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Second Congo War

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military History and War

   Second Congo War
   Civilians waiting to cross the DRC-Rwanda border (2001)

     Date   August 2, 1998–July 2003
   Location Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Result  Withdrawal of Uganda and Rwanda; peace deal with internal
            combatants
   Combatants
   Democratic Republic of the Congo,
   Namibia,
   Zimbabwe,
   Angola,
   Chad,
   Mai-Mai,
   Hutu-aligned forces Uganda,
   Rwanda,
   Burundi,
   Tutsi-aligned forces
   Commanders
   Laurent-Désiré Kabila (Congo),
   Joseph Kabila (Congo),
   Padiri (Mai-Mai),
   Dunia (Mai-Mai) Paul Kagame (Rwanda),
   Yoweri Museveni (Uganda),
   Ernest Wamba dia Wamba ( RCD)
   Strength
   Mai-Mai: 20-30,000 militia,
   Hutu Interahamwe: 20,000+ RCD: Unknown,
   Rwanda: 8,000+
   Casualties
   Civilians killed: 3,500,000+

   The Second Congo War was a conflict that took place largely in the
   territory of Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). The war
   began in 1998 and officially ended in 2003 when a Transitional
   Government took power. The widest interstate war in modern African
   history, it directly involved nine African nations, as well as about
   twenty armed groups, and earned the epithet of "Africa's World War" and
   the "Great War of Africa." An estimated 3.8 million people died, mostly
   from starvation and disease brought about by one of the deadliest
   conflicts since World War II. Millions more were displaced from their
   homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries. ^

   Despite a formal end to the war in July 2003 and an agreement by the
   former belligerents to create a government of national unity, the state
   remains weak and much of the eastern region continues to suffer from
   violent conflict. In 2004, an estimated one thousand people died every
   day from violence and disruptions to basic social services and food
   supply. Sporadic outbreaks of fighting continue to lead to large scale
   forced migration.

Origin of the Second Congo War

Colonial era

   Congo has had a troubled history since it was ruled as a colonial
   possession until 1908 by King Léopold II of Belgium as the Congo Free
   State and afterwards by Belgium (see Belgian Congo). Even by the
   standards of late 19th-century colonialism, the rule by King Léopold II
   is generally regarded as being arbitrary and brutal. Because of its
   mineral wealth, and the ongoing effects of the colonial period, Congo
   has been a state that has had tremendous trouble since transitioning to
   self-rule in 1960.

Regime of Mobutu

   History of DR Congo
   DRC flags over the years
     * Early history
       Migration & states
     * Colonization
       Stanley (1867–1885)
     * Congo Free State
       Leopold II (1885–1908)
     * Belgian Congo
       (1908–1960)
     * Congo Crisis
       First Republic (1960–1965)
     * Zaire
       Mobutu regime (1965–1996)
     * First Congo War
       Kabila's rise (1996–1998)
     * Second Congo War
       Africa's Great War (1998–2003)
     * Transitional government
       Toward unity (since 2003)

   In 1960, a democratic election resulted in the victory of the leftist
   Patrice Lumumba. This would be the only free election until those held
   in 2006. Lumumba served as Prime Minister alongside the other top
   candidate as president. Lumumba was first illegally "fired" by the
   president, then murdered in the presence of officials of the
   secessionist province of Katanga in a coup backed by the CIA and
   Belgium . By 1965, Mobutu had established himself as the dictator of
   the nation, backed by Western powers intent on arresting the spread of
   Soviet influence after civil war broke out in Angola. In the early
   1990s the economy of Zaire was under tremendous pressure because of the
   long commodities depression and Mobutu's efforts to retain power. While
   he advanced the sense of nationalism, he also created a cult of
   personality and a nation that was described by international agencies
   as a "basket case" . Mobutu looted the resources of the Congo to
   increase his personal wealth so shamelessly that the term "Kleptocracy"
   was essentially invented to describe his rule. In 1991 Mobutu was
   forced to make concessions to some of the opposition leaders, but the
   state of finances remained precarious and the army continued to
   deteriorate. By 1995, his hold on power was tenuous: salaries were not
   being paid to public officials and members of the army, violence was
   endemic, and corruption was routine.

   With the end of the Cold War, outside powers disengaged from
   sub-Saharan Africa. They left nations to deal with the after effects of
   the conflict between the superpowers and colonialism, as well as the
   internal conflicts between local groups. When the United States
   withdrew its backing of Mobutu, rebels and rival nations correctly felt
   that he would be easier to overthrow while deprived of outside support.

