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Inside Sudan: Political Islam, Conflict, And Catastrophe

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When compared to the other book on Sudan that I read at the same time, "White Nile, Black Blood: War, Leadership, and Ethnicity from Khartoum to Kampala", this book, while worth reviewing, is extremely disappointing. If this is the best our Department of State can do--if this bland account of endless repetitive meetings and meaningless demarches is the best that America can do in addressing the deep challenges of Sudan--then we need a whole new State Department.

It struck me immediately, as I worked through the book, that it is the diary of someone who means well, but has only his personal experience from which to judge the situation. Not only are there no references to learned studies, but the short-sighted thesis of the author is summed up on page 136: "The cumulative combination of factors putting Sudan in such a bad light (with the U.S. Government) began with the military takeover in July 1989." When one contrasts this statement with the rich 200-year survey provided by "White Nile, Black Blood", one can only feel a deep sadness for the lower depths of our foreign service.

Early on in the book the author-ambassador confesses to not knowing Arabic and to having had six months training in Arabic before reporting. This demonstrates two things clearly: first, that the Department of State is incompetent in Arabic affairs if it does not have legions of qualified officers fluent in Arabic from whom it can select an Ambassador and second, that obviously the language is not considered critical to the job if six months will suffice--just enough to get to the toilet, not enough to accept directions across town.

This book is a travel diary. I have annotated page 148 with the note: "substitutes travel for thinking." There is no analysis in this book, no grasp of history, no real grip on the regional realities (other than a passing reference to the fact that water is going to be a cause of war in the future--something well covered in Marq de Villiers "WATER: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource". Neither de Villiers nor Michael Klare's "RESOURCE WARS: The New Landscape of Global Conflict" are cited by this book.)

At the very end there was a tiny glimmer of hope as the author began a chapter on working with the United Nations, and made it clear that the UN practice of allowing each of its agencies to appoint independent ambassadors to the same country, rather than subordinating all UN agencies to a single UN ambassador, was a big part of their problem. After three paragraphs, it became clear there was nothing else to be had from this chapter. I have the note "This is not a serious book."

At one point in the book the author observes that neither Congress nor the U.S. public would allow the Administration to be more pro-active in Sudan. It immediately occurred to me that if this is true, then the Department of State has failed miserably, ignominiously, at informing the U.S. public of the true situation in Sudan, for any informed citizen would be sure to support extremely aggressive action against the (northern) Sudan despots and supporters of terrorism and genocide.

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.

"Inside Sudan" should be a great book. Donald Petterson served as U.S. Ambassador to Sudan from 1992 to 1995, and met with all the major political figures of the country (Gurang, Turabi, Bashir, Taha, Machar, etc.). In addition, he has extensive experience in Africa and traveled widely in the Sudan during his three-year tenure. Petterson also writes clearly. For all these reasons, this should be a great book.

But it's plainly not. Instead, "Inside Sudan" is a very dull and narrowly-focused volume. Unless you have a particular interest in the muted frustrations of Donald Petterson, when he served as U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, or you just like any book about the foreign service, you will probably find little to interest you here.

Examples of this are the lifeless descriptions Petterson gives of his meetings with important Sudanese officials. There's a formula to nearly all of them: Petterson usually starts out by saying the U.S./Sudan relationship will not improve until some important issues (slavery, torture, human rights violations, terrorism, etc.) are addressed by Sudan; the Sudanese official -- whoever Petterson happens to be meeting with at the time -- usually gets upset when he hears this and responds with either 1) there are no problems in Sudan, or 2) the U.S. has the same problems; the next day, the Sudanese press vilifies Petterson; finally, tempers cool and another meeting takes place where the same dynamic essentially repeats itself.

While this may be a fair description by Petterson of what actually happened during his meetings with Sudanese officials, it's not a basis for a book. There's no human element or color in his descriptions. It's difficult for the reader to tell one official apart from another or one meeting apart from another. They all just blend in together. Petterson spent a good deal of time with Turabi and Bashir, and he writes about several meetings he had with these two major figures. Yet after reading his book, these two very important men are still like stick figures in my mind, with little character or personality.

"Inside Sudan" is also weak on the history of the country and on the background of its current civil war. Most of the book focuses on just the three years Petterson was there. I realize the Ambassador is not a historian, but surely as a man who has spent a good deal of time in the Sudan, and read much to prepare for his job, he has strong opinions on the way history has shaped current events in that country. Doesn't he owe it to his readers to write about them? (The Ambassador does give a short introduction on the Sudan, but it's woefully inadequate.)

