Emma's War

by Deborah Scroggins

Tall, striking, and adventurous to a fault, young British relief worker Emma McCune came to Sudan determined to make a difference in a country decimated by the longest-running civil war in Africa. She became a near legend in the bullet-scarred, famine-ridden country, but her eventual marriage to a rebel warlord made international headlines—and spelled disastrous consequences for her ideals.

Enriched by Deborah Scroggins’s firsthand experience as an award-winning journalist in Sudan, this unforgettable account of Emma McCune’s tragically short life also provides an up-close look at the volatile politics in the region. It’s a world where international aid fuels armies as well as the starving population, and where the northern-based Islamic government—with ties to Osama bin Laden—is locked in a war with the Christian and pagan south over religion, oil and slaves. Tying together these vastly disparate forces as well as Emma’s own role in the problems of the region, Emma’s War is at once a disturbing love story and a fascinating exploration of the moral quandaries behind humanitarian aid.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Sudan, War, South Sudan

420 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

American writer and journalist, author of Emma's war: An Aid Worker, Radical Islam and the Politics of Oil - A True Story of Love and Death in the Sudan.

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an aid worker currently in Sudan, I just had to grab this book. The story of Emma is not actually what is central to the book. It's almost as if she and her marriage to "a war lord" is some skeleton holding together the true story, the story of The Sudan. That being said, it's all very well written, very informative, and for someone currently in the context (and are you ready for a shocker?) the people, the places, and the feeling for those in aid to Sudan is VERY similar to how it is now. Many of the characters I feel have been reincarnated into people I know, work with, am friends with, etc. Even I see a reflection of myself in the story... they have a saying in Sudan "once you drink from the Nile you are destined to return." I think it's clear from this story it is true for all of us that work, live, and love in Sudan. You keep coming back and even when not there, Sudan is carried with you. It was odd, but also quite amazing to see this reflected in a book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Sudan (of course,) but also those interested in aid and conflict. It's a little mini look inside.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always acutely aware of all that I don’t know and rarely feel informed enough to comment on anything. However, Scroggins does such an excellent job of painting the history and politics of Sudan that I actually feel like I know something about the Country. She uses Emma McCune’s life as a sort of sausage casing , in which she stuffs the famine, tribal warfare, religious ferocity,intervention and interruptions of the west, politics of funding wars, chase for black gold, race and racism, slavery, polygamy, colonialism, child abuse, murder upon murder upon unapologetic death and many other issues and layered conflicts. With skill and seeming objectivity she centrifuges out every distinct viewpoint. Her own spin is almost imperceptible and only once or twice does her own bias steal through. Scroggins does not mince blame, become overly sentimental or pretend to have answers. She deserves all the awards she has won. Kate Reading gives an excellent performance in her reading.
I wonder - what shall be done about Africa by Africa and her children?

[Catherine Morrow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't read this. Way too dense with detail, very weak plot and a really hard read.

[Claire Syers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough storytelling and descriptions of the South Sudan war.

Key lesson learnt: don't marry a warlord when I move to Africa 🤔

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Emma's War in a couple of days. The story is a disturbing one and I guess I wanted it over quickly, like ripping a Band-aid off to minimize the pain. Deborah Scroggins does an excellent job of summarizing the hugely complicated issue of civil wars in Sudan. Into the story of people fighting over religious, linguistic, monetary, ethnic and other differences, she weaves her own experiences and the personal story of Emma McCune.

Emma was an idealistic young British woman who was fascinated by Africa, found aid work, and eventually married a warlord and got sucked into the conflict firsthand. It's not a particularly flattering look at the international aid community, but no one comes out of the story with entirely clean hands.

A fascinating and sad story.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! I read it in two days! The author's ability to weave in the history of the conflict in the Sudan (conflict b/w the north and south and since the 1950s)with her travel there as a journalist in the late 1980s/early 90s covering famine with that of Emma McClune, a British Aid Worker, who marries a war lord, is remarkable and makes for a story that's hard to put down. She truely is a talented writer who makes reading history (which even I mostly find boring- not because it's history but typically the writing style) engrossing. I also liked her underlying discussion of the West's need/desire to give aid to countries and how it is sometimes for selfish reasons. For example, when sent to cover the famines in Sudan/Ethopia she ends up getting distracted by accounts of slavery and mass killings based on ethnicity (in the Darfur region!) but because famine was "selling" in the papers, she was forced to cover only the famines and not the other gross violations of human rights. The was a great read- especially if you are interested in learning more about the conflict in Sudan.