   The 1994 Rwandan Genocide, and related violence in Burundi,
   precipitated a crisis in the eastern part of the nation: hundreds of
   thousands of members of the Hutu ethnic group fled both countries into
   Zaire in the Great Lakes refugee crisis. 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
   former Rwanda military.

   The Rwandans and Ugandans began to funnel weapons and money to the
   anti-Sese Seko Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of
   Congo (ADFLC) under Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

First Congo War

   The First Congo War began in 1996 as Rwanda grew increasingly concerned
   that members of these militias, who were carrying out cross-border
   raids, were planning an invasion. The new Tutsi-dominated government of
   Rwanda protested this violation of their territorial integrity and
   began to give arms to the ethnically Tutsi Banyamulenge of eastern
   Zaire. This intervention was vigorously denounced by the government of
   Zaire under dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, but he did not have any military
   capability to oppose, and little political capital to spend.

Kabila's March to Kinshasa

   The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.
   Enlarge
   The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

   With active support from Rwanda, Uganda and Angola, Kabila's forces
   moved methodically down the river, encountering only light resistance
   from the crumbling regime based in Kinshasa. The bulk of his fighters
   were Tutsis and many were veterans from conflicts in the Lakes region
   of Africa. Kabila himself had credibility because he had been a
   longtime political opponent of Mobutu, and was a follower of Patrice
   Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the independent Congo who was
   murdered and overthrown from power by a combination of internal and
   external forces, to be replaced by the then Lt.-Gen. Mobutu. Kabila had
   declared himself a Marxist and an admirer of Mao Zedong. He had been
   waging armed rebellion in eastern Zaire for nearly two decades, though,
   according to Che Guevara's account of the conflict, he was an
   uncommitted and uninspirational leader.

   Kabila's army began a slow movement westward in December 1996 near the
   end of the Great Lakes refugee crisis, taking control of border towns
   and mines and solidifying control. There were reports of massacres and
   brutal repression by the rebel army. A UN human rights investigator
   published statements from witnesses claiming that the ADFLC engaged in
   massacres, and that as many as 60,000 civilians were killed by the
   advancing army (a claim strenuously denied by the ADFLC). Roberto
   Garreton stated that his investigation in Goma turned up allegations of
   disappearances, torture and killings. He quoted Moese Nyarugabo, an
   aide to Mobutu as saying that killings and disappearances should be
   expected in wartime.

   In March 1997, Kabila's forces launched an offensive, and demanded the
   government surrender. On March 27th it was reported that the rebels
   took Kasenga. These reports were dismissed by the government, which
   would begin a long pattern of false statements from the Defense
   Minister as to the progress and conduct of the war.

   Talks were proposed in late March, and on April 2, a new Prime Minister
   was installed: Etienne Tshisekedi, a long time rival of Mobutu. Kabila,
   by this point in rough control of one quarter of the country, dismissed
   this as irrelevant, and warned Tshisekedi that he would have no part in
   a new government if he accepted the post.

   Throughout the month of April the ADFLC made consistent progress down
   the river, and by May were on the outskirts of Kinshasa. On May 16,
   1997, the multinational army headed by Kabila battled to secure
   Lubumbashi airport after peace talks broke down and Mobutu fled the
   country. (He died on September 7, 1997 in Morocco). After securing
   victory, Kabila controlled Kinshasa. He proclaimed himself President on
   the same day and immediately ordered a violent crackdown to restore
   order. He then began an attempt at reorganization of the nation.

Unwelcome "support"

   When Kabila took control of the capital in May 1997, he faced
   substantial obstacles to governing the country that he renamed "the
   Democratic Republic of Congo" (DRC). Beyond political jostling among
   various groups to gain power and an enormous external debt, his foreign
   backers proved unwilling to leave when asked. The conspicuous Rwandan
   presence in the capital also rankled many Congolese, who were beginning
   to see Kabila as a pawn of foreign powers.

   Tensions reached new heights on 14 July 1998, when Kabila dismissed his
   Rwandan chief of staff, James Kabare, and replaced him with a native
   Congolese. Apparently Kabila felt that he had solidified his Congolese
   political base enough to put some distance between himself and the
   nations who had put him into power. Although the move chilled what was
   already a troubled relationship with Rwanda, he softened the blow by
   making Kabare the military advisor to his successor.

   Two weeks later Kabila abandoned such diplomatic steps. He thanked
   Rwanda for their help, and ordered all Rwandan and Ugandan military
   forces to leave the country. Within 24 hours Rwandan military advisors
   living in Kinshasa were unceremoniously flown out. The people most
   alarmed by this order were the Banyamulenge of eastern Congo. Their
   tensions with neighboring ethnic groups had been a contributing factor
   in the genesis of the First Congo War and they were also utilized by
   Rwanda to affect events across the border in the DRC. The Banyamulenge
   would again prove to be the spark of another conflagration.

