From genocide to continental war : the 'Congolese' conflict and the crisis of contemporary Africa

"In September 1996, in the aftermath of the Rwandese Genocide, a multinational African force led by Rwanda invaded what was then Zaire, with the aim of crushing the remnants of the genocidaire regime and of overthrowing that long time friend of the West, the dictator Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko wa Za Banga. They succeeded beyond their highest expectations. But that success disturbed what was then Africa's 'sick giant', an enormous amorphous space where over three hundred tribes coexisted in a series of uneasy compromises and where the last of the Cold Warriors, a man hated by a whole continent, precariously kept in check within an increasingly disarticulated geopolitical space a country his avarice had driven to a state of rotting despair." "The predictable result was the bloodiest conflict since the Second World War, involving fourteen African countries and causing the deaths of almost four million people (five times as many as in the Rwandese genocide which had triggered the process)." "In From Genocide to Continental War Gerard Prunier describes in precise and chilling detail this massive yet little-known conflict, which became known as 'Africa's First World War'. It became a litmus test for the fragile state of the continent as Africans were struggling to usher in a new era as the twentieth century drew to a close."--Jacket Rwanda's mixed season of hope (Jul 1994 - Apr 1995) From Kibeho to the attack on Zaire (Apr 1995 - Oct 1996) The Congo basin, its interlopers, and its onlookers (Zaire, Sudanese & Ugandans, Angolan conflict) Winning a virtual war (Sep 1996 - May 1997) Losing the real peace (Kabila, Luanda/Brazzaville, the DRC, Kivus, May 1997 - Aug 1998) A continental war (Augu 1998 - Aug 1999, Kinshasa, Lusaka) Sinking into the quagmire (Aug 1999 - Jan 2001, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, MONUC, Mzee) Not with a bang, but with a whimper: the war's confused ending (Jan 2001 - Dec 2002) From war to peace: Congolese transition and conflict deconstruction (Jan 2003-Jul 2007) Groping for meaning: the "Congolese" conflict and the crisis of contemporary Africa Seth Sendashonga's murder. Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the Tutsi RPF government built a repressive regime after a short pretence at national reconciliation, while hundreds of thousands of Hutu fled to Zaire. The two parties clashed when the Rwandan government attacked the refugee camps in September 1996, forcing some of the refugees back home and killing others. A study of the Congo conflict and the collapse of the Zairian regime. This massive conflict will probably play a key role in reshaping the African continent's future in terms of border definition, governance and economic change, all of which are addressed in this work.