Product Description

Successive waves of armed conflict, mind-numbing atrocities against civilian populations and the persistent pillage of innocent villagers' meagre possessions have been the reality of Eastern Congo since 1996. There have been at least 3 million overwhelmingly civilian casualties and constant military interventions of a partisan and economically self-interested kind by Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia in what is the world's least reported and least understood major war. With the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide still exercising its shockwaves, and United Nations troops in position, but apparently powerless to secure the lives of ordinary citizens, this book throws new light on the interventions of other African powers in the region and cuts through the highly tendentious, competing historical myths that people in the region and beyond resort to in trying to make sense of what is happening.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112036 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Thomas Turner's book will likely be the point of reference for anyone interested in the Congo wars, their origins and dynamics and why, in spite of the carnage, they remain a largely ignored and unknown conflict outside of Central Africa'. Ian Taylor, University of St Andrews 'Thomas Turner provides the most lucid and detailed analysis of the complexity of the internal and interregional wars that have plagued this vast country since 1996. By situating this tragic history within the legacies of colonialism and Mobutuism, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the criminalization of political activity in resource rich but politically unstable regions of the world, he has produced a remarkable and highly readable book.' Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, United Nations Development Programme

About the Author
Thomas Turner is a leading authority on the Congo and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Rwanda.

Customer Reviews

Better than nothing but...
Given the relative dearth of books in English about the Congo wars, this book is welcome, and Turner brings many years of study and experience of the region to it. As the previous reviewer says, the introductory chapters provide a reasonably good overview of the factors which contributed to the conflict, and Turner's objectivity is helpful too. However, while recognising that the Congo wars were very complicated and not well reported, I found this book rather poorly written and only partially enlightening. Often it seems to lack coherence both within and across chapters, and the writing style is often poor. I too found it quite a slog to get through. It is possibly not Turner's fault that he could not find a broader range of sources, but at times he seems to dwell on certain incidents at some length while leaving other aspects of the war under-represented.

So this book is definitely better than nothing, and it does present a balanced account, but one would have hoped that such a book might have been better written.

Rather sloggy
The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality is written by veteran Congo scholar Thomas Turner. It is not a narrative of the wars. Rather, the book tries to do many things: the early chapters are wonderful at introducing and contextualizing the conflict, later it describes the belief of Ugandans that Congo is a place where you can steal cars, meet women, and make money, the ways Uganda/Rwanda have plundered Congo, the role of the international community and the elections that have been held since the war ended. The result is a book which is slightly clunky, two chapters of in-depth analysis on the impact of the war in the provinces of North and South Kivu I found a particular slog but unfortunately unenlightening. It is a useful book nonetheless.

Written by a university professor....
... the book is both interesting and full of information, but is a little hard to read at times. Needs quite a high IQ in bits. The author brings in too many referrences and mentions too many other authors. Too few statistics included that could have been used as source evidence. Would recommend it for someone who already has a good bit of knowledge about the war, not for beginners.