When I began "Inside Sudan", I thought Petterson's three decades of experience in sub-Saharan Africa would give him a fresh perspective on Sudan's relationships with its southern neighbors. Even though Petterson's previous experience was not in the countries that bordered Sudan, I reasoned that his time spent in Africa should still give him good knowledge about the ties between Sudan and places like Uganda, Central African Republic, Zaire, etc. But if it did, it's not evident here, as he only briefly discusses them.

A good book should be more than a series of failed meetings and tours around the country. It ought to tell you something interesting or important. This book fails that basic test.

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!

Precisely what we do not have is a real understanding of Sudan. We get a brief history; we get a sense that Petterson's diplomatic endeavours were futile; and we get information about the civil war which is available elsewhere. The fact is, Petterson did not have enough to write a book and should have spared us. If all the good elements were compressed, they would make a chapter in a real book. And the information on terrorism does not add anything new, if you are familiar with al-Qaeda. That was a ploy to encourage people post 11/September to buy it. I read it through, and was not rewarded by understanding Sudan. I will search elsewhere.

Inside Sudan is a well-written part memoir, part exposition of what accounts for the catastrophic set of circumstances that afflict the Sudanese people today. As related from the perspective of an American ambassador to that country, the book provides the best available glimpse into the makeup of the Islamists who control Sudan, and explains why relations between Sudan and the United States deteriorated to their current low state. Ambassador Petterson gives the reader a feel for what it is like to serve in an American embassy in the harsh environment of a third-world country whose leaders are hostile to the US government. By means of graphic descriptions of some of his visits to camps of displaced people and his many trips into the war zone of southern Sudan, he portrays the awful plight of the victims of the war. And he describes the often heroic efforts of the personnel of humanitarian relief organizations operating in the field. This is an excellent book, one that anyone who wants to gain a better undersanding of the Sudan issue should read.

Donald Petterson was a diplomat for the United States during most of the 1990's. He discusses from a diplomat's point of view the impasse that occured between the United States and the Khartoum governments. Petterson saw things get worse but could not stop the drift in differences. He explains that Sudanese people are quite friendly, but political, religious and regional problems run deep and occured during British rule also. A good book to get a perspective on Sudan.

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.

Donald Petterson, former U.S.Ambassador to Sudan, has written an unflinching account of modern Sudan. It is the thoroughly human story of a man and his family living and working in Khartoum in the 1990's, the hey-day of Islamic terrorism and fundamentalist belief. Petterson, a veteran Foreign Service Officer in Africa describes the day-to-day events in the abysmally hot and dusty,strife-ridden capital of Khartoum. An exciting place for any FSO, Khartoum was above all else a very dangerous city, as Petterson points out. Filled with Islamic radicals, the hatred for all things Western was very evident to this American. While the Author never treads strongly into the deep historical factors surrounding Sudan's cultural probems today, INSIDE SUDAN: POLITICAL ISLAM, CONFLICT, AND CATASTROPHE neveretheless is an excellent read for everyone wishing an up-front account of what it feels like to be in a land where one is always on the cusp of revolution. The book grips the reader personally and emotionally and makes the problems of Sudan all the more real. Readers may also wish to turn to my new book, JIHAD: THE MAHDI REBELLION IN THE SUDAN. I have encapsulated one brief period of Sudanese history - the Mahdi Rebellion of 1881-1885. I hope to show the effects of Western Imperialism upon both Sudanese nationalism and culture.

Donald Petterson was ambassador to Sudan in the years between 1992 and 1995. His account of his frustrations in negotiating for better relations with Omar al-Bashir and Hassan al-Turabi gives a personal witness to the problems of radical Islamism that afflict Sudan's Government. He also shows how southern leaders John Garang and Riek Machar stubbornly reject the north. In short - those who read this should be very thankful for the separation of church and state. Inserting religion into the state level didn't work for Christianity - American's Founding Father's figured that out - and it will not work for Islam either. Petterson, though writing in a diplomatic fashion throughout, candidly admits that fundamentalism (of any type) in government is a recipe for bad politics. Read this book, and it will help you appreciate that. It will also give you some vivid background for the conflict in Sudan. It is a very readable book, but it written before the Darfur conflict blew up, so in that sense is a bit dated. The insights it has into the Sudan are not, however.