Scott Peterson (1) (1966–)

British journalist Scott Peterson was an old hand at reporting in Africa by the time the 'New World Order' was tested by Somalia in the early '90s. For this reason, his shock and horror at the events he describes in this book carries weight. Covering Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda, different approaches to solving the same problems of civil war and hunger are effectively juxtaposed - ultimately providing few concrete answers to the 'peacekeeping problem', but being highly instructive all the same.

For those just home from seeing the new movie _Black Hawk Down_ (Americans especially), I think _Me Against My Brother_ should be required reading. Peterson spends half of his book on Somalia, and provides clear and concise background information on the origins of the unrest there. His analysis is evenhanded, spreading plenty of blame around: to the UN, the U.S. Armed Forces, the Somali warlords, and the Somali people themselves. I felt the book portrayed a bad situation steadily made worse by all parties involved, rightly leaving them smarting from their involvement.

The next quarter of the book examines the Sudan. A timely topic in this time of heightened sensitivity to Muslim/Christian conflict, Peterson shows how damaging such conflicts can be. Again he provides good, brief background material and plenty of firsthand accounts from southern Sudan; the front lines. The section on the Sudan underscored a civil war where, unlike Somalia, humanitarian aid was distributed without accompanying military intervention. The result is a graphic illustration of how such well meaning aid organizations can be manipulated, prolonging suffering rather than quelling it.

A third contrast is provided by the last section of the book - Rwanda. There, the conflict was so terrifying that not only was there no military intervention, but no humanitarian effort either. Rwanda was so atrocious, so dangerous, that Peterson (who had been-there-done-that as far as African wars are concerned) was almost too overwhelmed with fear to go there. No aid, few pictures, nearly a million dead. Essentially an inferno of violence that burned until there no no fuel of Tutsi and moderate Hutu bodies left to sustain it.

I consider myself fairly educated and aware. Peterson jolted me awake. His eyewitness accounts are riveting, his analyses fairly impartial. In this book he shows a conflict where we tried to intervene with force, one where the intervention was in the form of aid, and one where no one lifted a finger. In all three cases, the results were varying degrees of the same hunger, anarchy, and death. Therefore, Peterson gives no prescription for curing the ills of Africa, but does a fine job of noting the symptoms of the illness.

I highly recommend this book. I learned from it immensely, and I'm sure you will too.… (meer)