Collapse of a Country by Nicholas Coghlan torrent

Collapse of a Country: A Diplomat's Memoir of South Sudan


by Nicholas Coghlan


ISBN-13 : 9780773551268
Publisher : McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date : 09/04/2017
Pages : 304


The first Canadian diplomat to be posted to war-torn Sudan, Nicholas Coghlan

was a natural choice to lead Canada’s representation in the new Republic of

South Sudan soon after the country was founded in 2011. In late 2013, Coghlan

and his wife Jenny were in the capital, Juba, when it erupted in gunfire and

civil war pitted one half of the army against the other, Vice-President Machar

against President Kiir, and the Nuer tribe against the Dinka. This

action-focused narrative, grounded by accounts of meetings with key leaders

and travels throughout the dangerous, impoverished hinterland of South Sudan,

explains what happened in December 2013 and why. In harrowing terms, Collapse

of a Country describes the ebb and flow of the war and the humanitarian

tragedy that followed, the Coghlans’ scramble to evacuate South-Sudanese

Canadians from Juba, and the well-meant but often ill-conceived attempts of

the international community to mitigate the misery and bring peace back to a

land that has rarely known it.



Coghlan’s stark narrative serves as a lesson to politicians, diplomats, aid

workers, and practitioners on the breakdown of governance and relationships

between ethnic groups, and the often decisive role of international

development representatives. Fast-paced and poignant, Collapse of a Country

gives an insider’s glimpse into the chaos, violence, and ethnic conflicts that

emerged out of a civil war that has been largely ignored by the West.



Author Info:

Nicholas Coghlan, author of Far in the Waste Sudan and The Saddest Country,

served in five Canadian embassies overseas before he was appointed Canada’s

first resident ambassador to South Sudan. He lives on his sailboat in Canada’s

Pacific Northwest.


Cover:
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34733990-collapse-of-a-country


Books by author:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1099176.Nicholas_Coghlan