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Summary: American diplomat's view of the conflict in the early l990s
Review: Sudan is the forgotten war of the last decade, but continues to defy solutions as we begin another decade. There are no clear villians in this book, according to American ambassador, Donald Peterson. He provides insight into the barriers between the Northern people (who control governmentand who are Islamic) and the South, largely represented by the SPLA and who are also Christian. The reader may need a better grounding of events prior to the l985 period on to understand the conflict. Yet, the author's ability to walk the narrow line was always precarious. This book would be of help to a more seasoned reader on the Sudan. The international community has not made progess in resolving this forgotten war.
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Summary: An average book with a misleading title
Review: The title of this book, Inside Sudan: Political Islam, Conflict and Catastrophe, implies that the work will addressteh history of the conflict in the sudan as well as some discussion of the workings of Islam within the country's politics. However, this is not the case. The author, a former ambassodor to the Sudan, seems content to merely catalogue the meetings he had with Sudanese officials. Thus the book only addresses the time form 1992-95. Furthermore, the writing reads like a travel log and is rather uninteresting. The book claism to be an acoount of US-Sudanese relations, but even in this area it falls short. There is very little critical analysis and the work is littered with unimportant personal imformation. The book does give a look at life in a Us Embassy but this hardly makes up for its other shortcomings. One good aspect of the work is Petterson's criticism of the media. For far too long has this atrocity been largely ignored by such agencies as CNN. Likewise, he also gives the reader some insight into the workings of Sudanese NGO's whose primary objective is not to relieve suffereing but rather to spread Islamic fundamentalism. Overall there are better books on the Sudan.
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Summary: A diplomat's courageous waltz with a third world regime
Review: To those who wish to gain an insight into the political shenanigans of third world regimes and the frustrating and dangerous predicament that American diplomats face when striving to provide much needed humanitarian relief to regions ravaged by famine and war, well, this book, Inside Sudan: Political Islam, Conflict, and Catastrophe, is for you.
Written by Donald Petterson, this is a book that provides the reader with an honest and astute account of the author's trials and tribulations, successes and failures, frustrations and inspirations whilst serving as the last U.S Ambassador to Sudan from 1992- 1995. Mr. Petterson takes the reader into the midst of numerous conversations he had with a reckless if not ruthless Sudanese President (and his Security Council); into restricted locations as he negotiated with rebels who were warring with the government as much as they were with themselves; and into refugee camps where, breaking away from the Sudanese escort and their carefully planned tour of the sites, he endangers himself (on more than one occasion) for the purpose of conversing with camp dwellers- an act that mirrors one of his major ambassadorial goals; that being to discover the full extent of the suffering and deprivation throughout Sudan in order to co-ordinate and implement appropriate relief efforts from around the globe.
Motivated by a deep sense of compassion for human life, and at odds with a callous third world government that was more concerned with power than attending to the dire needs of the masses, Mr. Petterson struggled to establish a compatible sense of morality that both he and the Sudanese government could unite under in the hope of better serving the critical needs of the people. Interestingly enough, as Mr. Petterson encountered, this proved an impossible task, primarily because of, although not solely attributed to, the ridiculous assertion by the Sudanese despots that the cultural dichotomy prevalent between the two countries made the prospective mutuality of moral intent unrealistic, if not utterly naive. Ironically, the book reveals that the dramatic breakdown in relations between the U.S and Sudan was not a result of this vast cultural chasm that separates them- that is the stark differentiations of political or religious ideologies- but rather was a result of the insatiable greed and the abysmal network of corruption found not only throughout the malevolent and perditious regime that has control over the country, but also found in the rebel forces fighting to expel it. And in the middle lay millions of people, starving, tortured, homeless, and without hope because the end of this war in Sudan has long since crept out of view, much like its beginning.
Irrefutably, this is a fascinating and deeply touching book by one of America's most experienced foreign diplomats in African affairs; a diplomat who held steadfast in his ambassadorial duties, exercising wisdom, courage and compassion throughout the course of an assignment few others would dare. As a writer, he has held steadfast to the truth, presenting his experiences both candidly and eloquently. Well done, Mr. Petterson. You have served your country above and beyond the call of duty!
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Summary: Another Apology for a Mess
Review: While Petterson is to be congratulated for adding to the still inadequate literature on contemporary Sudan, he also unfortunately adds to the tradition of former ambassadors writing apologies for America's mistakes instead providing meaningful criticism of policies that in the author's own words (paraphrased from a talk he held on a visit to Sudan after he was ambassador to the country) 'went terribly wrong somewhere'. Indeed, we do not need more apologies, but instead better--at least more truthful and revealing--analysis to understand where we went wrong and why we must keep apologizing. This book by Petterson is a stark contrast to some of the criticisms he has voiced concerning American policy concernign Sudan in other forums. There is evidence, however, that some of his colleagues who are still making the mistakes he so cleverly tried to obscure, might have had a hand in the editing of this book. Undoubtedly one cannot expect a State Department to allow such a recent Ambassador to criticize their continuing policies. It is more surprising, however, that a publisher saw fit to publish such apologetic whinning and smoozing. But I guess in America money speaks and old ambassadors are good sells, even if not very good authors.
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