David Rawson draws on declassified documents and his own experiences as the initial US observer of the 1993 Rwandan peace talks at Arusha to seek out what led to the Rwandan genocide. The result is a commanding blend of diplomatic history and analysis of the crisis and of what happens generally when conflict resolution and diplomacy fall short.
David Rawson capped his twenty-eight-year career in the US Foreign Service as ambassador to Rwanda (1993–95) and to Mali (1996–99). After his retirement from the Foreign Service, he was a professor of political economy at Spring Arbor University, a distinguished visiting professor of politics at Hillsdale College, and a scholar in residence at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.
“In lucid prose, Rawson weaves an informative, readable story of
the complicated diplomatic efforts leading to the Arusha Accords of
1993. Drawing on vast documentation as well as his personal
knowledge of the context, he provides a valuable perspective on the
challenges—and ultimate failure—of the efforts to achieve peace.
This thoughtful work adds important insights to our understanding
of the road to ruin in Rwanda.”
“Rawson puts the bottom line up front––Arusha failed because the
parties to the talks were seeking power, not peace....This book is
the definitive work on the Arusha talks and the most detailed and
best-documented account of a diplomatic negotiation that I know
of.”
“In this story of frontline diplomacy David Rawson attempts to
understand why negotiations failed to keep tragedy at bay in
Rwanda.…[He] paints a revealing picture of struggling diplomacy and
the dire consequences of failed conflict resolution.”
*Foreign Service Journal*
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