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The tragic conflict in Rwanda and the Great Lakes in 1994–1996 attracted the horrified attention of the world's media. Journalists, diplomats and aid workers struggled to find a way to make sense of the bloodshed. Johan Pottier's troubling study shows that the post-genocide regime in Rwanda was able to impose a simple yet persuasive account of Central Africa's crises upon international commentators new to the region, and he explains the ideological underpinnings of this official narrative. He also provides a sobering analysis of the way in which this simple, persuasive, but fatally misleading analysis of the situation on the ground led to policy errors that exacerbated the original crisis. Professor Pottier has extensive field experience in the region, from before and after the genocide, and he has also worked among refugees in eastern Zaire

Throughout the 1980s there have been calls, often from development organizations of global repute, for the incorporation of social science perspectives into the design and management of sustainable development programmes. Practising Development is the first collection to offer first-hand critical assessments of the success and failures found within actual responses to these calls. By combining academic and practical experience from anthropology, development and aid organizations the contributors examine the processes of intervention, the methods by which this intervention can be assessed, and

A decade ago, Rwanda embarked on a major land reform programme. The authorities claimed that the new Land Law, and the Land Policy document in support, would contribute to social equality and the prevention of future conflict. The Land Law was finally passed in May 2005.This paper provides a contextualized reading of key aspects of the law. Attention is also paid to other forms of recent legislation, especially villagization (imidugudu) and the new property law that regulates women's inheritance. The argument is in three parts. First, I document and argue that the 2005 Land Law has more potential for generating future conflicts than promoting peace. The law's emphasis on the need to consolidate fragmented family plots, and especially the likelihood/threat that up to half a million households may lose what little land they still own, will cause tension and opposition to the nouveaux riches who are involved in land speculation. I also pay attention to the state authorities' right to confiscate land not 'properly' managed.Second, some of the potential for future violence may be reduced by the fact that Government is bound to allow some flexibility in the way the land law is locally interpreted and applied. As can be seen with other fonts of state interventions in Rwanda- e.g. the restitution of property to repatriates who returned after the genocide; the villagization programme (imidugudu); or today's gacaca trials - the state imposes firm parameters. but gives local administrators some discretion in how to apply them.Third, looking to the future, I contend that it remains to be seen whether the recent, pro-women inheritance legislation will fed champions (politicians, administrators) willing and able to take on the full force of the language of public morality, which prevents women from exercising their legal rights. This may not happen. Although the Land Law declares a commitment to gender equity with regard to ownership (Article 4), the rest of the law is conspicuously silent on land in relation to gender.

ABSTRACTResearch carried out in two densely populated wards of Kampala in 2012 shows that food-insecure households dropped, or significantly decreased, their consumption of matoke, the plantain staple, soon after its availability declined and the market price rose. They shifted to a diet for which the base was a stiff maize porridge (posho), eating just one meal a day. Many such households were headed by grandparents, single grandmothers especially. For the full set of household heads interviewed (118), access to rural family land (kibanja) stood out as critical for achieving year-round urban food security. With few exceptions, households that farmed 'at home' – about half the sample – saw themselves as food secure. Access negotiations, however, could be difficult, especially for women. The growing number of grandparents responsible for raising grandchildren and nieces/nephews, many of whom were orphaned, has given rise to a new discourse whereby care is increasingly given to maternal grandchildren.

This article scrutinizes writings on ethnicity with reference to Hema and Lendu, the main protagonists in the Ituri conflict (1999-2007). First, it reviews representations during the conflict: Hema leaders portray Lendu as 'wild and untameable', 'genocidaires', and 'incapable of governance'; Lendu leaders portray Hema as driven by an innate desire for political and economic control, a self-appointed elite whose legitimacy must be questioned. Next, the article turns to the origins of these (mis)representations by considering how Hema and Lendu have been viewed over the course of the twentieth century - by anthropologists, colonial administrators, missionaries, and explorers. This review challenges received wisdom about pre-colonial and early colonial interactions between Hema and Lendu, thus shedding light on a critical phase of history that remains insufficiently understood, and supporting the argument that a re-crafting of the dominant discourse on history is a challenge that is central to the current peace process. Adapted from the source document.

ABSTRACTThis article examines the ethnic character of Ituri's complex emergency. It considers the local context in which the IDP predicament has unfolded, asking questions about the prospect of, and responsibilities for, post-conflict reintegration. As militia disarmament and peace are linked but not coterminous, it is argued that militant ethnic agendas at the core of the conflict must be scrutinised for their ongoing significance. Revealing the past to be a contested terrain, these agendas call for an apartheid-style solution along lines of segregation first envisaged by Belgian colonialists. To move towards ethnic reintegration, Iturians face the challenge that they must create a common history freed from the stranglehold of extremist interpretations.

In January 2003, in the midst of civil war, Mbuti pygmies from Mambasa, Ituri, informed human rights organizations and the media that relatives had been killed, cooked, and eaten by soldiers of the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC). Nearly two years later, spectacularly, the accusers withdrew their testimonies. This article tries to make sense of the allegation and subsequent retraction by reviewing how the Congolese print media covered the story. Against the backdrop of turbulent politics and moral crisis, it is argued that 'Cannibalism in Mambasa' needs to be understood first and foremost as a politically driven metaphor of extreme violence and suffering, even though acts of cannibalism cannot be ruled out.RésuméEn janvier 2003, en pleine guerre civile dans l'Ituri, des Pygmées Mbuti de Mambasa informèrent les organisations humanitaires et les médias que des membres de leur tribu avaient été tués, cuits et dévorés par les soldats du Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo (MLC). Deux ans plus tard, les accusateurs se rétractaient spectaculairement. Le présent article tente de donner un sens à ces accusations puis aux rétractations, à travers la couverture de cette affaire par la presse congolaise. L'auteur affirme que dans ce contexte de grave crise politique et morale, le « cannibalisme à Mambasa » doit être d'abord, et avant tout, compris comme une métaphore politique de violence et de souffrance extrêmes, bien que l'on ne puisse pas exclure la possibilité que des actes de cannibalisme aient bien été commis.