Gitura Mwaura is a Nairobi-based writer currently working on a book project on the military history of Rwanda. He is a published author and development journalist, who has previously been involved in the areas of gender and HIV/Aids as a researcher and human rights activist working with various local and international Non-Governmental Organisations.

His collection of short stories, Portraits of the Heart, has gained some critical acclaim locally and internationally. Also a poet, his next collection of prose and poetry is due to be out soon. The book on the military history of Rwanda is set to be out in early 2008.

Gitura is formally the chairperson of the Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines (KCAEM), which played an important role in successfully lobbying the Kenyan Government, Parliament and international pharmaceutical companies to enable easy access to essential for the treatment of malaria and TB, and, most notably, HIV anti-retroviral drugs.

Gitura has worked in both electronic and print media, and occasionally contributes to the local media, both in Rwanda and Kenya. He has recently produced video documentaries on gender and HIV/Aids and the role of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) processes in conflict prevention and management in Africa.

Also see URL: http://gitura-mwaura.tripod.com

• The Misconceived Rwanda: Who are the Hutu and Tutsi?, 05 May 2007