Book review: The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair, by Michael Deibert
Central Africa seldom commands outside attention. Its torments play second fiddle to Afghanistan and the Middle East.
by Michael Deibert
Zed
4 stars
Rory Carroll
Central Africa seldom commands outside attention. Its torments play second fiddle to Afghanistan and the Middle East. This is understandable - there are no Islamist or nuclear perils here to frighten the West - but still shameful.
Europe and the US bear partial responsibility for Congo's plight, a legacy of enslavement, looting and meddling dating back centuries.
Michael Deibert's book is a scrupulously researched reminder of how this corner of the world became so wretched, and of the many actors responsible: Congolese politicians and warlords, predatory neighbours, hypocritical Western governments and a hapless UN.
An American who specialises in development issues in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Deibert has written a solid, journalistic account detailing Congo's tailspin since 1994. Early chapters briskly dispatch the history - Portuguese slavers, Belgian hand-cutters, Mobutu Sese Seko's decaying rule - leaving the book to focus on what happened after Rwanda's vengeful Tutsi forces pursued Hutu genocidaires across the border of its giant neighbour.
Drawing on reports from Global Witness and Human Rights Watch, among others, Deibert details how Rwanda's proxy warlord, Laurent Kabila, swept aside Mobutu's regime in 1997 and installed himself in the presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa.