan make up the majority of the rebel groups that were/are fighting the Arab government from the North. The rebels are led by John Garang, who recently died in a helicopter accident. The rebels are fighting the Arab government, because of its insistence on implementing Sharia, as the ruling law of Sudan. Most of the south is Christian or Pagan, so they are obviously opposed to Sharia. John Garang wants to free the entire Sudan, while members of his rebel want to make the south a separate country, rather than trying to free the North as well. This leads to a fracture in the rebel group, with Riek fighting Garang and allying himself with the Arab North. Of course, the situation is complicated by the presence of natural resources. Chevron has found a potential oil deposit, and both the North and South want control.
The book details some of the atrocities that are perpetrated by both sides in the struggle. The thing that really shocked me was the politics in the region. The allegiances were constantly shifting. One day, an ethnic group is slaughtering another, the next, they are allies and vice-versa. It was also interesting to see how this played into the current situation with the fight against Islamic extremism. Our pal, Osama Bin Laden, makes a cameo in the book. You’ll just have to read it to find out how he plays into all of this.
If you want an excellent background on the situation in the Sudan, and a good insight into some of the issues with the aid “industry”, I’d really recommend this book. It is quite a long book, but it was so good I finished in only a few days.
Apparently they are making this into a movie starring Nicole Kidman. Read this book before they make it into a terrible movie.
