Conclusion

In examining the war that prevails in Central Africa, the article asks two questions: can war be subject to geographical analysis, and is geography an explanatory factor of war? The so-called «Great Lakes» region – the highlands of the Congo-Nile crest (Rwanda, Burundi, Kivu) – has been the epicentre of extreme violence, with the Tutsi genocide of 1994 being its worst manifestation. What explanation can be provided for this situation? Demographic pressure and the political manipulations of ethnie identity may be partly responsible, but it is the global geopolitical environment that accounts for the extension of the conflict beyond Rwanda to the larger Central African «subcontinent»