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

People who dedicate themselves to Non-Governmental Offices (NGOs) in the form of assisting and providing aid, education, health-care, and a multitude of other services are dedicated to the work they do and the people they are trying to assist. It is obvious they not merely want people to survive, but they hope for these people to live and thrive. Criticism of this sort of effort is rather tough for people who do not work in the field in this regard. Deborah Scroggins takes this part on as she witnessed from time to time within the book, and it causes one to sit back and ponder at times the “why” factor. For people who do not like detail – this book will not be of interest to you, this book takes at times divergent paths away from and then back to the topic of Emma. For people that enjoy detail – you will likely come away enjoying this book from page to page.

This book is one of insight, perspective, and of lessons learned. Though the story as told by Deborah Scroggins is about Emma McClune, the book covers much more than the topic would suggest. Emma is the character that is followed during the course of her existence in the Southern Sudan; but Scroggins brings about a story with a backdrop that attempts to weave things together in an attempt to make the reader understand better, what he/she may not understand about the Sudan as a whole. At times, this book forced me to double back and regroup with all of the tribal factions that were on going. The names of the many tribes are not names we westerners easily recognize in books and/or the press. The depth of knowledge and history to this same backdrop felt at times overwhelming. Deborah Scroggins was a journalist in Sudan in 1988 and this is where on occasion she runs into Emma. No definitive relationship existed between them other than work related. I imagine they would have called themselves “friends” but it didn’t really come across this way in the book.

As told by Scroggins, the Emma McClune story is one of relief workers and largely that of wealthy western nations that are generous to provide food for starving people. We certainly end up seeing the flaws in all this good intention. The author was an acquaintance of Emma and her perspective is honest and sincere, while at the same time critical. Emma’s time in the Sudan would end her career with the relief organization she worked with after she married a warlord. There was a line in the sand (so to speak) that was crossed when Emma married. The warlord in question was a “player”, one that may have had some sincerity but also had a tendency to speak out of both sides of his mouth. He married Emma while he was still married to his first wife who was in England. Simply too much drama to keep me interested, but the author interviewed many people to include Emma’s husband after her death. I managed to watch the 1993 ITV Interview that Emma and Riek Machar entitled The Warlords Wife. In this interview, Emma and Riek are holding hands and walking or talking about the work they are doing – it felt phony to me. The only sincere part were the video clips of starving children.

The part of the book I thoroughly enjoyed was the history of Sudan with Governor General Charles George Gordon. This particular history is too in-depth to add to this review, but the author attempted to provide historical significance to the background. The Sudan is a complicated nation with no clear definition other than why layers exist. It is apparent the Arab/Islamic north do not care for their black Christian southern neighbors – discriminatory practices exist to this day; likely “shocking” for Americans (especially those who seem to think Arabs are historically “black”.) The black tribes in Sudan have no real good words to say of their Arab northern neighbors, let alone the other tribes and this makes the whole of the book at times a crowded and depressing read. The author is however, knowledgeable and a determined person – putting a book together on this story with this history and personal experience could not have been any easy task. There are those who love this book and this is understandable. As I crossed the parts of the book that felt gripping I was on the fence for a four star rating. What solidified this for me was the author’s perspective on the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia in 1993.

The one part of the book I strongly disliked was the opinion this author embedded to the book as the U.S. Forces were leaving Somalia in 1993. Specifically she states “…I lay on my bed, listening to the sinister buzz of the U.S. Helicopters swooping over the city, and thought of Gordon in his shuttered place in Khartoum. Like the British of the time, the Americans weren’t interested in fighting and dying for the Somalis who had put their trust in them. The Americans wanted their heroism on the cheap, and the object of their benevolence turned on them, they reacted with fury.” The author goes on to say that when she asked an unnamed American Diplomat to “who had lost Somalia?”, the Diplomat snapped “CNN!” This was 1993 and represents an unfair and biased opinion from an otherwise talented journalist/author. Deborah Scroggins can thank her colleagues going back to the Tet Offensive of 1968, Battle for Hue, and the Battle for Khe Sanh. There were many Vietnamese betrayed with the fall of Saigon in 1975 – journalism stoked a fire with public opinion – the embers continuously burn today. In addition, when the 241 Marines, and 58 French Forces Infantry were killed at the Barracks in Beirut October 1983 the U.S. and allies were forced to pull out in March 1984. The 13 Army Rangers killed in Somalia and then dismembered and aired for the world to see provided optic fibers reminiscent of all other activity prior to this Osama Bin Laden event. The United States more than any other nation has come to help, assist, and provide services with protection for civilians and NGOs alike and this adds to battle field commanders planning accordingly in the area of operations.

