A completely revised and updated (to January 2008) version of the book written by Julie Flint and myself is official launched this week. It’s available in both the UK (Zed Books) and the US (Palgrave-Macmillan).

Our earlier “short history” concluded in the early months of 2005, just as the phase of intense hostilities was coming to an end–though that was far from clear at the time. The new edition is nearly twice as long and contains a mass of new material, derived from field visits on both sides of the lines and personal involvement in many of the key episodes.

Darfur: A New History of a Long War revises and expands the existing chapters with new material on the role of the Arabs, the links between the SLA and SPLA, and new details on the origins of the JEM. Protagonists on all sides provided us with new evidence and insights into key episodes that led to the war.

The New History is twice as long as the first edition. A completely new chapter deals with the new phase of the war during 2005 and early 2006, when the huge government counter-offensives were replaced with a different pattern of violence as the armed groups on both sides fractured. Another new chapter focuses on the international response including the role of the African Union Mission in Sudan and the efforts to bring in UN troops. A third new chapter provides an account and analysis of the peace talks in Abuja. The final chapter analyzes the aftermath of the Darfur Peace Agreement and reflects on profound changes that Darfur has undergone.