Course of the war

   The initial rebel offensive threatened the Kabila government in a
   matter of weeks. The government was only saved through the rapid
   intervention of a number of other African states. For a time it looked
   that, as the rebel forces were forced back, an escalation in the
   conflict to a conventional war between multiple national armies loomed.
   Such an outcome was avoided as battle lines stabilized in 1999. Since
   then the conflict has primarily been fought by irregular proxy forces
   with little change in the territories held by the various parties.

Rebel push for Kinshasa

   On 2 August 1998, the Banyamulenge in the town of Goma erupted into
   mutiny. Rwanda offered immediate assistance to the Banyamulenge and
   early in August a well-armed rebel group, the Rally for Congolese
   Democracy (RCD), composed primarily of Banyamulenge and backed by
   Rwanda and Uganda had emerged. This group quickly came to dominate the
   resource-rich eastern provinces and based its operations in the city of
   Goma. The RCD quickly took control of the towns of Bukavu and Uvira in
   the Kivus. The Tutsi-led Rwandan government allied with Uganda, and
   Burundi also retaliated, occupying a portion of northeastern Congo. To
   help remove the occupying Rwandans, President Kabila enlisted the aid
   of the Hutu militants in eastern Congo and began to agitate public
   opinion against the Tutsis, resulting in several public lynchings in
   the streets of Kinshasa. On 12 August a loyalist army major broadcast a
   message urging resistance from a radio station in Bunia in eastern
   Congo: "People must bring a machete, a spear, an arrow, a hoe, spades,
   rakes, nails, truncheons, electric irons, barbed wire, stones, and the
   like, in order, dear listeners, to kill the Rwandan Tutsis."

   The Rwandan government also claimed a substantial part of eastern Congo
   as "historically Rwandan". The Rwandans alleged that Kabila was
   organizing a genocide against their Tutsi brethren in the Kivu region.
   The degree to which Rwandan intervention was motivated by a desire to
   protect the Banyamulenge, as opposed to using them as a smokescreen for
   its own regional aspirations, remains in question.

   In a bold move, RCD rebels hijacked a plane and flew it to the
   government base of Kitona on the Atlantic coast, where other mutinous
   government soldiers joined them. More towns in the east and around
   Kitona fell in rapid succession as the combined RCD, Rwandan and
   Ugandan soldiers overwhelmed the government forces amid a flurry of
   ineffectual diplomatic efforts by various African nations. By 13
   August, less than two weeks after the revolt began, the rebels held the
   Inga hydroelectric station that provided power to Kinshasa as well as
   the port of Matadi through which most of the Kinshasa's food passed.
   The diamond centre of Kisangani fell into rebel hands on 23 August and
   forces advancing from the east had begun to threaten Kinshasa by late
   August. Uganda, while retaining joint support of the RCD with Rwanda,
   also created a rebel group that it supported exclusively, the Movement
   for the Liberation of Congo (MLC).

   Despite the movement of the front lines, fighting continued throughout
   the country. Even as rebel forces advanced on Kinshasa, government
   forces continued to battle for control of towns in the east of the
   country. The Hutu militants with which Kabila was cooperating were also
   a significant force in the east. Nevertheless, the fall of the capital
   and Kabila, who had spent the previous weeks desperately seeking
   support from various African nations and Cuba, seemed increasingly
   certain.

Kabila gains regional support

   The rebel offensive was abruptly reversed as Kabila's efforts at
   diplomacy bore fruit. The first to respond were fellow members of the
   Southern African Development Community (SADC). While officially the
   SADC members are bound to a mutual defense treaty in the case of
   outside aggression, many member nations took a neutral stance to the
   conflict. However, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola all quickly threw their
   support behind the Kabila government after a meeting in the Zimbabwean
   capital of Harare on 19 August.

   Angola
          Caught up in its own 25-year-old war against UNITA rebels,
          Angola wished to eliminate the UNITA operation in southern Congo
          which imported weapons while exporting diamonds out of Angola.
          This is the same reason it participated in the First Congo War
          to overthrow the hostile Mobutu government. Angola had no
          confidence that a new president would be better than Kabila, and
          feared that continued fighting would lead to a power vacuum that
          could only help UNITA.

