In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda deepens understanding of the Rwandan genocide and the Congolese war that engulfed Central Africa in the 1990s and America’s policy response to the crises. Gribbin draws on his thirty years of diplomatic experience in the region to analyze U.S. perceptions of Rwanda in the years before the genocide and to recount the unfolding of the terrible event itself.

Most important, he describes what happened afterwards–how the new government and people of Rwanda, together with their international partners, confronted devastation, picked up the pieces, and began to forge a new nation. They had to reestablish viable government, deliver justice to those guilty of genocide, repatriate over a million refugees, and confront an insurgency and war in the Congo. In the Aftermath of Genocide is an insider’s account of these crucial events and of what the U.S. government knew, or did not know, and what it did, or did not do, about these challenges.

Bob Griffin spent thirty years on diplomatic assignments in Africa, serving twice in Rwanda, once before and once after the genocide. As U.S. ambassador to Rwanda from 1995 to 1999, he worked for reconstruction, the return of refugees, reconciliation, and regional peace. Now retired, he undertakes short-term diplomatic postings to the continent he knows so well, in addition to consulting, writing, and teaching.