The author, a professional journalist, understood the geographic region well, a talented writer and certainly one that taught me many things about this area of our world through her book. Sudan is the topic and yet Somalia is a place she ends up discussing. She also discusses characters such as Tiny Rowland, Adnan Khashoggi (yes, Uncle to the current journalist killed in Turkey recently) who was a gunrunner (businessman is not a term I can accept concerning this name.) I do not recall as many people being as disturbed with all the gassed Syrian civilians as I do current headlines on this one journalist, even as horrendous an act it is as understood to have been. Osama Bin Laden pops up as expected in this book on several occasions. It is simply “that” part of the world and these are the names in the background to the overall story of Emma. I was saddened as I read the pages relating to her death in an auto accident. Her life was cut much too short and these realities are very painful for family and friends of the deceased.

The book gets 4 stars as 3 would be an insult and 5 stars would not be appropriate given all the divergent paths this book on “Emma’s War” delivers to the reader.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

part history of sudan, with a focus on the late 80s/early 90s period of the civil war, part exploration of the complexities of the aid business. i found this book to be digestible in part because scroggins does such a great job establishing context and bringing to life the vast web of personalities entwined within this story. i was hesitant when i picked this up because i was afraid that it would be emma's story first and sudan's second. emma merely provides a thread that runs through a much larger story and she certainly is not the heroine. instead, i think scroggins is ultimately critical of emma's ignorance and shallow romanticism of sudan, while also providing insight into emma's behaviors. the personality types at various camps and in nairobi reminded me of those that i've encountered in the ngo capital of africa and i think scroggins does a fantastic job of exploring the excitement, idealism, and entitlement that draws people from comfortable backgrounds to work in these settings. it's a nuanced examination of aid and perhaps it's more accurate to say that it is a criticism of naiveté in these situations rather than an outright dismissal of all humanitarian assistance. even if you know almost nothing about sudan, this book might be interesting as it helps place sudan in context of recent history-- famine in the horn of africa, oil, islamic fundamentalism, civil war in somalia, the west's involvement in africa and subsequent disillusionment in africa, etc.

[Heron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine. The author uses the life of the title character to exam the true impact of humanitarian aid organizations on the world's crises. Emma is a white, middle class, directionless woman who ends up finding 'herself' as an aid worker in Sudan. She is continually pulled by almost fanatic urges to do 'good' in the world, but often confused as to how she should enact this change. The helplessness of the Sudan crisis is overwhelming next to Emma's one-woman school-supplying machine. As a white, female, middle class aid worker, I was struck by the truth behind some of the author's observations, eg that those who do not know the history of a situation can often do more harm than good, and that getting involved in the politics of a human aid crises can be fatal for more than one party involved, but I also felt indignant towards the crushing fatality of the overarching message. I do not believe that all aid is flawed. Emma's message is an important one, but one that we must ignore in order to keep working under such desperate circumstances.

[Erik Lysén · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some years have passed since its first publication, Deborah Scroggins book about Emma McCune and her romantic involvement with South Sudan and one of its warlords, Riek Machar, makes for excellent reading. It’s like reading a page-turner bestseller. I hardly could concentrate on any other tasks while reading this great piece of non-fiction. It combines interesting historical and current analysis of the ongoing conflicts and factional fighting in Sudan in general, and South Sudan in particular, with fascinating insights into this British woman, Emma, who, naive, charming and beautiful, sacrificed most of the niceties of the common Western aid worker and instead lived with the gurellia leader/warlord Riek Machar under very small circumstances, at great risk, in various villages in a war-torn South Sudan. The portrait of Emma is complex, nuanced, and full of those ambiguities that characterise great personalities. She was brave and naive at the same time, and is a person you will remember for a long time after having finished the book.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dense and difficult to get through the first 2/3rds. I am very interested in the history of African countries but this was almost too much for me to keep track of. A timeline with a list of people would have helped. Emma and her marriage is not central to this book. It really is a history of Sudan to 2001.

