A very well-written, direct, and engaging book. It comes at just the right time to remind everyone how deeply current events are rooted in a not-so-distant past—an essential perspective for understanding how and why things are unfolding as they are today (General Jean Baillaud).

A true attempt at a physiological analysis of this war, the author offers a continuous reading that reveals the connections between its multiple phases—from the AFDL conquests to the latest ongoing M23 adventure, passing through the CNDP episode that followed the RCD period. He then offers a reading strictly “from within,” which he is probably uniquely positioned to provide. This perspective, fortunately, enriches and complements the many “external” interpretations of this tragic history (Professor Isidore Ndaywel è Nzim).

This book, unique in its depth, diagnosis, and projections, urges Congolese people (particularly the Armed Forces) to stop fighting yesterday’s war and to prepare for today’s and tomorrow’s battles, upon which the survival of this much-coveted great Congo depends. It calls for anticipating strategic shocks, recognizing that what lies ahead cannot be seen with yesterday’s eyes, and for breaking free from the blindness of a lagging war that resurfaces, ten years later, with the same face, the same causes, and the same actors. All this, while 2.5 million people remain displaced in North Kivu alone.

Nicaise Kibel’Bel Oka is an investigative journalist. He is the Director of the newspaper Les Coulisses and the website www.lescoulissesrdc.info. He is also the Director of the Center for Geopolitical Studies and Research of Eastern Congo (C.E.R.G.E.C). He teaches the "Counterinsurgency and Terrorism" course at the Kinshasa War College (École de Guerre de Kinshasa, EGK) and at the Command and Staff College (ECEM – 38th promotion) in Kinshasa. He was awarded the Abraham Prize (2006) for Nature Conservation and the 2009 African Prize for Press Freedom, awarded by CNN. In 2014, he was named one of the 100 Information Heroes worldwide by Reporters Without Borders. Beyond defense and security issues, he has published many works on terrorism.