“I’m just some guy that tried to wake up the conscience of a bunch of people. That’s all.” - Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle Sudan: A Brief History Since Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956 the country has been embroiled in civil war. These conflicts have been centered in political, social, and economic domination of the black Christian southern Sudanese by Arab Muslims from the north of Sudan. The most recent civil war broke out in 1983 and ended only recently with the signing of the North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2006. President Omar Al-Bashir and the National Islamic Front seized control of Sudan in 1989 via a military coup. Since gaining power, his government has made a concerted effort to expand its influence into the oil-rich territory of the south. This incursion has mainly been exerted through violence, further dividing the country among religious, ethnic, and economic lines. This recent war resulted in more than two million deaths over the last twenty years with approximately four million people displaced. In 2003 a separate conflict arose in Darfur, in the western region of the country. The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary that takes an honest and harrowing look at the effects of the armed conflict in Darfur, an area similar in size to California. Throughout its history, the region of Darfur has been characterized by migrating African and Arab tribes. Until 2003 it had a population of 6 million, representing a diverse group of as many as 100 different tribes. The name Darfur comes from the African Al Fur tribe, the largest in the region, and translates to “the home of Al Fur.” Since 2003 an estimated 2.5 million black Africans have been driven from their homes and villages and more than 400,000 have died. Brian’s Song As a monitor he began to hear reports of the neighboring conflict in Darfur. Eager to have a more significant impact, he negotiated his way to help monitor the situation there between the African rebel groups and the Sudanese government. He later admitted that he was totally unprepared for what he was about to see. The Darfur region conflict flared up in April 2003 when black African rebels attacked the local airport in Al-Fashir, destroying government Antonov bombers and helicopter gun ships that had been attacking their villages. This move incited Al-Bashir’s government to close off Darfur, kick out all of the foreigners, and go on a killing spree. The African rebel groups, known as the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), were created by citizens of Darfur with a mission to fight for black African social and economic equality, including the right to have their children receive a decent education. The government retaliated by recruiting the black Africans’ historical nemesis, the Arab militia, and supplying them with weapons, money, and training. These militia are known as the Janjaweed, which means “devil on horse.”
One early indicator of an impending attack was if the cell phones in a village suddenly quit working. The typical raid began with the government shutting down the cell towers in the area. Once communication was cut off, then the Antonov bombers and helicopter gun ships would move in and attack the village. After the aircraft had finished the initial destruction, the Janjaweed would come in by horseback and finish the killing on the ground by looting, raping, and burning. During this process they were often heard chanting, “kill the slaves, kill the slaves, kill the slaves.” Brian interviewed one former Janjaweed militia member who confirmed the government’s partnership with the Janjaweed. He admitted, “Every village that gives them trouble, they attack. The order is to go kill.” The Janjaweed are said to use rape as a tool because of the way it destroys the families. It destroys the women and it destroys the men. And the impact of such a weapon is as long lasting as the government bombs that destroy the villages. Brian also told of a July 2004 African Union report that he had access to, which included viewing the accompanying photos where he “saw girls that had their hands bound by makeshift handcuffs, huddled together and burned alive, men strewn all over the village, burned alive, only because they were trying to protect their family.” After six months of exhaustion and frustration in his inability to accomplish anything, Brian left the mission in Darfur in January 2005. He took with him more than 80 reports that he had helped write for the African Union, including more than 1,000 of his photos. While in Darfur he had been told in confidence that the government was killing the people of Darfur “because they were Africans and not Arabs.” Brian didn’t see a gray area where genocide was concerned. It either was or it was not genocide. He cited the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention which defined genocide as the intentional destruction of a religious, racial, national, or ethnic group. The resultant treaty requires any government to take action in Sudan if, indeed, it decides to call the Darfur crisis “genocide.” By the time Brian first arrived in Sudan in the summer of 2004, refugees had started to flee the mass killing, burning, and looting of their villages. Refugee camps began to pop up throughout Darfur and neighboring countries such as Chad. These refugees are also known as internally displaced people, or IDP’s. The Arabs have become so determined to destroy these IDP’s that they often will continue to attack the Africans again in the refugee camps. The 2.5 million people that have been displaced experience further problems in the overcrowded camps. Disease runs rampant. Food shortages persist. There is a significant lack of basic natural resources such as wood for fires. The women who gather the wood sometimes will walk a whole day to gather enough of it for their immediate needs. There often will be just one water pump for a refugee camp of 30,000 people. Additional water must be trucked in by the NGO’s helping in the camps. Back in the U.S.A. When Mr. Kristof published his photos and shared Brian’s stories with the readers, the world took notice. The Save Darfur coalition recruited Brian to share his experience directly with America. He traveled to 11 states in 45 days, speaking at community events, radio stations, churches, and classrooms. This culminated with his speech at a well-attended Save Darfur rally in Washington D.C. Later, Brian also testified at The Hague’s International Criminal Court as a witness to the atrocities in Darfur. As a Documentary Media footage of several notable politicians and world figures commenting on the situation in Darfur are intermingled periodically to provide additional support and immediacy to the story. This list of individuals includes holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, President Bush, Nicholas Kristof, Barack Obama, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and John Danforth. Many of Brian Steidle’s stark photos of the victims are featured for visual and emotional impact and it is these photos that truly deliver a blow to the viewer’s gut with the naked truth of what’s really happening in Darfur. Additional footage is provided highlighting Brian’s return to neighboring Chad to visit refugee camps. He interviewed several victims of the government raids that provided personal testimony of the Janjaweed’s atrocities. And finally, Brian ends his odyssey with an emotional visit to Rwanda in an effort to better understand how the world can fail to act again and allow another African genocide to occur only ten years after Rwanda. Final Awakening Thoughts
“I look at the world differently now… I know that bad things happened. I didn’t know the world would stand by and allow them to happen.” - Former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle Brian Steidle’s humble intention was simply to wake up the conscience of a bunch of people. Are you awake yet? Douglas Fahleson is a filmmaker living in Santa Monica, CA. He is currently in pre-production for a documentary on the world’s largest slums, including Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. He is vice-president of Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA). Panelists: Raymond Bonniwell, Rabbi Lee T. Bycel, Ricki Stern, Brian Steidle
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“Are You Awake Yet?"
In The Devil Came on Horseback former Marine Captain Brian Steidle gives us his firsthand account of his experience in Darfur. After completing his active duty with the Marines, Brian volunteered to work with the African Union as a military observer and report on any problems arising from the recent peace arrangement in Sudan. This time his job required him to carry a weapon of a different nature, a digital camera with a telephoto lens. 
Brian recounted a particular horrific incident when entering the village of Hamada just after the Janjaweed had attacked and killed all 107 inhabitants. The Arab militia had hacked most of the people to death, including the babies. Brian remembered seeing a lone tire in the middle of the village next to a bloody ax. He realized the Arabs had used the tire as a chopping block to kill the villagers. After seeing the results of this atrocity, Brian commented that the Janjaweed “have no value for human life. They cut ears off, pluck eyes out, and shoot children. They are truly evil, evil people.” 
Once Brian returned home he began to talk with his friends and family about what he’d seen and experienced. His sister, after seeing Brian’s photos, contacted the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Mr. Kristof had been writing about the atrocities in Darfur for quite some time but lacked hard evidence to bolster his claims. Brian’s photos now provided proof of the genocide occurring in Darfur.