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The trouble with Africa
Weapon of Hunger by Meja Mwangi
Reviewed by Okech Kendo
SECOND rate critics in their usually cliche-burdened language
are given to describing writers variously as: 'Promising', 'a talent
to watch', 'a dept to originality', and other catalogue of words
that tell next to nothing about the writer and his work.
And these writers are always 'promising' but do not seem to be
getting anywhere and the critics, more often than not claim to
know the story better than the author. . . Sometimes they
prescribe what the writer should have done.
Meja Mwangi — one of Kenya's prolific writers — has been in
local literary circles as a shy novelist, humour though, is hardly
perceptive and never committed to merit acclaim.
But with the publication of Weapon of Hunger, he has gone
beyond promising and graduates into those timeless humanist
themes transcending the confines of his place.
Through fiction, the world described in Weapon of Hunger has a
definite locale in the African continent held at ransom by
multitudes of problems, partly self-inflicted, partly caused by the
ravages of mother nature.
It is a drought-striken, famine-ruled, war-torn, strife-ladden land
of living corpses. Above this ruin, jet bombers roaring bazookas
and guns confront in a chorus of ... masses. These are the
responsibilities of the so called bandits and irresponsible
government manned by hardened soldiers bereft of human
sympathy.
They are killing and starving the people they hope to liberate: It
is the outsiders who see the ruin as they enter villages with
relief: "Doors squawked eerily. Out of their crumbling huts,
almost as though out of their graves, the survivors of the killer
famine crawled out to meet the strangers".
The hungry mill around the relief tracks like vultures around a
carcass. But the war drags on like nothing was happening.
People die of hunger while food rots at Port Sudan. The relief
groups are thought to be American gun-runners and
mercenaries.
The rebels and the government of the Peoples Republic of Borku
each has a claim to right: "All I see is one huge army, a small
band of rebels and a multitude of hungry masses caught in cross
fire".
The rebels of Arrakan Liberation Front claim they are defending
their territory against a regime that wants to kill its people and
exploit its rumoured oil resources. The petrodollar claim is
dismissed by the government as rebel propaganda.
The government has decided to seal the wells, bomb the once
fertile lands in rebel zones. This is the Weapon of Hunger. There
remains a tired barren land of reckless sand. Hunger.
But the government still denies that people are dying; Meja
Mwangi writes; "The guerrillas had known of the famine even
longer than the Americans . . . their attempts to draw world
attention to the looming catastrophe had been dismissed by the
free world as mere rambling of malcontent outlaws".
In this novel Meja Mwangi brings this genocide to world
attention in a manner that never declines to apathy yet the skill
captivates. Weapon of Hunger is an engrossing piece that takes
us to this dehumanised land of want.
Meja Mwangi goes beyond the narration of known facts. Me
creates a literary plot around the much publicised concord of
entertainers who sensitised the world to this ruin. It was that
effort which sired We Are the World.
Jack Riven leads a horde of American volunteers into an
adventurous journey into the dying Africa loaded with food and
other relief supplies, docking at Port Sudan. They strike a deal
with Jamar, who they later learn is a gun-runner and smuggler
number one. That marks the beginning of a painful convoy to
Arrakan (which may be Ankara).
Jamar gives 100 lorries. They later discover that some of the
lorries have been given wrong content. Instead of food and
blankets, they find that tome have guns, and hides. And Jamar's
drivers are mostly criminals arrested shortly at a check point.
Incidence of deaths, kidnap, arrests and all sorts of intrigue
befall the convoy as they ride inland determined to save dying
people. They get a tragic run for their affection to this land of
hunger and war.
The point is made: This war as viewed by the distanced yet
feeling eyes of Jack Rivers is pure genocide. It is the mighty
confronting enemies while die people die and starve. The
fictional world is a thinly disguised Ethiopia — where
purposeless war has been dragging for centuries.
Meja Mwangi scores several successes in this novel: creating
fiction out of the African dilemma and helping to sensitise
humanity against the atrocities in countries like Ethiopia, Sudan
and elsewhere. It is a perfect work of imagination in which a
Kenyan has brought his readers to the doors of the tragedy.
Characters like the legendary women fighter Zahai is a perfect
embodiment of the fanaticism that goes with violent power
struggle.
Meja Mwangi is also the author of The Cockroach Dance, Bread of
Sorrow, The Return of Shaka, Kill Me Quick, Carcase for Hounds,
Going Down River Road and Bushtrackers.
Weapon of Hunger by Meja Mwangi
Reviewed by Okech Kendo
SECOND rate critics in their usually cliche-burdened language
are given to describing writers variously as: 'Promising', 'a talent
to watch', 'a dept to originality', and other catalogue of words
that tell next to nothing about the writer and his work.
And these writers are always 'promising' but do not seem to be
getting anywhere and the critics, more often than not claim to
know the story better than the author. . . Sometimes they
prescribe what the writer should have done.
