It was tempting to preface this review with "The horror, the horror...." but that would be too obvious.

Christian Jenning's "Across the Red River" presents the reader with a harrowing catalogue of horror, atrocity and inhumanity. Jennings is the quintessential observer and the relentless bodycount and descriptions of cruelty are presented in a matter-of-fact, unemotional manner that never loses its impact. He achieves this through an honest reportage, describing events with an almost photographic sensibility. Although the events he describes are gruesome, there is an objectivity and lack of gratuity that lends credibility and above all, gravity to his story.

His reportage is accompanied by an analysis of the political, social and sometimes personal circumstances surrounding wars, genocides and murders. This analysis is often bewildered as we learn through Jennings the labyrinthine complexities of Central African Real Politik.

All this is tempered with a careful humour. While Jennings can often find an amusing anecdote to relieve the grimness of the carnage, the humour is always directed back at himself. He never makes light of the horror inflicted on the innocent (and perhaps not so innocent).

He pulls no punches when it comes to the involvement of Europeans (particularly France and Belgium), Americans and in particular, the UN. Though loath to criticize individuals (save a few), he points out with righteous anger the systemic failings in UN policy and execution which have, through inefficiency and a sometimes callous disregard for the charges in their care, resulted in over a million deaths and the displacement of many more. He does not, however, tar everyone with the same brush. Some organizations (for example Medicine Sans Frontiers) he recognizes as having played a significant, if not heroic part, in attempting to limit the suffering.

He also recognizes that this is not an African problem, but a problem faced by the whole world as he watches the crises in Kosovo and Chechnya.

This book provides a valuable insight into the chaos of the late 20th century, long after it has slipped from the front pages and out of the CNN consciousness. ( )