Page 99 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

Rwanda

Uncomfortable Truths

A History of Troubled Interventions

Elsewhere in this narrative, you will see details of decade after decade of interventions in
different African countries. So many it would be pedantic to list them again here.

Assassinations of pre-Independence and also post-Independence African leaders.
Coups and countercoups, financed and otherwise resourced by 'outside interests'.

̩
̩
̩
ɡ
ɡ
ɡ
Super-powers, other m'zuŋ u states, m'zuŋ u corporations, rich m'zuŋ u multi-millionaires,
adventurers and would-be adventurers.
Former Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere summed it up well,
" Small nations are like indecently dressed women. They tempt the evil-minded, "

Julius Nyerere
*****

There are African countries who have never known post-independence stability. Chad, CAR,

DRC.

Once a 'fragile state' fractures the internal conflicts that take place, not just conflicts
based on arguments but in many cases repressive use of force, so break down civil and

political institutions that the legacy is one of 'intractability'. Where there are no easy

answers and where it can take decades not just to get warring parties to overcome their
differences but simply to rebuild the many civil and professional institutions which,

through repression and victimisation and 'emigration', have had their memberships
decimated.

It’s not unreasonable to say that the curse of the modern world is the list of

'intractable' conflicts littered around the globe. In the age of globalisation, each of these
'intractable' conflicts simply adds to world instability and hinders worldwide economic

development. Displaced refuges create domestic political problems and burden the public

purse. Disaffected groups become activists. Activists too easily provide the fertile ground
for acts of terrorism. And so the cycle perpetuates.

It’s in everyone's interests to prevent the creation of more of these 'intractable'
conflicts. It should be a priority.

So long as it is surrounded by 'troubled and troubling' neighbours, and by provinces

that by virtue of their distance from their country's capitals are under-developed and