BOOK LAUNCH: FIRST RAISE A FLAG

To mark the launch of Peter Martell’s book in Nairobi, the FCAEA hosted a moderated discussion on the hopes for a lasting peace in South Sudan, with the author and a panel of regional experts.

Over 60 people joined us for the chat and got signed copies of the book which were available for sale at The Alchemist on Thursday November 8th.

In October, the FCAEA also had the pleasure of hosting the Kenya launch of Gabrielle Lynch’s book “Performances of Injustice: The Politics of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Kenya” at Pawa254 which included a panel discussion.

About the book First Raise A Flag: How South Sudan Won The Longest War But Lost The Peace

When South Sudan’s war began, the Beatles were playing their first hits and reaching the moon was an astronaut’s dream. Half a century later, with millions massacred in Africa’s longest war, the continent’s biggest country split in two.

It was an extraordinary, unprecedented experiment. Many have fought, but South Sudan did the impossible, and won. This is the story of an epic fight for freedom. It is also the story of a nightmare.

First Raise a Flag details one of the most dramatic failures in the history of international state-building. Three years after independence, South Sudan was lowest ranked in the list of failed states. War returned, worse than ever.

Peter Martell has spent over a decade reporting from palaces and battlefields, meeting those who made a country like no other: warlords and spies, missionaries and mercenaries, guerrillas and gunrunners, freedom fighters and war crime fugitives, Hollywood stars and ex-slaves

Under his seasoned foreign correspondent’s gaze, he weaves with passion and colour the lively history of the world’s newest country.