[Brianna Schwartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know so little about the politics, culture, and history of Africa. Pretty heavy with names, dates, and details, but gripping and startling, nonetheless

[Nicholas Whyte]

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1263632.html?#cutid3[return][return]Emma McCune was the daughter of colonial parents, kicked out of India in the 1960s. They split up and her father committed suicide; Emma grew up with that missionary zeal which one sometimes encounters, to make the world a better place regardless of the personal consequences. [return][return]A lot of Scroggins' narrative isn't actually about Emma McCune, but about the horrors of the Sudanese conflict and the ensuing famine, which she covered as a journalist. She gives a decent summary of the background history but her strength is the human dimension. Both Collins and Johnson record, for instance, that when the refugee camps in Ethiopia closed in 1991, their inhabitants returned to South Sudan, causing further strain on local and international resources; but Scroggins was actually there, and converts the historical record into the sight of thousands of human beings trudging desperately along the Sobat river, being strafed by Sudanese planes and raided by bandits, in just one of many vivid descriptive passages which will linger with me for a long time.[return][return]Scroggins is also very good at describing the mentality and lifestyle of the foreign aid workers in a crisis situation. Where Johnson raises (reasonable) doubts about the entire enterprise, here we have an explanation of the zeal that motivates people to get into the field and do what they can for humanity. It's a world I have dipped into and I recognised most of the characters who Scroggins describes. (And one or two of the actual people.) Her insider critique of why the rest of the world engages with humanitarian crises is very well argued.[return][return]One of the most intensely engaged of the expats was, of course, Emma McCune, who got heavily involved with delivering educational aid and trying to liberate child soldiers, largely in the Nuer areas of the SPLA-held south. She then went one further by marrying the local warlord, Riek Machar, who shortly after split from John Garang, creating a civil war within the SPLA. Machar's new English wife was blamed for this by Garang's supporters, but Scroggins is pretty clear that 'Emma's War' was not her fault. [return][return]One other figure who repeatedly appears in the narrative is the British businessman Tiny Rowland, who I knew of only as the owner of the Observer newspaper, but who of course had made his fortune by building up his company, Lonrho (from London and Rhodesia) into a conglomerate with tentacles all over the continent. Rowland, never a man for modesty, claimed in one conversation to have created the SPLA. He certainly played a crucial role in its history, and in the internal politics of many other African countries; like Emma McCune, he had a particular obsession with Sudan.[return][return]Emma McCune and her unborn baby were killed in a traffic accident in Nairobi only two years into her marriage. Scroggins follows the story a bit further - Machar signed a separate peace with Khartoum, and found another wife, this time from Minnesota; after Scroggins' book was published, Machar actually reconciled with Garang and, with Garang now being out of the picture, is again one of the leading figures in south Sudan.[return][return]Emma's War is one of the best books I have read this year, and is I think essential reading for anyone who wants to know more about the human condition."

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and well-written history of Sudan. Although much of the book (including the title) are about the life of Emma McCune, a British aid worker who married a South Sudanese rebel leader and the political climate of Sudan during the period of Emma’s involvement, Emma is actually much more of a supporting character in the book than its main subject. I appreciated this angle because Emma’s life and entanglements put the conflict in context but were overall a mere misguided drop in the bucket of Sudan’s history, and were treated as such. I appreciated that she wasn’t cast as the hero or villain of Sudan, but as an incongruous British lady who, regardless of how she herself felt, from the outside looked completely out of place taking part ownership of this most complex and horrifying of foreign conflicts.

I was extremely impressed with several aspects of this book. First of all, Scroggins managed to explain an incredibly complex conflict in an understandable and un-biased sounding way with deference and tact but without sounding melodramatic or overly emotive. Secondly, Scroggins takes no prisoners and calls out every player on their own hypocrisies, including western journalists and aid workers who, despite their good intentions, utilized (and continue to utilize) South Sudan for their own purposes.

