Across the Red River: Rwanda, Burundi, and the Heart of Darkness

by Christian Jennings

Harrowing in its detail, yet often scathingly humorous, this first-hand account of the Central African nightmare exposes the baffling politics behind one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.

Genres: Africa, History, Nonfiction, Rwanda, Memoir, Burundi, War

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think that this is the book that Jennings wanted to write. He wanted to report on the blood and guts slice and dice genocide in Rwanda and Burundi but was stymied by obstructing officials and incompetent help. It's not that there were no killings going on, it's just that Jennings wasn't able to get to the site while there was still something to write about. It would be a pity to go all that way and not write about something, so Jennings tells the story of how he tried to report on the killings. You will read about crooked and scheming officials, substandard accommodations, and lackwit drivers. For good measure, he mentions a bit about his love life as well. In the end, Jennings deserted Burundi much as he had deserted the Foreign Legion when he served with them.

It's not Jennings is a bad writer, but as much as this isn't the book he wanted to write, it's also not the book I wanted to read. He has a few other titles out, and I will probably look into one of those some day.

[Calzean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit worried after the first chapter - a newbie to Africa sent to report on the Rwadan genocide in 1994. That was his first trip to the region and later chapters contained relevant and accurate background into the Rwanda and Burundi messes.
He also documents his well-reasoned and researched link of France's arming of the Rwandan Hutus. There also is a great analysis of the waste and slowness within the UN. To me these were the book's highlights and uniqueness.
There was a little too much about the life of a foreign correspondent and of the privileged Westerners who spent there time in the pubs and clubs, including whingeing about lack of air con, dodgy taxi drivers and mosquitoes.

[Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very hard book to find, now - try used books at Amazon. Amazing tales of a journalist for Reuters who covered both the fast genocide in Rwanda and the slow one in Burundi. An honest and fearless portrayal of the events of the time. If you are in any way a franco-phile, beware the Rwanda section of the book.

[Lisandra Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the book I was waiting for to read. I was looking to read for reasons and more documentary evidence about the Hutus genocide against the Tutsi minority ethnic group and moderate Hutus. I think he made good points with his descriptions of corrupted officials etc., maybe for a different reader, or maybe I need to look for UN report. ;)

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb lazy travelogue

[Marieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give this book four stars...but something about it irritated me and i'm pretty sure that it was sloppy editing. near-constant grammatical pet-peeves grated on my nerves ("try and do something" rather than "try TO do something" among other problems) and jenning's recounting of his experiences in rwanda and burundi did not flow well. his paragraphs jerked around on the space-time continuum and i often felt a bit confused, having few landmarks/points of reference to help me keep my place as events ufolded. in telling about an event, i thought he tried to include too much context, moving forwards, backwards, and sideways in his story. i felt like i should have been reading his dispatches simultaneously as a sort of handrail. i will read his published articles shortly (thank you Proquest!), after the fact, in an attempt to cement the events in order in my brain. that said, i do think it's a valuable book: i feel like very little has been written about burundi compared to rwanda and editing problems aside, i thought the author did a good job of relaying burundian events in light of what happened in rwanda and explaining their similarities and differences; i liked that he included Zaire/DRC in the story from the beginning since DRC seems also often left out of rwanda's genocide history (or maybe i haven't read enough yet); i thought his criticisms of the UN and members of parts of the international community (specifically the US, France and some NGOs) were very fair, and possibly the most valuable part of the book...definitely the most exasperating part of the book. Finally, i appreciated that Jenning's tone did not lead me to imagine him as an obnoxious cowboy war correspondent; he seemed to genuinely care, didn't seem to have any pretensions, and was not afraid to admit when he was scared sh*tless.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read quite a few books about the Rwandan genocide, but this book is the first that really covers a lot of the history of the region, puts it into the context of the general unrest in the Great Lakes region of Africa, and covers the massacres that also took place in Burundi. Jennings' writing is stark and to the point, and he even manages to mix in some humour to what is understandably a very traumatic subject. For me, the book is a damning indictment on the UN, their complete and utter failure to prevent the genocide (not including the UN troops on the ground who did what they could with the pointless mandate they were given), and also the part the international community played, or rather didn't play, in stopping this tragedy. This genocide was allowed to happen in front of our eyes. Thank goodness for journalists such as Jennings and his colleagues. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in the subject.

[AskHistorians]

Another good look by a journalist at the Rwanda genocide.

[Jeremy Hopkins]

Lent by Tim from USAID Burundi