Meja Mwangi — one of Kenya's prolific writers — has been in
local literary circles as a shy novelist, humour though, is hardly
perceptive and never committed to merit acclaim.
But with the publication of Weapon of Hunger, he has gone
beyond promising and graduates into those timeless humanist
themes transcending the confines of his place.
Through fiction, the world described in Weapon of Hunger has a
definite locale in the African continent held at ransom by
multitudes of problems, partly self-inflicted, partly caused by the
ravages of mother nature.
It is a drought-striken, famine-ruled, war-torn, strife-ladden land
of living corpses. Above this ruin, jet bombers roaring bazookas
and guns confront in a chorus of ... masses. These are the
responsibilities of the so called bandits and irresponsible
government manned by hardened soldiers bereft of human
sympathy.
They are killing and starving the people they hope to liberate: It
is the outsiders who see the ruin as they enter villages with
relief: "Doors squawked eerily. Out of their crumbling huts,
almost as though out of their graves, the survivors of the killer
famine crawled out to meet the strangers".
The hungry mill around the relief tracks like vultures around a
carcass. But the war drags on like nothing was happening.
People die of hunger while food rots at Port Sudan. The relief
groups are thought to be American gun-runners and
mercenaries.
The rebels and the government of the Peoples Republic of Borku
each has a claim to right: "All I see is one huge army, a small
band of rebels and a multitude of hungry masses caught in cross
fire".
The rebels of Arrakan Liberation Front claim they are defending
their territory against a regime that wants to kill its people and
exploit its rumoured oil resources. The petrodollar claim is
dismissed by the government as rebel propaganda.
The government has decided to seal the wells, bomb the once
fertile lands in rebel zones. This is the Weapon of Hunger. There
remains a tired barren land of reckless sand. Hunger.
But the government still denies that people are dying; Meja
Mwangi writes; "The guerrillas had known of the famine even
longer than the Americans . . . their attempts to draw world
attention to the looming catastrophe had been dismissed by the
free world as mere rambling of malcontent outlaws".
In this novel Meja Mwangi brings this genocide to world
attention in a manner that never declines to apathy yet the skill
captivates. Weapon of Hunger is an engrossing piece that takes
us to this dehumanised land of want.
Meja Mwangi goes beyond the narration of known facts. Me
creates a literary plot around the much publicised concord of
entertainers who sensitised the world to this ruin. It was that
effort which sired We Are the World.
Jack Riven leads a horde of American volunteers into an
adventurous journey into the dying Africa loaded with food and
other relief supplies, docking at Port Sudan. They strike a deal
with Jamar, who they later learn is a gun-runner and smuggler
number one. That marks the beginning of a painful convoy to
Arrakan (which may be Ankara).
Jamar gives 100 lorries. They later discover that some of the
lorries have been given wrong content. Instead of food and
blankets, they find that tome have guns, and hides. And Jamar's
drivers are mostly criminals arrested shortly at a check point.
Incidence of deaths, kidnap, arrests and all sorts of intrigue
befall the convoy as they ride inland determined to save dying
people. They get a tragic run for their affection to this land of
hunger and war.
The point is made: This war as viewed by the distanced yet
feeling eyes of Jack Rivers is pure genocide. It is the mighty
confronting enemies while die people die and starve. The
fictional world is a thinly disguised Ethiopia — where
purposeless war has been dragging for centuries.
Meja Mwangi scores several successes in this novel: creating
fiction out of the African dilemma and helping to sensitise
humanity against the atrocities in countries like Ethiopia, Sudan
and elsewhere. It is a perfect work of imagination in which a
Kenyan has brought his readers to the doors of the tragedy.
Characters like the legendary women fighter Zahai is a perfect
embodiment of the fanaticism that goes with violent power
struggle.
Meja Mwangi is also the author of The Cockroach Dance, Bread of
Sorrow, The Return of Shaka, Kill Me Quick, Carcase for Hounds,
Going Down River Road and Bushtrackers.
Weapon of Hunger by Meja Mwangi
Reviewed by Lynne Mansure
MEJA Mwangi is one Kenyan writer who can be relied on
to come up with a book with a difference. Not for him are
the well-worn themes of the colonial experience or the
break-down of traditional African values.
Mwangi is a modern African in search of topical issues of,
continental proportions. And what better theme could he
have chosen than that of the plight of the millions who
starve to death while rival political groups battle it out in a
seemingly senseless and never-ending civil war?
Jack Rivers is a top American rock star turned
philanthropist. Having helped to raise a considerable sum
of money at home to feed the starving, he now comes to
Africa to make sure that the food reaches those who need
it.
When informed by the military authorities that the road
inland is impassable due to the state of hostilities, Rivers
cannot bear the thought of twenty million dollars' worth of
donations sit rotting away in the harbour.
He resolves to deliver the food and sets off for the inland.
