Re-Imagining Rwanda: Conflict, Survival and Disinformation in the Late Twentieth Century (African Studies, Series Number 102)

The conflict in Rwanda and the Great Lakes in 1994-1996 attracted the horrified attention of the world's media, diplomats and aid workers struggling to make sense of the bloodshed. This study shows how the post-genocide regime in Rwanda managed to impose a simple, persuasive account of Central Africa's crises upon international commentators, and explains the ideological underpinnings of this official narrative. It is a sobering analysis of how simple, persuasive, but fatally misleading analysis of the situation led to policy errors that exacerbated the original crisis.

Johan Pottier is Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.