Dancing in the Glory of Monsters Review
“Dancing in the Glory of Monsters” is a reflection of one of the greatest wars in Africa. The title of the book signifies how Congo plunged into being a failed state due to the violence that emanated from the consequences of the genocide in adjacent Rwanda. Stearns presents a true picture of how Congo collapsed into a conflict of revenge massacres of bizarre brutality. Alternatively, the story of “Africa’s Great War” portrays an impartial account founded on many meetings and interviews with both victims and perpetrators of the massacre including child soldiers, genocidiares, generals, ministers and rapists (Stearns, 2011, 15). Stearns explains that the most lethal war of our generation was not adequately covered.
It is important to point out that the Congo has endured forty decades of political degeneration that started in the 6th century with the Arab and European slave trade. This was followed in the 19th century by the extensive plunder of the area by King Leopold of Belgium. According to Stearns (2011, 330) "the colonial authorities handed over government to a Congolese people almost wholly unprepared to manage their vast state” during the liberty from Belgium in 1960. President Mobutu Sese Seko, who enjoyed support from the United States of America exemplified incompetence, oppression and corruption for 32 years.
To present a clear account of a series of violence in the country, Stearns gives a background of social, political and economic factors that resulted military invasions and revenge massacres. Eventually, between 1996 and 2003, the conflict resulted to 5.4 million casualties in the region. This death toll represented an overwhelming 10 % of the whole population in the region with a majority of them being civilians; mostly children. It is particularly hard to understand how Stearns covered war that entailed military forces from nine nations and more than 20 rebel groups in a country the size of Western Europe (Stearns, 2011, 35).
Stearns points out that the initial Congo war begun in 1996 after the invasion by their neighboring Rwanda. Truly, this conflict was a direct consequence of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left approximately 800, 000 people dead. This massacre took place in 100 days and the victims were the Tutsi community after being attacked by the Hutu. After the attacks in Rwanda, the Tutsis dominated power and noticed that there was still a danger from genocidiares and Hutus staying or hiding in neighboring Congo in camps serviced by Western aid (Stearns, 2011, 45). The Hutus across the border, approximately more than 1 million, were just relating well with legitimate victims who did not participate in massacres when violence broke. Tutsis has decided to cross the border and finish their enemies from the refugee camps in Congo.
To fight their enemies, the Rwandese collaborated, somewhat as “moral cover”, with anti-Mobutu radicals like grouping of Congolese Tutsis residing in eastern Congo and Laurent Kabila to fight Hutus. The Congolese Hutus were warring under the umbrella …