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The Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congo Civil War is a conflict largely confined to the territory of Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaïre). The widest interstate war in modern African history, it has directly involved nine African nations and earned the epithet of "African World War". According to the International Rescue Committee, nearly 3 million people have died since 1998, mostly from starvation and disease brought about by the conflict. Millions more have been displaced from their homes or are seeking asylum in neighboring countries. Despite several partially successful peace initiatives and agreements, hostilities continue as of October 2004.
The war grew out of the violence of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 and related violence in Burundi which saw hundreds of thousands of Hutus flee both countries into eastern Zaïre. The resulting refugee camps quickly became dominated by the Interahamwe Hutu militias that had carried out much of the genocide supported by Hutu members of the RwandaRwanda is a country in central Africa. It is bordered by Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. The indigenous population consists of three ethnic groups. The Hutus, who comprise the majority of the population, are farmers of Bantn military.
In an effort to punish members of these militia and to prevent raids or an invasion by the groups involved, the newly TutsiThe Tutsi more correctly the Batutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa. Large numbers of them were slaughtered in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The exact origin of the Tutsis is not certain. Tutsis were-dominated army of Rwanda entered eastern Zaïre, supported by forces from Burundi and UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a country in east central Africa. It is bordered in the east by Kenya, in the north by Sudan, by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Rwanda in the southwest and Tanzania in the south. The southern part of the country in. This intervention was strongly opposed by the government of Zaïre under dictatorThe term dictator in the modern sense, is a vaguely-defined, connotatively negative word used to describe a totalitarian or authoritarian, or merely autocratic ruler of a country, and the leader of a dictatorship. The term is frequently associated with br Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu Sese Seko Nkuku wa za Banga (or Mobutu Sese Seko Koko Ngbendu Wa Za Banga; October 14, 1930 September 7, 1997) was the President of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) from 1965 to 1997. Mobutu was born Joseph-Desire Mobutu in Lisala,.
Mobutu had controlled Zaïre since 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N with backing from the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in, who had viewed him as a bulwark against Soviet-backed Communist leaders like Patrice Lumumba, who Mobutu had deposed in 1960 with CIA assistance. With the end of the Cold War, both superpowers disengaged from sub-Saharan Africa. When the United States withdrew its backing of Mobutu, rebels correctly felt that he would be easier to overthrow while deprived of superpower support. The Rwandan and Burundians began to funnel weapons and money to the anti-Sese Seko Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaïre , or ADFL, under Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
The early 1990s had seen a wave of democratization in Africa. There was substantial internal and external pressure for democratization in Zaïre, and Mobutu promised reform. He officially ended the one-party system he had maintained since 1967, but ultimately was unwilling to implement broad reform, alienating allies both at home and internationally.
There had long been considerable internal resistance to Mobutu's rule. Opposition included leftists who looked back on the abortive rule of Patrice Lumumba with fondness as well as various ethnic and regional minorities opposed to the dominance of the Kinshasa region over the rest of the country. Kabila was one of these. He was also an ethnic Katangese who had been fighting the Mobutu government for decades.
Due to the support of the African Great Lakes states, and given no sign of external aid for Mobutu, the Zairian Army joined Kabila, and Mobutu fled the country. Kabila formally took power on May 20, 1997, and he renamed Zaïre as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once Kabila was in power, the situation changed dramatically. He quickly became suspected of being as corrupt and authoritarian as his predecessor. Many of the pro- democracy forces abandoned him and he began a vigorous effort to centralize control.
This brought renewed conflict with the minority groups of the east who demanded autonomy. Furthermore, Kabila turned against his former Rwandan allies when they showed little sign of withdrawing from his territory. He accused them and their allies of trying to capture the region's mineral resources. Furthermore, his overreliance on the Rwandans for political and military control was a major reason for pro-democracy forces accusing Kabila of being a puppet for Kigali.
In August 1998, Kabila removed all the Tutsi officials in his government and ordered all Rwandan and Ugandan officials out of the country. Almost immediately, ethnic Tutsis erupted in rebellion a second time, and Rwandan government troops joined them. To help remove the occupying Rwandans, Kabila enlisted the aid of the Hutu insurgents in eastern Congo. The Tutsi-led Rwandan government allied with Uganda, and Burundi also retaliated, occupying a portion of northwestern Congo.
The Rwandan government also claimed a substantial part of eastern Congo as "historically Rwandan". The Rwandans also alleged that Kabila was organizing a genocide against their Tutsi brethren in the Kivu region.
Thus, a multi-sided war quickly began. The Great Lakes states supported the Congolese Democratic Rally in a war against Kabila. This group quickly came to dominate the resource-rich eastern provinces and based its operations in the city of Goma. By the end of 1998, Kabila's government had lost control of more than one-third of the country's territory.
The rebel forces and their allies were opposed by a number of groups. These included:
Other states entered the conflict for a variety of reasons. Uganda participated because of its long alliance with Rwanda and to prevent some of its own rebel groups from hiding in eastern Congo. Most important, however, was the opportunity for financial gain by extracting resources from the region. President Yoweri Museveni also hoped to enhance his own reputation as a statesman of power and influence. Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe, joined Kabila for similar reasons, lured by Congo's rich natural resources and desire to increase his own power and prestige in Africa.
Angola, caught up in its own 25-year-old war against UNITA rebels, also allied with Congo to eliminate the UNITA rebels in southern Congo. Chad and Namibia, as allies of Angola, joined as well.Outside of Africa, most states remained neutral, but pushed for an end to the violence. Non-African states were extremely reluctant to send troops to the region. A number of Western mining and diamond companies, most notably from the United States, Canada, and Israel, supported the Kabila government in exchange for business deals. These actions attracted substantial criticism from human-rights groups.