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Customer Reviews (3)

Happy with my purchase
I am very satisfied with my purchase! I received the book quickly and it was in great condition. Also I really love this book!! Thanks!

Straight and true
The Congo crises of the late 20th Century contributed to the death of perhaps four million people, and yet the literature on these conflicts and their causes is sparse and generally undistinguished.
Turner's book reflects a real mastery of Central African history and politics, and he takes an almost clinical approach to his story, with all the gory details and no particular axes to grind.

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. ... Read more

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In 1903, Roger Casement, then a British consul, left his consular base on the Lower Congo River and made a journey through the regions of the Upper Congo to investigate at first hand reports of alleged atrocities. His subsequent report was a crucial instrument in the British government's efforts to bring about change in King Leopold's Congo Free State. This edition brings together Casement's report, together with his diary of that year, which have been carefully edited for publication. Names which were omitted from the original published report have been reinstated, and explanatory notes have been provided to report and diary. The editors' introduction addresses the scramble for Africa, the role of Leopold and the Congo Free State, Britain and the Congo question, Casement's career, publication of the report and the humanitarian campaign, 1904-13. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

In Darkest Africa: Casement's Report on the Congo
Roger Casement's Congo Report (1903)

"The people have not easily accommodated themselves to the altered condition of life brought about by European government in their midst...Complaints as to the manner of exacting service are . . frequent . . . If the local official has to go on a sudden journey men are summoned on the instant to paddle his canoe, and a refusal entails imprisonment or a beating. If the Government plantation or the kitchen garden require weeding, a soldier will be sent to call in the women from some of the neighboring towns. . .; to the women suddenly forced to leave their household tasks and to tramp off, hoe in hand, baby on back, with possibly a hungry and angry husband at home, the task is not a welcome one."

Roger Casement's Congo report, 1903

Roger Casement was Britain's Consul-General in the Congo when he received orders to investigate reports of mistreatment of Congolese Natives by agents ofBelgian King Leopold II.

Casement pursued these reports, and found ample evidence of atrocities, including the mutilation and cutting off of hands of Slaves who didn't pull their weight.
Casement's reports back to London helped seal the fate of Leopold's empire.
At the same time, Casement himself was being demonized for the so-called "Black Diaries" which purported to show homosexual propensities.
After his arrest, Scotland Yard found the diaries in Casement's home and copied them...distributing them to his political enemies in an attempt to discredit his Congo Report.
As World War I approached, Casement became an ardent proponent of Irish nationalism. He believed that Germany posed a potential answer to the Irish Question, and allied himself with the Axis.That misguided allegiance resulted in his trial and execution for Treason.
Casement's legacy was the public exposure of the villainy of colonialism; and his tragedy was his personal life; which had little to do with his professionalism and much to do with his reputation. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1909.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

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This book examines the role of the UN in conflict resolution in Africa in the 1960s and its relation to the Cold War.

Focussing on the Congo, this book shows how the preservation of the existing economic and social order in the Congo was a key element in the decolonisation process and the fighting of the Cold War. It links the international aspects of British, Belgian, Angolan and Central African Federation involvement with the roles of the US and UN in order to understand how supplies to and profits from the Congo were producing growing African problems. This large Central African country played a vital, if not fully understood role, in the Cold War and proved to be a fascinating example of complex African problems of decolonisation interacting with international forces, in ways that revealed a great deal about the problems inherent in colonialism and its end.

This book will be of much interest to students of US foreign policy, the UN, Cold War history and international history in general.

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The United Nations is being called upon more and more to participate in situations that fall somewhere between peacekeeping and full-scale enforcement operations, such as those in Korea during the 1950s and the Persian Gulf in 1991. Such efforts have come to be termed as "peace enforcement" operations. Three case studies in which the United Nations used this type of force are examined: the early 1960s UN operation in the Congo (ONUC); the UN operations in Somalia (UNITAF and UNOSOM); and the mission in Bosnia (UNPROFOR). Until now, no single investigation had considered these three case studies from the viewpoint of determining the advantages and disadvantages involved in using peace enforcement as a way of dealing with international peace and security issues. ... Read more

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Congo Diplomatic Handbook (World Business, Investment and Government Library) ... Read more

