This book examines the international factors such as enforced democracy and globalization that have affected the Great Lakes region of Africa. The horrendous consequences in terms of violence and human suffering of the events in this area have been exhibited in the media, however news coverage after 1994 was at times unreliable. This book takes a look at life since then, adopting an independent, and on occasion controversial perspective.

This book looks at how the benefits of economic development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa are not being equally distributed. It studies the impact of the increasing scramble for natural resources upon local livelihoods and considers the ambiguities that characterise the relationship between mining and development.