   Zimbabwe
          President Robert Mugabe was the most ardent supporter of
          intervention on Kabila's behalf, and was lured by Congo's rich
          natural resources and a desire to increase his own power and
          prestige in Africa. Kabila and Mugabe had signed a US$200
          million contract involving corporations owned by Mugabe and his
          family, and there were several reports in 1998 of numerous
          mining contracts being negotiated with companies under the
          control of the Mugabe family. Mugabe had resented being
          displaced by South African Nelson Mandela as the premiere
          statesman of southern Africa and the war was also a chance to
          confront another prominent African president, Yoweri Museveni of
          Uganda. As the head of the SADC's Organ on Politics, Defence and
          Security Mugabe believed he could reclaim his position as
          southern Africa's premiere statesmen by aiding Kabila.

   Namibia
          President Sam Nujoma had interests in Congo similar to that of
          Mugabe, with several family members deeply involved in Congolese
          mining. Namibia itself has little issues of natural interest at
          stake in the DRC and the Namibian intervention was greeted with
          dismay and outrage by citizens and opposition politicians.

   Several more nations joined the conflict for Kabila in the following
   weeks:

   Chad
          Kabila had originally discounted the possibility of support from
          Francophone Africa but after a summit meeting in Libreville,
          Gabon on 24 September, Chad agreed to send one thousand troops.
          France had encouraged Chad to join as a means of regaining
          influence in a region where the French had retreated in disgrace
          after the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

   Libya
          The government of Muammar al-Qaddafi provided the planes
          transporting the soldiers from Chad. Qaddafi may have seen a way
          to profit financially, but is also likely to have been strongly
          influenced by a desire to break out the international isolation
          imposed on him by the United States after the 1988 Pan Am Flight
          103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

   Sudan
          Unconfirmed reports in September indicated that Sudanese
          government forces were fighting rebels in Orientale province
          close to the Sudanese and Ugandan borders. However, Sudan did
          not establish a significant military presence inside the DRC,
          though it continued to offer extensive support to three Ugandan
          rebel groups—the Lord's Resistance Army, the Uganda National
          Rescue Front II and the Allied Democratic Forces—in retaliation
          for Ugandan support for the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

   A multisided war thus began. In September 1998, Zimbabwean forces flown
   into Kinshasa held off a rebel advance that reached the outskirts of
   the capital city while Angolan units attacked northward from its
   borders and eastward from the Angolan territory of Cabinda, against the
   besieging rebel forces. This intervention by various nations saved the
   Kabila government, and pushed the rebel front lines away from the
   capital. However, it was unable to defeat the rebel forces, and the
   advance threatened to escalate into direct conflict with the national
   armies of Uganda and Rwanda.

   In November 1998 a new Ugandan-backed rebel group, the Movement for the
   Liberation of Congo was reported in the north of the country. On 6
   November, President Paul Kagame admitted for the first time that
   Rwandan forces were assisting the RCD rebels for security reasons,
   apparently after a request by Nelson Mandela to advance peace talks. On
   18 January 1999, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe agreed on
   a ceasefire at a summit at Windhoek, Namibia but the RCD was not
   invited. Fighting thus continued.

   Outside of Africa, most states remained neutral, but urged 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.

Lusaka peace agreement

   Estimate of territory held by factions in June 2003
   Enlarge
   Estimate of territory held by factions in June 2003

   On 5 April 1999, tensions within the RCD about the dominance of the
   Banyamulenge reached a peak when RCD leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba
   moved his base from Goma to Uganda-controlled Kisangani. A further sign
   of a break occurred when Museveni of Uganda and Kabila signed a
   ceasefire accord on 18 April in Sirte, Libya following the mediation of
   Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, and both the RCD and Rwanda refused
   to take part. On 16 May, Wamba was ousted as head of the RCD in favour
   of a pro-Rwanda figure. Seven days later the various factions of the
   RCD clashed over control of Kisangani. On 8 June rebel factions met to
   try and create a common front against Kabila. Despite these efforts,
   the creation by Uganda of the new province of Ituri sparked the ethnic
   clash of the Ituri conflict, sometimes referred to as a "war within a
   war".

   Nevertheless, the diplomatic circumstances contributed to the first
   cease-fire of the war. In July 1999, the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement was
   signed by the six warring countries (Democratic Republic of Congo,
   Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Uganda) and, on 1 August, the
   MLC. The RCD refused to sign. Under the agreement, forces from all
   sides, under a Joint Military Commission, would cooperate in tracking,
   disarming and documenting all armed groups in the Congo, especially
   those forces identified with the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Few provisions
   were made to actually disarm the militias.

