Understanding the Sudan

There has been fighting going on in the Sudan ever since it achieved independence from the British, whose colony it was until 1956. The country is one of those illogical colonial creations whose boundaries took no account of the ethnicity of the various peoples living there. Sadly, Africa is full of these.

The Wall Street Journal has a very informative review of a book called Sudan, by Richard Cockett, a journalist who served as Africa editor for The Economist. Unfortunately for Mr. Cockett, the review is so comprehensive you may not need to read the book.

If you want to understand what is going on in Darfur, and what led up to the ethnic cleansing happening there, take a look.