Dilemmas Of Darfur: Film And Discussion

In October 2007, ALLIES and PANGEA, a student group dedicated to taking action on global issues, screened the film "The Devil Rides on Horseback," a documentary that follows a US military observer's fight to publicize the atrocities he is witnessing daily in Darfur. After the screening, students discussed the challenges surrounding the crisis in Darfur, going beyond simplistic calls for troops to consideration of the tactical, operational, and strategic questions that must be addressed for any Darfur peacekeeping mission to be successful. The following evening, ALLIES and PANGEA hosted a follow-on panel discussion on "The Dilemmas of Peacekeeping in Darfur" with four experts on the region - Michelle Barsa (former intern with a U.N. Peackeeping Mission in Khartoum, Sudan), Hunter Farnham (former head of USAID Missions in Uganda and Guinea-Bissau and various inter-Agency taskforces on African emergencies), Abdul Monium Osman (Senior Researcher, Feinstein International Center, specialty in livelihoods and food security in conflicts), and David Raikow (former research consultant for the United Nations in Sudan). The conversation ranged from an analytical analysis of the region's tribal dynamics to personal anecdotes about work in Sudan, all of which served to provide students with a more nuanced and multi-faceted understanding of the various issues that had been raised in "The Devil Came on Horseback."