In 1994, ethnic conflict turned to genocide in Rwanda. When the world finally took notice, a million people lay dead, and the small African country lay in ruins. Rwanda returned from the brink guided by rulers determined to rebuild the country on their own terms, rather than those of a previously indifferent international community. Paul Kagame, Rwanda's first democratically elected president, embodies the new Rwandan political philosophy. Young, unconventional, not without flaws and critics--Kagame is key to understanding Rwanda's transition from a country that had known only fear, division and clan-based nepotism for many years to an exceptional African state built upon traditional order and values. Paul Kagame's life--from exiled child refugee, to guerilla warrior and rebel politician, to President of Rwanda--is traced in this exploration of the influences on Rwanda's struggle for change. Analyzing the conflicts and challenges of post-genocide Rwanda in comparison to modern parallels, the work invites reassessment of Kagame's leadership and government in an African context rather than measurement against Western standards, and critiques Western involvement in Rwanda since the early 1990s. Twenty-eight photographs and three maps supplement the text, as do a history of Rwanda's Banyarwanda people and a glossary of words in Kinyarwanda, their language. The work includes a bibliography and an index.
In 1994, ethnic conflict turned to genocide in Rwanda. When the world finally took notice, a million people lay dead, and the small African country lay in ruins. Rwanda returned from the brink guided by rulers determined to rebuild the country on their own terms, rather than those of a previously indifferent international community. Paul Kagame, Rwanda's first democratically elected president, embodies the new Rwandan political philosophy. Young, unconventional, not without flaws and critics--Kagame is key to understanding Rwanda's transition from a country that had known only fear, division and clan-based nepotism for many years to an exceptional African state built upon traditional order and values. Paul Kagame's life--from exiled child refugee, to guerilla warrior and rebel politician, to President of Rwanda--is traced in this exploration of the influences on Rwanda's struggle for change. Analyzing the conflicts and challenges of post-genocide Rwanda in comparison to modern parallels, the work invites reassessment of Kagame's leadership and government in an African context rather than measurement against Western standards, and critiques Western involvement in Rwanda since the early 1990s. Twenty-eight photographs and three maps supplement the text, as do a history of Rwanda's Banyarwanda people and a glossary of words in Kinyarwanda, their language. The work includes a bibliography and an index.
Campaigner, insurgent, fugitive, rebel commander, commodity kingpin, elected president, exile and finally prisoner, Charles Taylor sought to lead his country to change but instead ignited a conflict which destroyed Liberia in over a decade of violence, greed and personal ambition. Taylor's takeover threw much of the neigbouring region into turmoil, until he was finally brought to face justice in The Hague for his role in Sierra Leone's civil war. In this remarkable and eye-opening book, Colin Waugh draws on a variety of sources, testimonies and original interviews - including with Taylor himself - to recount the story of what really happened during these turbulent years. In doing so, he examines both the life of Charles Taylor, as well as the often self-interested efforts of the international community to first save Liberia from disaster, then, having failed to do so, to bring to justice the man it deems most to blame for its disintegration.
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