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This is the only available book on the Congo war, the most important current conflict in Africa. Two chapters situate the war in its historical and theoretical context, while others survey the interests of the Congolese government, of the rebel groups, and of intervening states in the war. These chapters reveal the underlying sources of the war and explain the strategies of the various combatants. Other chapters examine the impact of the war on neighboring countries, individual citizens, refugees, and other non-state actors in the zone of conflict and beyond.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Peeling Back The Layers
This overview of the Second Congo War does an excellent job of explaining what could be a mind-numbing amalgam of acronyms and ever-shifting alliances between the literally dozens of war lords, foreign-backed rebels, official forces, and UN peacekeepers struggling for control of the rich resources of this sad nation.

Of particular note is the role played by neighboring countries in both the war and its aftermath.Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, and Zimbabwe all sent forces into the DRC; many are still there, although operating under different cloaks of official denial.The book is somewhat dated in its particulars at this point, but not by much.

The main thing to keep in mind is that the forces that drive the atrocities occurring in the Congo today are the same ones that Clark's contributors so aptly describe in this book.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo

Solid introduction to Africa's Great War
The African Stakes of the Congo War is special because it is an edited volume of articles by different authors. This has some disadvantages: the authors don't all necessarily agree and they are not made to link up. On the other hand, each chapter has to both be short and make a well-argued point, which is always good. The two introductory chapters are very good: John Clark explains the situation in Congo/Zaire that made the war possible very well and Crawford Young very originally puts Congo's invasion by Rwandan guerrillas in a continental context (IE, pointing out that this sort of thing also happened to Chad, Uganda, Rwanda...).

The other chapters each explain a single theme or factor in the war. I found those on the conduct of individual states to be the best: the reasons behind Rwanda's and Uganda's invasions, and Angola's and Zimbabwe's interventions alongside the government, are explained as is South Africa's neutrality. I found the chapter on Rwanda particularly good: it dispels a lot of illusions about Rwanda's current government, and how its shadier actions (counter-genocide, invasion, economic pillage) tend to get overlooked because these are the same people who ended the Rwandan Genocide (much as Israel was cut some slack in the early years because of the Holocaust). This book, despite a format not usually aimed at non-experts/students, I think is probably the best introduction to the topic. ... Read more

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Publisher: London : Harrison and SonsPublication date: 1884Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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The 1994 Rwandan Genocide continues to have serious repercussions for peace and stability in the Great Lakes region of Africa. As we recently saw, the key element of the July 30, 2002 Pretoria peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was the latter's commitment to disarm and repatriate Rwandan Hutu militants.

This volume continues where most books on the region leave off. The contributors make the connection between the Rwandan Genocide and the continuation of the conflict onto the territory of Zaire which finally culminated in the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko's kleptocratic regime. The reasons for war and the missed opportunities for peacemakingturned on the issue of separating the approximately million refugees from the armed militias and former Rwandan Army (ex-FAR) in Eastern Zaire. At the center of the conflict over the refugee camps were the questions: Who are refugees? Can they be repatriated against their wishes? Who are combatants? Who is responsible for separating each from the other? Is this an example of justifiable humanitarian intervention?

The chapters in this volume cover the many dimensions of the conflict, giving the reader a comprehensive understanding of an unprecedented continent-wide war which drew in combatants from at least eight neighboring African countries and spanned the breadth of central Africa.By examining the question of how to best handle the problem of refugee warriors, which has long been a source of instability in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, a number of distinguished contributors—some of whom were on the ground as the events were unfolding—lay out the complex roots of the problem in this important volume. ... Read more

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Foreign policy, domestic policy, political system and parties, government and administrative structure, international activity and more. Updated annually ... Read more

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Title: The Future of the Congo; an Analysis and Criticism of the Belgian Government's Proposals for a Reform of the Condition of Affairs in the Congo, Submitted to His Majesty's Government on Behalf of the Congo Reform Association. (With Appendices)Publisher: London, Smith, Elder ... Read more

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This study illustrates the growing political role of the United Nations in the 1960s, and also the difficulty of implementing decisions on the spot when faced with unexpected developments and obstacles which appeared insurmountable. The work also traces the role of law in influencing the decisions taken in a situation of tremendous complexity. ... Read more