Weapon Of Hunger shows us a series of colourful and
conflicting characters. General Dinka is a single-minded
soldier, an ex-student of one of the best US military
academies. He may be ruthless, but he has his own
principles and, according to these, winning the war and
creating national unity is his priority, not feeding the
starving.
On the other side we have Shakira, one of the rebel
leaders, hot-tempered yet full of life. Killing has become a
habit with him but he still retains a zest for life.
And then there are those who believe in nothing at all,
people who would turn the misery of others to their own
advantage: People like Abdul Jamar, the smuggler and
gun-runner who leases to Rivers stolen vehicles and
conceals guns for the rebels inside the consignment of
food.
White Rivers himself comes across as someone almost too
good to be true. One other character in the book stands
out head and shoulders above everyone else. This is the
beautiful guerrilla leader, Zahai.
Born of a warrior clan, she is a leader of men. Educated in
Rome and Paris, she has now devoted herself to the harsh
life of the bush war in order to liberate her people. Having
fought in countless battles, Zahai remains, deep down,
vulnerable.
Rivers is kidnapped by Zahai who hopes that he will, in
turn, plead her cause with the American public. In the
presence of such a lovely freedom fighter, even war can
seem romantic. But before long, the hopelessness of the
rebel situation and the futility of their struggle is brought
home to Rivers.
Weapon of Hunger is perhaps Meja Mwangi's best book
yet. The picture he paints of the relentless quest for
modern Africa is grim. What is most depressing, is that
there seem to be no solutions. Western philanthropists,
such as Jack Rivers, are portrayed in a favourable light as
sincere people. All their energies, however, are expended
on trying to understand Africa's problems and once they
understand them they realise that the problems are
beyond them. As for the Africans themselves, they could
have provided solutions, but since they are lined up in
warring factions, that is impossible.
While the two sides fight on to the finish, will million of
ordinary people continue to starve to dead? That is the
questions which Meja Mwangi asks himself and which he
asks the readers of weapon.
Reviewed by Lynne Mansure
MEJA Mwangi is one Kenyan writer who can be relied on
to come up with a book with a difference. Not for him are
the well-worn themes of the colonial experience or the
break-down of traditional African values.
Mwangi is a modern African in search of topical issues of,
continental proportions. And what better theme could he
have chosen than that of the plight of the millions who
starve to death while rival political groups battle it out in a
seemingly senseless and never-ending civil war?
Jack Rivers is a top American rock star turned
philanthropist. Having helped to raise a considerable sum
of money at home to feed the starving, he now comes to
Africa to make sure that the food reaches those who need
it.
When informed by the military authorities that the road
inland is impassable due to the state of hostilities, Rivers
cannot bear the thought of twenty million dollars' worth of
donations sit rotting away in the harbour.
He resolves to deliver the food and sets off for the inland.
Weapon Of Hunger shows us a series of colourful and
conflicting characters. General Dinka is a single-minded
soldier, an ex-student of one of the best US military
academies. He may be ruthless, but he has his own
principles and, according to these, winning the war and
creating national unity is his priority, not feeding the
starving.
On the other side we have Shakira, one of the rebel
leaders, hot-tempered yet full of life. Killing has become a
habit with him but he still retains a zest for life.
And then there are those who believe in nothing at all,
people who would turn the misery of others to their own
advantage: People like Abdul Jamar, the smuggler and
gun-runner who leases to Rivers stolen vehicles and
conceals guns for the rebels inside the consignment of
food.
White Rivers himself comes across as someone almost too
good to be true. One other character in the book stands
out head and shoulders above everyone else. This is the
beautiful guerrilla leader, Zahai.
Born of a warrior clan, she is a leader of men. Educated in
Rome and Paris, she has now devoted herself to the harsh
life of the bush war in order to liberate her people. Having
fought in countless battles, Zahai remains, deep down,
vulnerable.
Rivers is kidnapped by Zahai who hopes that he will, in
turn, plead her cause with the American public. In the
presence of such a lovely freedom fighter, even war can
seem romantic. But before long, the hopelessness of the
rebel situation and the futility of their struggle is brought
home to Rivers.
Weapon of Hunger is perhaps Meja Mwangi's best book
yet. The picture he paints of the relentless quest for
modern Africa is grim. What is most depressing, is that
there seem to be no solutions. Western philanthropists,
such as Jack Rivers, are portrayed in a favourable light as
sincere people. All their energies, however, are expended
on trying to understand Africa's problems and once they
understand them they realise that the problems are
beyond them. As for the Africans themselves, they could
have provided solutions, but since they are lined up in
warring factions, that is impossible.
While the two sides fight on to the finish, will million of
ordinary people continue to starve to dead? That is the
questions which Meja Mwangi asks himself and which he
asks the readers of weapon.
| ISBN 978-0-9796476-5-9 |
| Weapon of Hunger hm books 2008 ISBN 978-0-9796476-5-9 |
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