   The United Nations Security Council deployed about 90 liaison personnel
   in August 1999 to support the cease-fire. However, in the following
   months all sides accused the others of repeatedly breaking the
   cease-fire, and it became clear that small incidents could trigger
   attacks.

   The tension between Uganda and Rwanda reached a breaking point in early
   August as units of the Uganda People’s Defense Force and the Rwandan
   Patriotic Army clashed in Kisangani. In November, government-controlled
   television in Kinshasa claimed that Kabila's army had been rebuilt and
   was now prepared to fulfill its "mission to liberate" the country.
   Rwandan forces launched a large offensive and approached Kinshasa
   before being repelled.

   By February 24, 2000, the UN authorized a force of 5,537 troops, the
   United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
   Congo (known by the French acronym, MONUC), to monitor the cease-fire.
   However, fighting continued between rebels and government forces, and
   between Rwandan and Ugandan forces. Numerous clashes and offensives
   occurred throughout the country, most notably heavy fighting between
   Uganda and Rwanda in Kisangani in May and June 2000. On 9 August 2000,
   a government offensive in Equateur Province was stopped along the
   Ubangui River near Libenge by MLC forces. Despite the failure of
   military operations, diplomatic efforts made bilaterally or through the
   United Nations, African Union and Southern African Development
   Community failed to make any headway.

Kabila's assassination

   In January 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his
   bodyguards. It is unknown who ordered the killing but most feel
   Kabila's allies were to blame as they were tired of his duplicity, in
   particular his failure to implement a detailed timetable for the
   introduction of a new democratic constitution leading to free and fair
   elections. Angolan troops were highly visible at Kabila's funeral
   cortege in Kinshasa. However, the smoothness of the transfer of power
   has led to questions of Western involvement.
   A Congolese soldier with a PK machine gun near the Rwandan border, 2001
   Enlarge
   A Congolese soldier with a PK machine gun near the Rwandan border, 2001

   The Washington Post favorably contrasted Joseph Kabila—Western educated
   and English-speaking—with his father. Here was someone who made
   diplomats "hope that things have changed", whereas "Laurent Kabila
   stood as the major impediment to a peaceful settlement of the war
   launched in August 1998 to unseat him" The Lusaka peace deal "remained
   unfulfilled largely because he kept staging new offensives while
   blocking deployment of UN peacekeepers in government-held territory."
   An analyst from the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit is quoted
   saying "The only obstruction had been Kabila because the [Lusaka]
   accord called for the government's democratic transition and that was a
   threat to his power."

   By unanimous vote of the Congolese parliament, his son, Joseph Kabila,
   was sworn in as president to replace him. This was largely as a result
   of Robert Mugabe's backing and that fact that most parliamentarians had
   been handpicked by the elder Kabila. In February, the new president met
   Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the United States. Rwanda, Uganda, and
   the rebels agreed to a UN pullout plan. Uganda and Rwanda began pulling
   troops back from the front line.

   In April 2001, a UN panel of experts investigated the illegal
   exploitation of diamonds, cobalt, coltan, gold and other lucrative
   resources in the Congo. The report accused Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe
   of systematically exploiting Congolese resources and recommended the
   Security Council impose sanctions.

   Despite frequent accusations of misdeeds in the Congo, the Rwandan
   government continued to receive substantially more international aid
   than went to the vastly larger Congo. Rwandan President Paul Kagame was
   also still respected internationally for his leadership in ending the
   Rwandan Genocide and for his efforts to rebuild and reunite Rwanda.

Nominal peace

   A number of attempts to end the violence were made, but these were not
   successful. In 2002 Rwanda's situation began to worsen. Many members of
   the RCD either gave up fighting or decided to join Kabila's government.
   Moreover, the Banyamulenge, the backbone of Rwanda's militia forces,
   became increasingly tired of control from Kigali and the unending
   conflict. A number of them mutinied, leading to violent clashes between
   them and Rwandan forces. At the same time the western Congo was
   becoming increasingly secure under the younger Kabila. International
   aid was resumed as inflation was brought under control.

   The Sun City Agreement was formalized on April 19, 2002. It was a
   framework for providing the Congo with a unified, multipartite
   government and democratic elections; however, critics noted that there
   were no stipulations regarding the unification of the army, which
   weakened the effectiveness of the agreement. There have been several
   reported breaches of the Sun City agreement, but it has seen a
   reduction in the fighting.