A few aspects of Sudan’s history really stuck with me after reading this book and have made a serious dent on my psyche:

Scroggins’ description of the extent and justification of the Sudanese slavery system was enlightening. At some point she explains that, because Sudan was so resource-poor, the principle forms of currency were livestock and humans. She cites a source which claimed that in the mid-1880s, two-thirds of Sudanese people were enslaved, and abolition of slavery would have cost Sudan two-thirds of its revenue (p. 51). She also goes into a lot of detail about the practice of selling or “renting out” children during times of need to make some money. I cannot get my mind around the magnitude of an economy where slavery is so deeply entrenched and social and familial systems are so brutally disrupted. In my mind, this history helps explain how Sudan could have devolved to the point where it is now.

Obviously, the most heart-wrenching and shocking element of the book is the description of the famine and starvation, the destitute Sudanese people being herded from wasteland to wasteland as pawns of one inhuman war after another, the people in power shifting their allegiances daily with no clear goals or intentions and very little to gain. If I doubted it before reading this book, now I’m absolutely sure that Earth is a terrible place and that humans are essentially evil. On that cheerful note…

[G. Kretchmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emma's War is part journalistic nonfiction, part biography, part memoir. In its function as a distant discussion of the Sudanese civil war that's been raging for decades, it did a fine job. As an American, I don't usually understand clearly the many layers of strife that underlie conflict in distant lands and cultures, and Ms. Scroggins attempted to explain what is both complex and somewhat inexplicable. I now have a much better understanding of the religious and tribal animosities in that land, and also a better picture of how Sudan fits into the greater African culture. My gripe on the nonfiction aspect of this book is that the author tends to get bogged down in confusing and sometimes unnecessary details and renders a sometimes jerky chronology of events.

Even more compelling were the narratives and scenes, or half-scenes, about Emma McCune, a Brit who both fascinates and boggles the mind. While this reader could understand how and why she ideologically fell in love with Africa, some of the decisions Emma made while living there, such as blindly defending her husband who was no saint, did not earn my respect. I know the author did a great deal of research into the person Emma was, and the author knew her personally as well, but I still felt the portrait was missing some depth, perhaps from Emma's past.

The memoir aspect of this book is one that initially drew me in; here was an author who had spent time in Africa, covered global issues as a journalist, and personally knew Emma. And yet the structural flip-flopping between a journalistic tone and an opinionated tone unsettled me, as though I were reading something by an unreliable narrator and thus wasn't sure where the objective credibility ended and the subjective criticism began. In addition, to the extent this incorporated memoir, I would have appreciated a clearer acknowledgment by the author of her own flaws and the growth she experienced from her years knowing both Emma and Africa.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unforgettable book. The author has written a fascinating biography of a young English aid worker, doomed by her passion for Africa. Has used this life story as the framework for an emotionally gripping, detailed history of the Sudanese Civil War. And has used it also to illuminate the inadequacy of Western assistance, its problematic complicity in evil, in providing food and medical aid to the Sudanese. The author takes the reader on a horrendous journey through hell. Any reader making this journey will be changed: will be scarred by indelible images of mankind's greed and cruelty; will have looked into the face of pure evil; and will no longer be capable of any hope for the Sudanese. May even despair of mankind itself.

[Razz · Rating 4 out of 5]

423 pages about the warring tribes in The Sudan. Most of the book was the history of the Islamic North vs the Christians and tribes of the South. Fascinating but hard to take all in in one reading because of so much history and so many tribes and areas in Sudan. It was also about a young Englishwoman, working for the U.N.who falls in love and marries one of the tribal leaders of the South. Because the book was written by an Atlanta based reporter, it was somewhat balanced and no one came out looking good or innocent. There were many contributors to the shame and awfulness....including the U.S. and Osaba bin Laden. I recommend this to anyone wishing to learn more about the Sudan. It's not a fun or enjoyable read but a fascinating one and well worth the time it took to read it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was an amazing analysis and exploration of the civil war, tribal wars, and the aid industry's influence-responsibility on the actions of war and government leaders in Sudan. The book could have been a dull recap of the South's struggle for independence, sovereignty,or whatever else people were (are) fighting for (like cows, slaves, oil, ....), but instead Scroggins uses the Emma's life as the backdrop to unfold the story. Even if you are not a fan (poor choice of words) of Sudan, this is an exceptionally well written book that draws on so many other issues.

