Categories
Africa at war Zulu Wars The Boer War First World War Second World War Rhodesia & the rhodesian Conflict South African Border War / Namibian Independence South African colours & markings Modern African Conflicts piracy books of the british south african police Commemorative Figures Commemorative Plaques Wargaming African Conflicts
Modern African Conflicts
Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyranny in Africa and Around the World
Despite billions of dollars of aid and the best efforts of the international community to improve economies and bolster democracy across Africa, violent dictatorships persist. As a result, millions have died, economies are in shambles, and whole states are on the brink of collapse. Political observers and policymakers are starting to believe that...
On Revolutionary War
This is Colin Beer's academic treatise on the ramnifications of revolutionary warfare. Containing a wealth of practical advice for those involved in counter-insurgency operations this book is a an incisive read looking at theory, practice, combat operations and propaganda.
War Stories Al J Venter & Friends
Al Venter going into combat with a bunch of South African ‘Parabats’ in a strike against enemy positions in Angola (where he is subsequently wounded); Neall Ellis flying helicopter gunships against rebels in Sierra Leone and currently flying support missions in Russian Mi-8s in Afghanistan; Mike Hoare’s aborted invasion of the Seychelles a quarter of a century ago; an American mercenary in Iraq, as well as a United States Navy rescue mission in Somalia are among the stories from the more than 30 chapters that appear in Al J Venter’s new book War Stories . Read More
From SAS to Blood Diamond Wars
From SAS To Blood Diamond Wars is the story of an outstanding warrior, even by SAS standards. On the point of being demobbed from the SAS, Fred Marafono was recruited by David Stirling for his private security company...
The Lord’ s Resistance Army: Myth and Reality
The Lord’s Resistance Army is Africa’s most persistent and notorious ‘terrorist’ group. Led by the mysterious Joseph Kony, it has committed aseries of horrific human rights abuses, including massacres and mutilations. Since the mid 1980s, it is has abducted tens of thousands of people, including large numbers of children forced to train as fighters.
Barrel of a Gun: Mispent Moments in Combat
Al Venter has spent most of his adult life covering wars. From these 40 years has emerged his latest book which, for want of something better, he has called Barrel of a Gun. This book covers many of Venter's exploits, starting with his first real experience of conflict after he'd landed in Nigeria following the Ibo-led putsch that eventually led to the Biafran Civil War.
Mercenaries, Pirates, Bandits and Empires: Private Violence in Historical Context
In a world dominated by nation-states, expressions of private violence have generally been neglected: either as relics of a more disorganised world or as marginal nuisances to states themselves. The prevalence and centrality of private violence in the past and present warns against such complacency.
The Role of France in the Rwandan Genocide
This promise, enshrined in the UN Convention on Genocide, stipulates a responsibility to try and prevent genocide or mitigate the suffering of its victims in the future. The book analyses what this responsibility might entail by asking the following questions: To what extent can external actors, such as the French Government, be held responsible for not preventing or not suppressing genocide, and how can this responsibility be evaluated?
After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond
Analyses the political, legal and regional impact of events in post-genocide Rwanda within the themes of transitional justice and reconciliation. This book includes chapters from scholars in this field, along with senior government and non-government officials involved in matters related to Rwanda and transitional justice.
The Accidental Guerrilla
War today is far different from what we expected it to be. Counter-insurgency and protracted guerrilla warfare, not shock and awe, are the order of the day. The Australian David Kilcullen is the world’s foremost expert on this way of war, and in The Accidental Guerrilla, the Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to the Pentagon and architect of ‘the Surge’, surveys war as it is actually fought in the contemporary world. Colouring his account with gripping battlefield experiences that range from the...
Executive Outcomes: Against all Odds
Executive Outcomes is the model on which all Private Military Companies (PMCs) operating in Iraq and Afghanistan are based. Founded by author Eeben Barlow in the early 1990s he originally offered courses in intelligence to South Africa's Special Forces and security work to De Beers' diamond mining industry. This was greatly expanded in 1993 when an oil company offered EO a contract to provide security for its staff while they recovered...
Terrorism in Africa: The Evolving Front in the War on Terror
This collection of essays offers a comprehensive analysis of the states, terrorist groups, and critical issues that have increased the spectre of terrorism in Africa.
The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006
New in paperback. This book examines a decade-long period of
instability, violence and state decay in Central Africa from 1996, when the war started, to 2006, when elections formally ended the political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of concurrent developments in Zaire/DRC, Rwanda...
Narrating war and peace in Africa
Interrogates conventional representations of Africa and African culture -- mainly in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries -- with an emphasis on portrayals of conflict and peace. While Africa has experienced political and social turbulence throughout its history, more recent conflicts seem to reinforce the myth of barbarism across the continent:
Mercenaries – An African Security Dilemma
This powerful book critiques mercenary involvement in post-Cold War African conflicts. The contributors investigate the links between the rise in internal conflicts and the proliferation of mercenary activities in the 1990s; the distinction in the methods adopted by Cold War mercenaries and their contemporary counterparts; the convoluted network between private armies; business interests and sustained poverty in Africa’s poorest countries...
African Security Governance: Emerging Issues
Africa faces a seemingly ever-increasing range of security challenges. The traditional threats of civil and border conflicts, crises of governance and military coups may have receded but they remain active. Meanwhile, other issues have risen to prominence, such as globalisation, security sector reform, terrorism, private security actors, peacekeeping and peace-building and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Africa's Peacemaker? Lessons From South African Conflict Mediation
Has post-transition South Africa's conflict mediation lived up to the expectations of African Heads of State and intellectuals worldwide?
What has the Mbeki era of diplomacy to teach us about how successful conflict mediation may work?
What does the election of Jacob Zuma foretell about South Africa's role as the continent's peacemaker?
A Pied Cloak
Not having quite enough excitement in the Merchant Navy, which he joined at the age of 16 and then soldiering in Korea during his National Service years, Franklin decided to sample the African 'Bush' -whose delights were not confined to rhino buffalo and a rock python. For Assistant-Inspector Franklin of the Kenya Police was now involved in...
Militarisation of Politics and Neo-Colonialism
The history of Nigeria since independence in 1960 has been one of repeated military coups as one administration, generally installed and led by one group of soldiers, has been replaced by another. John Smith Ikpuk deplores this continual thwarting of the democratic process in his country. The chief reason, he argues, for this failure to move towards a more open form of government, lies in Nigeria's inability to achieve true...
Kenya Cowboy
Originally published in 1999, Kenya Cowboy has been updated and re-released with a new analytical postscript. This is a stylish, first-hand account of Britain’s futile and often tragic struggle to retain its rich stake in East Africa in the face of the relentless Mau Mau uprising. Previous to the social unrest that began in December 2007, which has blighted its apparent democracy, Kenya was...
Darfur: A Short History of a Long War
This book is the definitive guide to the conflict in Darfur.
The book provides a short history of the region, and traces the origins, organization and ideology of the infamous Janjawiid and other rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement...
Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda
As a foreign correspondent, Scott Peterson witnessed firsthand Somalia's descent into war and its battle against US troops, the spiritual degeneration of Sudan's Holy War, and one of the most horrific events of the last half century: the genocide in Rwanda. In Me Against My Brother , he brings these events together for the first time to record a collapse that has had an impact far beyond African borders.