The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 1/20/2011
EAN 9780521169059, ISBN10: 0521169054
Paperback, 340 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
This book examines a decade-long period of instability, violence and state decay in Central Africa from 1996, when the war started, to 2006, when elections formally ended the political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A unique combination of circumstances explain the unravelling of the conflicts: the collapsed Zairian/Congolese state; the continuation of the Rwandan civil war across borders; the shifting alliances in the region; the politics of identity in Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC; the ineptitude of the international community; and the emergence of privatised and criminalised public spaces and economies. This book seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of concurrent developments in Zaire/DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda in African and international contexts. By adopting a non-chronological approach, it attempts to show the dynamics of the inter-relationships between these realms and offers a toolkit for understanding the past and future of Central Africa.
Introduction
1. A region in turmoil
2. 'The war of liberation'
3. The massacre of the Rwandan refugees
4. The fall of the Mobutist state
5. The Congo, waiting for another war
6. Impasse in Rwanda and Burundi
7. 'The first African world war'
8. Negotiating the transition
Conclusion.