   On 30 July 2002, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a
   peace deal after five days of talks in Pretoria, South Africa. The
   talks centered on two issues. One was the withdrawal of the estimated
   20,000 Rwandan soldiers in the Congo. The other was the rounding up of
   the ex-Rwandan soldiers and the dismantling of the Hutu extremist
   militia known as Interahamwe, which took part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide
   and continues to operate out of eastern Congo. Rwanda had previously
   refused to withdraw until the Hutu militias were dealt with.

   Signed on 6 September 2002, the Luanda Agreement formalized peace
   between Congo and Uganda. The treaty aimed to get Uganda to withdraw
   their troops from Bunia and to improve the relationship between the two
   countries, but implementation proved troublesome. Eleven days later the
   first Rwandan soldiers were withdrawn from the eastern DRC. On 5
   October, Rwanda announced the completion of its withdrawal; MONUC
   confirmed the departure of over 20,000 Rwandan soldiers.

   On 21 October the UN published its Expert Panel's Report of the pillage
   of natural resources by armed groups. Both Rwanda and Uganda rejected
   accusations that senior political and military figures were involved in
   illicit trafficking of plundered resources.

   On 17 December 2002, the Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese
   Dialogue, namely: the national government, the MLC, the RCD, the
   RCD-ML, the RCD-N, the domestic political opposition, representatives
   of civil society and the Mai Mai, signed the Global and All-Inclusive
   Agreement. The Agreement described a plan for transitional governance
   that should have resulted in legislative and presidential election
   within two years of its signing and marked the formal end of the Second
   Congo War.

Transitional government

   On 18 July 2003, the Transitional Government came into being as
   specified in the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement out of the warring
   parties. The Agreement obliges the parties to carry out a plan to
   reunify the country, disarm and integrate the warring parties and hold
   elections. There have been numerous problems, resulting in continued
   instability in much of the country and a delay in the scheduled
   national elections from June 2005 to July 2006.

   The main cause for the continued weakness of the Transitional
   Government is the refusal by the former warring parties to give up
   power to a centralized and neutral national administration. All
   belligerents maintain administrative and military command-and-control
   structures separate from that of the Transitional Government. A high
   level of official corruption siphoning money away from civil servants,
   soldiers and infrastructure projects causes further instability.

   The fragility of the state has allowed continued violence and human
   rights abuses in the east. There are three significant centers of
   conflict: North and South Kivu, where a weakened FDLR continues to
   threaten the populace; Ituri, where MONUC has proved unable to contain
   the numerous militia and groups driving the Ituri conflict; and
   northern Katanga, where Mai-Mai created by Laurent Kabila slipped out
   of the control of Kinshasa.

Factions in the Congo conflict

   The many armed groups in the conflict may be divided into four broad
   categories. Given the fluid nature of the war, there have been numerous
   exceptions and caveats, and groups within a single category have
   violently clashed in the past over resources and territory.

   Rwandan Patriotic Front-aligned forces
          Included the national armies of the Tutsi-dominated governments
          of Rwanda and Burundi, the militia groups created by the ethnic
          Tutsi Banyamulenge residing in the DRC and the
          Banyamulenge-dominated Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) rebel
          forces based in Goma. Tutsi-aligned forces inside the DRC are
          most active in North and South Kivu provinces, and have
          territory extending westward toward Kinshasa. Goals include
          protecting the national security of Rwanda and Burundi,
          defending Tutsis in the DRC, checking the influence of Uganda
          and exploiting natural resources.

   President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in Washington D.C
   Enlarge
   President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in Washington D.C

   Extremist Hutu-aligned forces
          Included Rwandan Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide,
          Burundian rebels seeking to overthrow the government, Congolese
          Hutus and affiliated Mai-Mai militias. The major Hutu group
          currently is the Forces Démocratiques de la Libération du Rwanda
          (FDLR) operating in the Kivus. Goals include expelling foreign
          Tutsi forces, ethnic cleansing of the Banyamulenge, overthrowing
          the governments of Rwanda and Burundi, and gaining control of
          resources.

   Uganda-aligned forces
          Included Uganda's national army and various Uganda-backed rebel
          groups, such as the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, in
          control of much of the northeast and central north of the DRC.
          Stated goals include protecting the borders of Uganda from
          invasion by DRC-based armed groups such as the Allied Democratic
          Forces and People's Redemption Army, which may not exist, and
          destroying rebel bases in the DRC; Uganda had previously claimed
          that the Kabila government had failed to take action. The United
          Nations has named Uganda as one country that illegally extracted
          natural resources.

   Kinshasa-aligned forces
          Included the Congolese national army, various antiforeigner
          Mai-Mai groups, and allied nations such as Zimbabwe, Angola,
          Chad, Sudan and Namibia. They control the east and south of the
          DRC. The main goal is the creation of a strong state in control
          of its territory and borders, and thus regaining control of the
          natural resources.

