Customer Reviews

Apartheid's Contras: An Inquiry into the Roots of War in Angola and Mozambique

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This well-written book provides the reader with an indepth analysis of the underlying dynamics of two of the bloodiest and prolonged civil wars in Africa.

Minter's focus in on examining the impact of both internal and external factors on these conflict and what role, if any, they played in helping to escalated conflict in Angola and Mozambique. The book's multi-tiered approach is well-suited to this type of investigation and Minter makes a strong case that external actors played the major role in prolonging and intensifying both civil wars. In doing so, Minter lays the blame for much of the bloodshed and suffering on South Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union as the death struggle of apartheid and the end of the Cold War came to play an integral part in these internal conflicts.

Although I disagree with some of the book's specific conclusions--such as RENAMO's lack of popular support in Mozambique--Minter makes a strong case overall and seeks to answer lingering questions over the role and degree of external support to insurgents in Angola and Mozambique. This book is a must for the student of southern African affairs who is seeking to better understand one of the most defining times in the region's history.

Minter ha escrito una obra larga y con mucha atención a las causas y consecuencias de lo sucedido en el Sur de África desde finales del siglo XIX hasta 1994, este dato es importante no olvidarlo. Por la fecha de su publicación Minter no llegó a ver todas ni la mayoría de las consecuencias, pero es una obra imprescindible, creo yo, cuando se trata de conocer algo el panorama que se vivía en los países vecinos de Sudáfrica. Quizá el fallo es que se escora con cierta frecuencia hacia posiciones anti sudafricanas, pese a que trata de evitarlo.