Dr Evans examines the international responses to the ethnic conflicts in Burundi and Rwanda from 199397 and their overspill into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). A senior UK diplomat, she concludes that the international response was impotent and incoherent: soundbite diplomacy led decision-makers to act before adequately assessing the situation and in the end it was the power of local rather than international intervention that set the agenda and provided the solution. The author urges a number of changes in response by the international community: the UN should create a Conflict Analysis Centre at its headquarters in New York governments need to promote lateral understanding and co-operation between different players, including the media and the non-governmental organization community enlightened outside support can be most valuable when an inexperenced government has just taken over, and greater understanding is needed on the part of Western states that traditional Western patterns of diplomacy are often inappropriate in other regions. Instead, non-party democracy and a strong element of sub-regional co-operation may be the models for the future.