The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa

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Notes

1. Lemarchand's discussion of ethnicity as myth is reminiscent of Benedict Anderson's notion of ‘imagined communities’.

2. A more detailed and thorough account of the Democratic Republic of Congo, since its inception as a Belgian colony to the presidency and assassination of Laurent Kabila, can be found in Nzongola-Ntalaja's (2002) text, The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A people's story

3. The Heart of Darkness is a reference to Joseph Conrad's (2004 [1902]) well known novella of the same name.

4. Hochschild (1998) provides an enthralling account of King Leopold's strategic appropriation of the Congo Free State.

5. Michela Wrong's (2000) journalistic account of the final days of Mobutu's failing state is a must read for those interested in the demise of the Leopard.

6. Lemarchand does not refer to Mobutu's policy as such, but interested readers can refer to Janet MacGaffey (1991), for further information on this.

7. This repetition could have been avoided if Lemarchand had re-organised information in reference to the larger narrative of the book. As it stands the text reads like a collection of unpublished papers and articles, which Lemarchand admits is the case for chapters in Part III.

8. Francis Nyamnjoh's (2007) insightful article on flexible citizenship is a must read for those interested in an exploration of the concept.

9. Further detailed and micro accounts of the genocide in Rwanda can be found in Pottier's (2002) academic text entitled Re-imagining Rwanda, and the novel by Gil Courtemanche (2004) entitled A Sunday at the pool in Kigali. For a nuanced narrative portrait of a rebel in the DRC read the literary account by Lieve Joris (2006) entitled The Rebel's Hour.