by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Pulitzer Prize-nominated author and photographer Lucian Niemeyer said it does not make a difference to him if he wins the award.
"I am just a messenger - just a very small person in this whole thing," he said. "It is the people in Africa that need rescuing, help and attention."
Niemeyer, author and photographer of Africa: The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan, spent 10 years researching and documenting the effects of slavery, genocide and holy war in areas of Africa. The fourth and final installment of his photography exhibitions, "Numba Mountains," opened at UNM's Maxwell Museum of Anthropology on Friday.
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"It was a rude awakening to me about the world's problems," Niemeyer said of his experience in Africa.
Niemeyer said he became interested in African genocide after his cousin asked him to go to Rwanda in 1994. After documenting the effects of genocide in Rwanda, Niemeyer documented slavery and holy war in Sudan.
"It's a powerful story. We got caught in a battle," he said. "Each step has been enormously revealing."
Niemeyer said the genocide in Africa by Arab Muslims has occurred since 1987. Although President Bush announced the genocide, the United Nations has not addressed it, he said.
"How that can happen, I will never know," Niemeyer said. "It would seem to me that unless the world started addressing the genocide in Sudan and the slavery in Sudan, we would be mired down in very bad politics."
Niemeyer said many news organizations removed themselves from Africa because of budget reasons. He said he wants his book to show people around the world what is going on there.
"It tells of a failure of human world politics," Niemeyer said.
Niemeyer said the religious organizations have neglected the situation as well.
"It seems that the churches would rise up on their hind legs and say, 'Stop,'" he said. "That has not happened. It's a mess, and most of the players in the world do not want to address it. I guess one reason is because it is Africa. So, it is my goal to lay out the absolute truth and put it in front of their faces so people cannot avoid the issue."
When there is genocide in Sudan, it makes it easier for it to occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Niger, Niemeyer said.
"They are smaller, and no one pays attention, so it escalates," he said.
Niemeyer said "Numba Mountains" features portraits of people who were taken as slaves and released for $35.
"These people are now moving back into their communities, but there is no food and no infrastructure. But the people are happy, and they are willing to deal with that," he said.
Niemeyer said his most powerful photo was of a woman sold as a slave. He used the photo for the cover of his book.
"She is wearing a black muslin headband and has a button in her ear, because the Muslims do not allow jewelry," he said. "She is very beautiful with a haunted look."
