Rwanda: Which Way Now

The first edition of this book, published in 1993, ended with an ominous prophecy: 'Rwanda is on the brink of an uncharted abyss of anarchy and violence, and there are all too many historical, ethnic, economic, and political pressures that are likely to push it over the edge.' Less than one year later, Rwanda descended into that abyss. One tenth of its population was massacred, and two million (out of seven million) people had fled from the country.
How and why did it happen? In this book, David Waller, Oxfam's former Representative in Rwanda, explains the build-up of pressures in this small, desperately poor, and densely populated country. Sarah Westcott, a former Regional Manager of Oxfam's programme in Central Africa, adds an eight-page postscript which describes the genocide of 1994, and Rwanda's subsequent efforts to reconstruct its devastated economy and reconcile its bitterly opposed communities.