The African Stakes of the Congo War

by John F. Clark

The African Stakes in the Congo War analyzes the Congo conflict by looking at the roles played by various states and factors in the conflict. Part I introduces the conflict by showing the historical and regional context of the war. Part II examines those states and groups that worked to support the Kaliba regime; Part III examines the rebel groups working to overthrow Kabila and those intervening on their behalf. Part IV looks at the role of supposedly neutral states such as South Africa and looks at the social and economic effects of the war by examining trans-state factors such as rebel groups, arms trading, and economic consequences. The collection includes both African and US/UK scholars, and covers the recent transfer of power from Laurent to Joseph Kabila.

Genres: Africa

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2002

Reviews

[Marc Lubman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked the book up out of curiosity to learn something about this war, the magnitude of which casualty-wise is unparalleled post-WWII, and yet which I’ve heard practically nothing about. Given that it was written before the war actually ended, it’s evident that were many competing interpretations of the cause and effects being hypothesized in the different chapters, and the book is not a definitive reflection. It was honestly extremely technical and kinda poorly written (lotta typos), more of a set of collections of all data and statistics available at the time rather than a series of cogent arguments. A book written in the midst of the war was also maybe not the best choice for a summary but also quite an interesting snapshot, and not bad background. It was interesting to read, particularly after Season of Blood, how in the years after 1994 the new government of Rwanda used the politics of the genocide to justify what seems like practically colonial invasion, regime change, and resource exploitation of the DRC’s northeast. Also loved learning the term “Balkanization,” can’t imagine a better way to describe the fracture and mutual antagonization of similar and once amicable populations. All of the essays made it evident that pretty much nobody has net benefitted from the conflict, which seems to just be a snarl of completing exploitative interests that ensnares and bleeds whoever jumps into it. Probably a great resource for those who need to know the technical info about the war, how many people of what ethnicity were displaced to what province in what year, or what politician took what stance that put him into opposition towards which rebel group allied with which country’s government, but not a great resource to learn about the war for those who don’t already know much about it.