Darfur Genocide Graphically Depicted in Documentary

Darfur Genocide Graphically Depicted in Documentary
Film shows continuing deterioration of security situation

By Lea Terhune


Washington – As world leaders work for a resolution of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, a new film chronicling the depredations of the jingaweit Arab militia gives graphic evidence of atrocities committed there. The Devil Came on Horseback played to a sold-out house at the American Film Institute’s Silverdocs Festival, with most of the audience staying for a panel discussion afterward.

The documentary, by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, focuses on the experiences of retired U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle, who served as an unarmed military observer for the African Union in Darfur. There he monitored a conflict that began in 2003 when rebel groups attacked Sudanese government facilities, claiming neglect and oppression of African ethnic groups.

By the time he arrived in 2004, the conflict had escalated into “a full-scale government-sponsored military operation that, with the support of Arab militias known as the jingaweit was aimed at annihilating the African tribes in the region,” according to Steidle, who narrates the film. Sudan denies supporting the jingaweit.

To date, more than 200,000 people are thought to have died in the Darfur conflict, and 2 million to 3 million have been displaced from their homes, according to the United Nations. Read more >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>