Brothers at War: Making Sense of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War

At 190 pages this book is short but incredibly dense. It is not light reading, but it is informative. The authors take the time to show the voluminous statements that various parties issued and then analyze them. The long and twisted histories behind Eritrea and Ethiopia are given here, providing a much-needed build-up to a misunderstood, little-known but ruinous war. Here is a hint and a fact: the war was NOT about the border between these two countries nor the nearly useless Badme Plain that straddles a part of that border. The authors don't take sides in presenting the two belligerents' positions, and indeed it would be hard to. The two govts, the govts of two under-developed and starving states drained from thirty years of continuous war, proved themselves to be more interested in beating each others' brains out than in ending the conflict. It is tragically ironic to see how the two countries switch their positions entirely as the military situation on the ground changed, and it is revolting how international organizations like the OAU and UN (the EU never even attempted to feign interest)wrung their hands but did little else while two p--s-poor countries slaughtered each other with frontal assaults on useless desert scrublands. This is not a general or military history, more of a diplomatic one. It mainly covers the negotiations and accusations that both sides threw into the mix to either try stopping the war or to re-start it. One big issue: the maps are pretty awful. Maps should feature every city, village or geographical feature that is mentioned in the text. Stating that the Ethiopians seized Barentu, Eritrea without displaying it on the two or three pitiful maps does little service to the reader. This isn't light reading, but it is good for the seriously interested.