Just before Christmas, 1989, a small group of armed fighters crossed a narrow river marking the frontier with the Ivory Coast and entered the West African state of Liberia. The civil war which followed plunged the African continent's oldest republic into a long and agonizing nightmare. The war promised to liberate Liberians after almost ten years of vicious dictatorship; instead the seeds of Liberia's devastation were sown.

Just before Christmas, 1989, a small group of armed fighters crossed a narrow river marking the frontier with the Ivory Coast and entered the West African state of Liberia. The civil war which followed plunged the African continent's oldest republic into a long and agonizing nightmare. The war promised to liberate Liberians after almost ten years of vicious dictatorship; instead the seeds of Liberia's devastation were sown.

Based on eyewitness accounts and original interviews, this bold new work provides a vivid portrayal of the evolving political and cultural role played by Islamic fundamentalist movements. Drawing on his firsthand experiences, Mark Huband moves deep inside the contemporary Islamic movements of countries as diverse as Morocco and Afghanistan.Huband reveals how Western powers have contributed to the rise of Islamic movements by their earlier support of the Afghan Islamic resistance and gives detailed accounts of his discussions with militant groups, Muslim scholars, and political opponents of...

In The Skull Beneath the Skin: Africa After the Cold War award-winning journalist Mark Huband argues that foreign involvement in Africa - whether by colonialists, financial donors, armies, political reformers, or Cold War protagonists - has been the single most destructive element in the continent's history. He argues that the catastrophes that have erupted since the end of the Cold War are a legacy of that long foreign involvement, and that stability will be achieved on the continent only if African countries are left to find their own solutions to the problems they face. The end of...