   The ethnic violence between Hutu- and Tutsi-aligned forces has been a
   driving impetus for much of the conflict, with people on both sides
   fearing their annihilation as a race. The Kinshasa- and Hutu-aligned
   forces enjoyed close relations as their interests in expelling the
   armies and proxy forces of Uganda and Rwanda dovetail. While the
   Uganda- and Rwanda-aligned forces worked closely together to gain
   territory at the expense of Kinshasa, competition over access to
   resources created a fissure in their relationship. There were reports
   that Uganda permitted Kinshasa to send arms to the Hutu FDLR via
   territory held by Uganda-backed rebels as Uganda, Kinshasa and the
   Hutus are all seeking, in varying degrees, to check the influence of
   Rwanda and its affiliates.

Nature of the conflict

   The Congo war has largely been one without large battles or clearly
   defined front lines. While significant numbers of trained soldiers from
   national armies have been involved, the rulers of those nations have
   been extremely loath to risk their forces in open combat. The equipment
   and training of the national armies represents a major investment for
   the poor states of the region and losses would be difficult to replace.
   The vast area of Congo dwarfs the armed groups, so military units have
   been based around strategically important strongholds such as ports,
   airfields, mining centers and the few passable roads, rather than
   guarding strictly defined areas of control.

   As a result, the war has largely been fought by loosely organized
   militia groups. These untrained and undisciplined forces have greatly
   contributed to the violence of the conflict by frequent looting, rape
   and ethnic cleansing. It has also made peace far harder to enforce as
   the militias continue operating despite cease-fires between their
   patrons. These uncontrolled militias and their government allies have
   killed many Congolese. Many more have died from disease and starvation
   brought about by the chaos in the region.

   Much of the conflict has focused on gaining control of the abundant
   natural resources of the Congo. The African Great Lakes states have
   largely paid their military expenses by extracting minerals, diamonds,
   and timber from the eastern Congo. These efforts have been directed by
   officers from the Rwandan and Ugandan armies who have grown wealthy as
   a result. Over time, the Rwandan national army has become far less
   interested in hunting down those responsible for the genocide and more
   concerned with protecting their sphere of control in eastern Congo. The
   occupying forces have levied high taxes on the local population and
   confiscated almost all of the livestock and much of the food in the
   region.

   Competition for control of resources between the anti-Kabila forces has
   also resulted in conflict. In 1999, Ugandan and Rwandan troops clashed
   in the city of Kisangani. The RCD also split into two factions, greatly
   weakening the anti-Kabila rebel forces and limiting their operation to
   the eastern portion of the country. However, the forces loyal to and
   allied with Kabila were too depleted and exhausted to take advantage of
   this.

Effects

   The conflict has had wide ranging effects. The war has served to
   destroy the economy of an already-poor region as foreign investors have
   fled and resources have been devoted to fighting the war. Much of the
   already scant infrastructure in the Congo has been destroyed. The
   continuation and escalation of ethnic hatreds that fuelled the Rwandan
   genocide and quickly spilled over into Congo have made the postcolonial
   ethnic division of the region even more concrete and intractable.
   An organization of rape survivors in South Kivu
   Enlarge
   An organization of rape survivors in South Kivu

   Rape has been used as a weapon of war throughout the conflict. In
   October 2004 the human rights group Amnesty International reported that
   40,000 cases of rape had been reported over the previous six years, the
   majority occurring in South Kivu. This is an incomplete count as the
   humanitarian and international organizations compiling the figures do
   not have access to much of the conflict area and only women who have
   reported for treatment are included. The actual number of women raped
   is thus assumed to be much higher. All armed parties in the conflict
   are guilty of rape, though the militia and various insurgent groups
   have been most culpable. Of particular medical concern is the
   abnormally high proportion of women suffering vaginal fistulae, usually
   as a result of being gang raped. The endemic nature of rape in the
   conflict has, beyond the physical and psychological trauma to the
   individual women, contributed to the spread of sexually transmitted
   diseases, including HIV, in the region.

   Deaths resulting from the war are estimated at 3.8 million from surveys
   conducted by the International Rescue Committee. The vast majority of
   these deaths (80%–90%) resulted from easily preventable diseases and
   malnourishment resulting from the disruption of health service,
   agriculture and infrastructure, and from refugee displacement. The 2004
   IRC report also includes death toll estimates of 3.4 million and 4.4
   million, a range resulting from changes in basic assumptions in the
   model.