[Zigra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taught me a lot about the recent conflicts in the Sudan, for which I am grateful. The author, who spent time reporting in Sudan and actually met Emma, throws her opinions too much into the story - her own infatuation with Emma's beauty and her criticism of most all the aid workers were especially bothersome to me. The real story is the Sudan, not some head-in-the-clouds English woman whose initial seemingly good intentions to help kids in the Sudan soon became overshadowed by her lust for a warlord.

[Hazel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is less about Emma McCune and more about the war, famine, war, famine in the Sudan. Scroggins tells a good story about why this is all happening and how difficult it is to get the country back on track to peace which will probably never happen. Too many vested interests for anyone to tolerate the other. Very sad. Emma McCune was a silly woman who didn’t understand anything about Africa. Even once married to the warlord she still didn’t understand. It also shows how difficult it is for the international community to provide aid.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more a history of the various tragedies that have haunted the Sudan than a biography of Emma herself. I was most interested when the described the challenges and compromises that face foreign aid workers, whatever their motivation.

(As an aside, I initially typed "haunted Haiti" rather than "haunted the Sudan. How depressing.)

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens when an aid worker gets romantically and politically involved in the field? This is the true story of Emma Mccune, a British worker in Sudan, whose romance and marriage to a Sudanese rebel leader destroyed the ideals that brought her to Africa.

The man Emma married, Riek Machar, is one of two main combatants in the current civil war in South Sudan .

[Danna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I loved the way the author wove her own journalistic experience in Sudan with Sudan's history and Emma's life story. A reality check about the politics of war, famine, oil, and foreign aid in the horn of Africa.

[Lapolley]

REALLY enjoying the historical, political and geographical parts of this book.

[Caitlin Brady]

What a disaster of a woman. Absolutely no self awareness. A well written book, but I can't say I enjoyed it.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

………. She was in love with the idea of love and with the idea of sacrificing herself to it………….
Those are the words used by the author to describe Emma.
Emma is an Aid worker is pulled towards the African continent due to her obvious love of adventure. She arrives and immediately falls in love with The Sudan and its people. She believes it is her destiny.
This indeed is a disturbing love story. Emma falls in love with a man who is a War Lord. She puts herself in danger and pushes her boundaries far and beyond to a point of actually losing herself within the politics and the ways of the Sudanese. Emma loses her identity and throws herself into fighting a war that no white woman would have been expected to do so. She embraces her role once she was married and was willing to embrace the life of the people so as to be accepted .Despite the fact that she was viewed as a spy and a whore since she was a Khawaja, she still pushed on. Her lack of inhibitions as pointed out by Riek drew him towards her more. She did not care that she was living in the middle of hell. It was evident even by the poem that the Bor Pastor narrated about their land:
“I am in the sinful land of Sudan
The birds in the sky are surprised
By the way I have been orphaned
The animals of the forest
Are startled by my skeleton”
Emma was a woman in love... In the first chapter of her autobiography she describes her escape from Panyagor:
I climbed in and bent to kiss Riek goodbye at the door. The door closed and the engine started……………………….. I looked down and saw Riek and his men watch us go until they became mere dots on the earth’s surface. Part of my heart remained behind with Riek…………………………………
She believed in this man or she wanted to believe this man that she had fallen in love with will exonerate Southern Sudan from the constant warring and gain independence. She shared with him that dream of delivering their people.
Emma’s behavior was without doubt that of a woman in love i.e. she opts to see what she wants to see from her partner or accept his misgivings to a certain degree. She knew her husband to be had a first wife but believed in him when he promised to be faithful to only her. She openly talked of her polygamous marriage but wanted him to carry himself as a monogamous man.
After her death, not much is talked about her death and when Riek is asked about her, it is obvious he loved her more than he wanted to admit. He did chock on his sentence to be fair. He opted not to probe further into the Emma’s accident which could be interpreted either way.
My heart aches to the fact that Emma’s death makes no significance to a country that she held so close and dear to her heart and used all means to try and help it. She ran around trying to get journalists to cover stories she believed would be of help to the people.
I wish the first lady in waiting had made a bigger impact as I fought with her through the narrations of this book. It is obvious that politics of Sudan were much bigger than her love for the War Lord and the country.
Disclaimer: I choose to only look into the relationship of Emma McCune and Riek Machar as the book is very detailed on the history of North and South Sudan, neighboring countries and how their views affected this relationship. The history is too rich to sum it up in a few paragraphs.

