Why Comrades Go to War - Liberation Politics and the Outbreak of Africa's Deadliest Conflict (Paperback)

In October 1996, a motley crew of ageing Marxists and unemployed youth coalesced to revolt against Mobutu Seso Seko, president of Zaire/Congo since 1965. The rebels of the AFDL marched over 1500km in seven months to crush the dictatorship, heralding liberation as a second independence for Central Africa as a whole. US President Bill Clinton toasted AFDL leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and his regional allies - having developed a unique camaraderie and personal trust on the region's battlefronts -- as a 'new generation of African leaders' ushering in an 'African Renaissance.' Within months, however, the Pan-Africanist alliance fell apart. The AFDL's collapse triggered a cataclysmic fratricide between the heroes of liberationthat became the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, drawing in eight African countries. This book draws on hundreds of interviews with protagonists from Africa and the international community to offer a novel theoretical and empirical account of Africa's Great War. Bridging the gap between comparative politics and international relations, it argues that the renewed outbreak of calamitous violence in August 1998 was a function of the kind of regime the AFDL was and how its leaders saw Congo, theregion and themselves. As a Pan-Africanist liberation movement, the collapse of the AFDL government internally and the unravelling of regional order externally were inextricably linked.

General

Imprint:	C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	August 2017
Authors:	Harry Verhoeven • Philip Roessler
Dimensions:	216 x 138 x 33mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	320
ISBN-13:	978-1-84904-908-5
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > African history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Battles & campaigns Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > History > African history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Promotions
LSN:	1-84904-908-4
Barcode:	9781849049085

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