Saturday, September 15, 2007

'Devil' deftly documents Darfur tragedy, ex-soldier's activism

The haunting documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback" tells two intertwined stories - of the ongoing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region and an ex-Marine's progression from observer to activist.
Capt. Brian Steidle had just left the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003 and was looking for a job. On the Internet he found a job posting by the African Union, to monitor the cease-fire in the 20-year civil war in Sudan.
What Steidle saw was a genocide in progress. Villages in Darfur, a province in Sudan's west side, were being systematically looted and burned, and their residents killed or displaced. (The most recent figures show at least 400,000 killed and some 2.5 million displaced.) The culprits were a militia group called the Janjaweed (the name translates to "devil on a horse"), which received weapons and tactical support from the Sudanese government (though the government has always denied this). Read more >>>>>

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