[Bücherwurm Mainschleife · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heute beim Büchersortieren als einem der guten Vorsätze, die einem zu Beginn eines Jahres unterkommen, habe ich diese Biographie, erschienen 2006, gekauft und zwischendurch vergessen, wieder in die Finger bekommen und in einem Zug durchgelesen. Eine Story, die mich unglaublich gefesselt hat. Weniger wegen der Hauptfigur, die im offiziellen Trailer viel kitschiger und idealisierter beschrieben wird als die tatsächliche Darstellung im Buch ist. Auch den mittlerweile entstandenen Film möchte ich mir lieber nicht anschauen weil ich nach der Lektüre weiß, dass das halbe Buch darin wegen der unglaublichen Grausamkeiten garnicht vorkommen kann und darf.
Um die Vita der exaltierten, arroganten, intriganten und wohl auch größenwahnsinnigen Hauptfigur Emma McCune herum schildert die Autorin einige Jahre des Irrsinns, der Korruption, Willkür und grausamsten Anarchie im Sudan. Vieles mag man schon gehört haben, aber die Perspektive von Deborah Scroggins finde ich einzigartig gelungen. Sie hält gleiche Distanz zu den Kriegsakteuren und Opfern wie zu den kriegsberichterstattenden Medien, Regierenden und den vielen Hilfsorganisationen. Gleichzeitig schafft Scroggins mit dem eher nüchternen Erzählstil und der Faktentreue, die durch den Quellenteil belegt ist, für mich als Leser eine atemberaubende, bestürzende Nähe zu den Geschehen.
Verstörend aber nicht unerwartet sind z. B. Einblicke in die verwirrend vielen NGOs, die sich in den großen Krisengebieten häufen. Der sudanesische Finanzminister Abdel Hamdi wird mit dem Satz zitiert „Sie sind eine regelrechte Industrie, diese NGOs, und die profitieren von unserem Leid“. Auch die ägyptische Anthropologin Hania Sholksmy findet, dass viele humanitäre Helfer versucht sind, sich als „Kämpfer gegen das Böse“ zu stilisieren aber vornehmlich an ihren jeweiligen Karrieren interessiert sind.
Die Protagonistin Emma bewegt sich elegant und erfolgreich in diesem Metier, heiratet schließlich als Zweitfrau einen warlord, der auch nicht besser ist als alle anderen. Hinzu kommt bei ihr der telegene Wechsel auf die britische öffentliche Bühne, wo sie ihren Mann gegen jede Kritik verteidigt und die tollsten Anekdoten von sich gibt. Einer Freundin vertraut sie an, sie „… genoß den Rausch, in den es sie versetzte, sich erst zu lieben und danach an Verfassungsentwürfen für einen unabhängigen Sudan zu arbeiten“. Zunehmend versinkt sie in den Strudel aus unendlicher Grausamkeit, toleriert den Missbrauch Hunderter Kinder in einer Kinderarmee, bewegt sich mit ihrem Kriegsherrn ungerührt und „auffällig wohlgenährt unter Hungernden“. Das Paar verschafft sich eine der vornehmsten Villen in ihrem Herrschaftsgebiet, Emmas größter Traum war, das Anwesen aus dem Hollywoodfilm „Jenseits von Afrika“ in Besitz zu nehmen.
Scroggins beklemmendes Fazit: „ Ich dachte an einige Bezeichnungen, die man Emma im Sudan gegeben hatte: First Lady in spe, Konkubine, Spionin, Heldin. Sie eine humanitäre Helferin zu nennen schien mir ein weiteres Beispiel für den nicht zu entschuldigenden Narzissmus des Westens: die faule Weigerung, hinter die eigenen Retterphantasien zu blicken und Afrika, ebenso wie sich selbst, ungefiltert wahrzunehmen.“

