Eyewitness Testimony: Brian Steidle

In September 2004, former US Marine Brian Steidle was invited to serve in Darfur as an unarmed military observer and US representative to the African Union. The African Union monitoring force Steidle joined was tasked with investigating and reporting on breaches of a never-honored 2004 cease-fire agreement between rebels and the Sudanese government. Steidle witnessed systematic attacks against civilians carried out by the Sudanese government and its allied militias, the Janjaweed. He and his fellow members of the monitoring force were not mandated to protect civilians but to issue reports. After six months, Brian's conscience would no longer allow him to remain a silent witness to genocide. He returned to the US convinced that he could do more to help Darfurian civilians by publicizing what he had seen. He began a speaking tour, wrote a book, and produced a documentary about his experiences in Darfur. Today, he remains an activist against genocide.