Gerald Caplan

Professor Lemarchand is the doyen of the historians of Rwanda and Burundi, and we are all in his debt for his pioneering work.

Has one of the great political murder mysteries of our time finally been solved? I'd say the answer is probably yes, although we can be confident the solution will be rejected by many.

INTRODUCTION

The front cover of Linda Melvern's updated edition of 'A People Betrayed' carries this superlative blurb from General Roméo Dallaire, commander of the UN mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide: 'The best overall account of the background to the genocide.'

Abousfian Abdelrazik is home again in Canada after six nightmarish years in Sudan, but his ordeal is not over. He finds himself on a United Nations terrorist blacklist – the 1267 – which imposes a total asset freeze on him and all listed individuals.

Since I'm going to strongly recommend this book, I'd better disclose off the top that I know both of the co-editors as well as four of the contributors.

The American president made his first official trip to Africa last week when he visited Ghana for two days. In an interview Obama, with no false humility, stated that 'I'm probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who's occupied my office.' I'd say two things.

In 1998, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) appointed an International Panel of Eminent Persons to investigate the genocide that had occurred in Rwanda four years earlier. Several months later, the panel asked me to write their report.

April 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda of most of its Tutsi population and of many Hutu who refused to embrace violent extremism.

President Obama's quixotic crusade against the ugly face of capitalism has more loopholes than restrictions and will prove a mere nuisance to America's army of greedmongers.

I came across this book, published sometime last year, completely by accident. Surfing for something else, I found an interview on National Public Radio in the US with Nicole Itano, a name I'd never heard before, discussing her book that I'd never heard of before.