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old lover devoured this book and pressed me to read it. I owe her a review. Love has its risks, and the risk of loving a dream is failing to realize it can lead to lies. Africa is an invention of white Europeans who project their desires, hopes, lusts and fears onto African peoples, often with Dantesque results, as Joseph Conrad showed us in HEART OF DARKNESS with Kurtz and Leopold II of Belgium. Emma McCune may not have thought of herself belonging in that horrific category but Deborah Scroggins in her life of Emma suggests this young British woman was willing to sacrifice her dignity, and with it the truth about what she saw in the Sudan in the late Eighties, for the sake of her projection of Africa and personal love for South Sudanese warlord, or freedom fighter, depending on one's political proclivities, Riek Machar. The number two man, after the legendary John Garang, in the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a quasi-Marxist group formed in the Sixties to battle for the overthrow of the government in Khartoum and independence for South Sudan, the SPLA won tens of thousands of recruits from among the Christian population of the South. Into this picture plunged Emma, a twenty three year-old aid worker from Britain serving the Canadian charity Street Kids International (SKI) to build schools and shelters in rebel-held areas. She found herself passionately attracted to the cause of the SPLA and personally to Machar, whom she married. There lay the first steps in her political and moral fall, Scroggins warns us. Emma blinded herself to the realities of a savage civil war in which her new husband impressed child soldiers to fight for him and used scorched-earth tactics against the government forces and Sudanese civilians. Reporters and other aid workers who brought these atrocities to her attention were met with silence. Street Kids quickly fired her for taking a political stand, and a dubious one at that, while Garang accused Emma of being a spy for the British. Emma was, to put it charitably, over her head. A harsher view is that she was only the latest of European conquerors of Africa who loved the continent in the abstract at the expense of its people. Scroggins does not make the moral choice for us. Emma's tragic death in a street bus accident in Kenya in 1993, pregnant with Machar's child, ended either the life of a dove-eyed naif in Africa or a collaborator by silence with human rights abuses. A tragic story all around. The postscript to EMMA's WAR is sobering. In the twenty-first century the SPLA, Garang had died by accident in 2005, dropped all pretenses to Marxism and became the creature of Western oil companies and American Christian fundamentalists. South Sudan finally won its independence in 2011 and after its own civil war Machar emerged Vice-President.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly un-put-downable! Much of Emma’s War is actually Scroggins’ brilliant synopsis of Sudan’s complicated tapestry of religious, cultural, and political histories, using Emma’s journey as an entry point for the reader. I was reminded of Michela Wrong’s expert use of a similar technique, introducing Kenya via the story of John Githongo.

The second half of the book took a darker turn that was also fascinating. Scroggins suggests through episodes on Nasir’s refugee camps and parallel relief efforts in Somalia that not only is Western humanitarian aid (at best) ineffective, it is also a pawn and accelerant in the hands of local political actors, itself prolonging and distorting conflict. In this light, Emma’s character is actually more resonant than an impressionable, dim-witted adrenaline junkie wearing a white savior complex. By insulating Riek Machar from the consequences of stealing food aid, did she help perpetrate the massacre at Bor? Would Emma ever admit she had her most impact as a tool of those people who she supposedly had set out to serve? Or, extrapolating the metaphor, is it possible to see half-hearted US « humanitarian » intervention in Somalia as a catalyst for bin Laden’s bold attacks on September 11, 2001? I, for one, did not know al-Qaeda was at one point based out of Sudan, or that bin Laden became interested in US imperialism alongside ally al-Turabi’s Sudanese National Islamic Front (NIF).

It’s a shame Scroggins hasn’t written another book about the region’s developments in the 20 years since Emma’s War was published; I would definitely read it! US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, South Sudan’s independence in 2011, followed by another decade of tribal violence spearheaded by the same man (South Sudan’s current vice president)… the lessons she drew out from the early 90s may only have been vindicated and not learned.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true story of a young British woman who gets involved in aid work and ends up in southern Sudan married to a local warlord. Hmm.

The book includes some history of the conflict in Sudan, which seems to me a good thing – it puts the news articles and ‘starving child’ TV ads in at least a little bit of perspective. Not that starving children need perspective, but me, I need perspective. After all, the UN and NGO capital of East Africa would be Nairobi, and I’ve been there. The southern Sudan conflict is at least similar to, if not directly related to the current situation in Darfur, which is next to Chad and I’ve been there. Having been somewhere gives me license to want to learn more about it, not to make blanket statements on things I know nothing about… Oh yeah, the book, I was talking about the book.

Aside from what it tells you about Sudan, the book also explores the world of humanitarian and aid workers in conflict zones. It’s a funny job description which requires an extreme degree of dedication to a cause or plain craziness to provide motivation for the position, and in the face of that, the realism and pragmatism to actually live and work in a war zone without getting killed. Emma, the subject of the book, had both of those, for the most part. Well, at least at first... In any case, it’s a great story – read the book.