Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda

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Summary: As an African I found this book to be way above par
Review: This is an excellent book that trully takes you to heart of suffering in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda. I was born and raised in Kenya during the years of the famine in Somalia but never quite understood what was happening and just how much people were suffering. This book does an excellent job at depicting the images of a war ravaged country and also at how greedy and corrupt africans can be. Speaking as an African reading this novel made me feel ashamed, ashamed because what he writes is the truth. This is an excellent book and I do not doubt that change will only come to Africa once the people make up their mind to elect leaders who will remember that that is what they are.....leaders!

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Summary: Reality Check
Review: This is fascinating reading regarding some of the most intense struggles and war zones of 1990's Africa which the author experienced first hand. What I appreciate about the book is that Scott Peterson brings deeper insight into the war theatres by being involved with those at ground zero. This book is a reality check for the Western world, so that we may fully see some of the critical problems in Africa. Hopefully this will bring about some sort of understanding of how terribly sheltered we are from Africa's situation. This book helps to bring this world disparity out of the darkness and ultimately establishes a good forum for us all to address Africa more critically. Only by caring enough about the crucial situations there, like Scott Peterson has, can we at least try to frame Africa in our world-view; Sadly you'd have to admit that most westerners are extremely detached from the widespread sufferings in Africa. Scott Peterson's perspective is equally compassionate as it is dispassionate. Perhaps that is the sort of mind required to live at the frontlines. Whatever the case, his perspective has brought me inside the struggles of Africa. We all should try to see beyond our comforts and try to be concerned about what is going on over there. This book will help to educate you.

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Summary: The Collapse Of A Continent
Review: What can be said about Africa? Can slavery and colonialism provide sufficient explanation for the butchery and systemic collapse we see there today? The answers are unclear, but Me Against My Brother provides yet another chilling account of the implosion of Sub-Saharan Africa, in this case through a war-correspondent's view of recent and ongoing mayhem in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda. The book also provides an excellent overview of the West's fumbling, well-intentioned and frequently counter-productive efforts to relieve the massive suffering, most of which is the direct result of tribal conflict, the deliberate engineering of famine by African warlords, and the manipulation of international relief organizations by clans hell-bent on extermination. The story of Western intervention in these conflicts should be required reading for all advocates of humanitarian assistance. The United States, after a misguided, frequently incompetent and murderous fiasco in Somalia, not only disengaged from such pursuits, but actively discouraged other Western nations from intervening in Rwanda, just as the Hutu were sharpening their machetes against the Tutsi. When the RPF invaded from Uganda, ending the mindless slaughter and creating a Hutu exodus out of Rwanda, the West saw only another refugee crisis and proceeded to feed and REARM the Hutu killers, hiding in all too-familiar style behind a human shield of starving and truly innocent Hutus. So, 50 years after the Holocaust in Europe, which we are constantly lectured never to forget, which must never be allowed to happen again, the West not only ignores one of the largest genocides of the Century, but actively feeds and rearms the killers afterwards. The reaction to Rwanda was probably instrumental in our murderous involvement in the former Yugoslavia. This is policy as reaction and counter-reaction, evolving towards...what? Finally, the story of Sudan is perhaps the most chilling of all in its implications for Africa's future. Originally a justified revolt of the South against a harsh and (again) homicidal Islamic government in the North, the Southern resistance splits and re-splits along tribal lines, each clan staging the usual massacres of innocents, herding them through the desert to attract food-relief, most of which goes to feed the armies. Multiply these stories throughout Africa, mix in AIDs and rampant corruption, then ask yourself: can Africa survive? Personally, I think the answer is no. For anyone interested in the collapse of civilizations, I highly recommend this book.