Congo

by Thomas Turner

The Democratic Republic of Congo has become one of the world's bloodiest hot spots. 2003 saw the end of a five-year war in which millions lost their lives - one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. Despite recent peace agreements and democratic elections, the country is still plagued by army and militia violence. Congo remains deeply troubled, since the deep-rooted causes of conflict have not been adequately addressed. The conflict in the DRC has divided opinion; some call it a civil war, or a war of aggression by the country's neighbours; others a continuation of Rwanda's Hutu-Tutsi conflict on Congolose soil, and a war of partition and pillage. The prevalence of rape and sexual violence has led some analysts to mark it out as a hidden ‘war against women'. Tom Turner's insightful book reveals how each of these descriptions accurately captures the separate elements of this complex and multidimensional political conflict. In exploring each of these contributory factors, he shows how current attempts to rebuild the shattered state and society of DRC are doomed to fail. So long as the full complexity of the Congo crisis is not taken into account and a clear consensus as to its precise dimensions reached, the future looks bleak. The DRC, he argues, will likely remain a global hot spot for some time to come.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads

See also:
Thomas Turner, 1729-1793
Thomas Turner, 1861-1951

Reviews

[Banu Altunbas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although some facts in this book are super interesting, it remains a shallow analysis of the complex problems of DRC and a bit of biased view of the historical incidents in my opinion.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a fairly dry read of a complex subject trying to show the various causes of the various conflicts within DRC - international nations, neighbours, greed, expectations of rewards, corruption, tribal history, revenge and the lack of concern from the country's own leaders. The author is a former Peace Corps worker and he writes mainly in a stark, unemotional manner. Occasionally his frustrations show out and he points out the failures of the Governments of the DRC, UN, USA and surrounding nations. The book focuses on the invasions of the 1990s and the subsequent Congolese War. More recent times are looked at in the later chapters. A terribly sad indictment on humanity.

[crow ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
this book mentions me in the acknowledgements