This edited work explores the sources of conflict in Africa's Great Lakes region, as well as local and international attempts to rebuild political authority and reduce the scale of human suffering.

Driven by genocide, civil war, political instabilities, ethnic and pastoral hostilities, the African Great Lakes Region, primarily Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi, has been overwhelmingly defined by conflict. Kenneth Omeje, Tricia Redeker Hepner, and an international group of scholars, many from the Great Lakes region, focus on the interlocking conflicts and efforts toward peace in this multidisciplinary volume. These essays present a range of debates and perspectives on the history and politics of conflict, highlighting the complex internal and external sources of both persistent tension and creative peacebuilding. Taken together, the essays illustrate that no single perspective or approach can adequately capture the dynamics of conflict or offer successful strategies for sustainable peace in the region.

Any analysis aimed at coming up with strategies to positively transform a confl ict has fi rst to identify all the actors involved and interests pursued, either individually or collectively. This rule applies best to protracted confl icts like the one under scrutiny. In this research study, Ladislas Bizimana tries to answer the most fundamental question: Who has been doing what, why, how in the bloody confl ict that continues to plunge the peoples of the African Great Lakes region into mourning? In doing so, Ladislas draws upon both his personal experience and professional background. As a Rwandan who lived through and survived the 1994 Rwandan horror, Ladislas speaks from within. This matchless, insightful and compelling testimony is enriched by his being a former TV and Radio reporter working for humanitarian agencies in the African Great Lakes region (1994-1995).

Explores the sources of conflict in Africa's troubled Great Lakes region, as well as local and international attempts to rebuild political authority and reduce the scale of human suffering.

The Great Lakes region of Africa is troubled. Burundi is experiencing continued turmoil due to a recent contentious election. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, has had some level of conflict since the late 1990s. The Lord's Resistance Army, also known as the LRA, has plagued several of these countries. Alleged plundering of DRC resources by Rwanda and Uganda has never been fully resolved. Nations in the region have been preoccupied in the last 2 years with resolving the South Sudanese Civil War. Definitions vary, but the Great Lakes region, as defined by the U.S. Department of State, comprises Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda. The region is among the most densely populated in Africa, especially around Lake Victoria, and enjoys rich agricultural potential, water resources, minerals, and wildlife. However, political instability, conflict, humanitarian crises, and lack of development remain key challenges.

Are the United States of America, the Belgium, the France, and the United Kingdom the gods of the countries of the African Great Lakes Region (AGLR)? This is one of the questions that get critical and informed answers from this book. In fact, the countries of the AGLR such Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the DRC have been experiencing penurious socioeconomic situations, insecurity, human rights violation, and diverse atrocities for more than 400 hundred years now. Ethnic killings, civil wars, and genocides had been the most deleterious ones. For the recent historic atrocious events in the AGLR like the 1994 genocide, the civil wars in Uganda, the first and second wars of DRC, the ethnic killings in Burundi, etc. Most of the people of the AGLR and some international observers and agencies have never failed to blame some Western countries like the United States of America, the Belgium, the France, and the United Kingdom as if they were authors of the destiny of the African nations! Several books have been written showing proofs of involvement of the United States of America, the Belgium, the France, and the United Kingdom in many destructive activities in the AGLR, and in Africa as a whole. Many people believe that durable peace and prosperity can only be possible if those Western countries decide it. This book provides a contradictory view with comprehensive and concise historical analysis of the problems of the AGLR. The first volume (volume I) contains six first chapters with thought provoking-provoking questions and answers in the sixth chapter focusing on self-awareness, knowledge of the land, and true and right information about the populations of the African Great Lakes Region (AGLR). The questions involve but not limited to: Who am I?; Why am I here?; Why was I born in the AGLR?; What kind of thoughts and beliefs do I have?; What do I think about my tribe or ethnic group?; What do I think about other ethnic groups or tribes of my country?; Do I know the history of African migrations?; Do I know the history of the people of AGLR?; Do I know the impact of colonialism on Africa - on the AGLR?; What gift(s) or talent(s) do I have?; What goals do I have with reference to my gifts and beliefs?; What do I like to do?; Is what I have been doing in accordance with what I was born to do?; What should I be doing from today?; etc. We are optimistic that shedding light on people's minds with the suggested enlightening answers to these questions in Chapter 6 of this book (Volume I) will help in the process of establishing durable peace and prosperity for all in the African Great Lakes Region (AGLR).

In 2010 and 2011, sub-Saharan Africa has seen a wave of general elections. This report highlights the political development indicated by the recent round of elections in the African Great Lakes, a region that has long been associated with intense warfare and violence. Despite improvements in security and some socioeconomic achievements, the political revolution in the region since the last round of elections between 2003 and 2006 shows worrying trends. Clear signs of electoral authoritarianism are coupled with new divisions and increasing fragmentation. The report argues that these trends sow the seeds for repeated exclusion and instability and should thus be a serious concern for international actors.