   Effects within the DRC include the displacement of some 3.4 million
   people, as well as the impoverishment of hundreds of thousands. The
   majority of the displaced are from the eastern section of the country.
   Nearly two million others have been displaced in the neighboring
   countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

   The war has also raised questions about sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
   The increase in democratization and the end of apartheid in South
   Africa raised great hope for the region in the post Cold War world.
   Some saw the prospect of an " African Renaissance." The seemingly
   unending violence in the Congo has dashed many of these hopes and
   damaged the reputations of a number of statesmen who were once seen as
   reformers.

   The devastating effects on the economy and social institutions have led
   to serious impacts on the wildlife of the region. In September 2005, a
   survey reported by the World Wide Fund for Nature showed that the
   population of hippopotamuses in Virunga National Park's Lake Edward has
   plummeted to less than 900 individuals from an estimated 29,000 thirty
   years previously. The decline is attributed to poaching for meat as
   well as the teeth, which are used to produce illegal ivory.
   Additionally, about half of the world's 700 wild mountain gorillas live
   in the same park.

   On December 19, 2005, the United Nations International Court of Justice
   ruled that the DRC's sovereignty had been violated by Uganda, and that
   Uganda had looted billions of dollars worth of resources. The DRC
   government has asked for $10 billion in compensation. On July 30, 2006,
   first elections were held in DR Congo, after approval of a new
   constitution with democracy. A second round of election was held on
   October 30, 2006.

Glossary of armed groups

   Armed Forces in the First Congo War and the Second Congo War
                           Militias Armies Others

     * ADF/NALU (Allied Democratic Forces/National Army for the Liberation
       of Uganda)
       Ugandan rebel group active in western Uganda with rear bases in the
       DRC. Largely inactive by 2004.
     * ADFL ( Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo)
       Rwanda-Uganda backed alliance
     * ALIR ( Army for the Liberation of Rwanda)
       Rwandan Hutu militia based in the Kivus since early 1997. A
       successor organization to the Interahamwe and RDR they merged with
       FDLR in September 2000.
     * Banyamulenge
       Tutsis in South Kivu active in the ADFL and in the ANC
     * CNDD-FDD or just FDD ( National Council for the Defense of
       Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy)
       Burundian militia
     * FLC (Front de Libération du Congo)
       Ugandan militia formed from the MLC, RCD-N and RCD-ML. Led by
       Jean-Pierre Bemba from Nov. 2000-Aug. 2001 to centralize control of
       Equateur and Orientale provinces in 2000.
     * FLN or FROLINA ( National Liberation Front)
       Burundian Hutu militia group led by Joseph Kalumba
     * FNI (Front for Nationalist Integration)
       Ugandan militia
     * Interahamwe
       Rwandan Hutu militia responsible for the genocide who were forced
       into eastern Congo, where they were known as the Rassemblement
       Démocratique pour le Rwanda.
     * LRA ( Lord’s Resistance Army)
     * Mai-Mai
       An umbrella term for Congolese militia groups generally opposed to
       foreign occupation
     * MLC (Movement for the Liberation of Congo)
       Ugandan-backed militia led by Jean-Pierre Bemba. Created 1998 and
       often used as erroneous shorthand to refer to all Ugandan-backed
       rebel forces in the DRC.
     * NALU (National Army for the Liberation of Uganda)
       Ugandan rebel group along the border with the DRC that merged into
       the ADF in 1996.

     * RCD ( Congolese Rally for Democracy)
       Rwandan rebel group, usually refers to RCD-Goma
          + RCD-Congo: Faction of RCD-Goma led by Kin-Kiey Mulumba that
            broke off in June 2002
          + RCD-Goma: A Rwandan-backed rebel group created in the town of
            Goma in August 1998 to fight Laurent Kabila.
               o ANC ( Armée Nationale Congolaise)
                 The military wing of RCD-Goma
          + RCD-K: Ugandan-backed rebel faction led by Wamba dia Wamba
            that broke from RCD-Goma in March 1999. Became the RCD-ML led
            by Nyamwisi in September 1999. Also known as RCD-Wamba. See
            RCD-K/ML
          + RCD-K/ML (RCD-Kisangani/Mouvement de Libération): Refers to
            the RCD-K that became RCD-ML
          + RCD-ML: Ugandan-backed group led by Mbusa Nyamwisi. Active in
            North Kivu and Ituri Province. See RCD-K/ML. Is reported to be
            accepting arms shipments from Kinshasa, in agreement with
            Uganda, that are shared with the FDLR against Tutsi forces.
               o APC (Armeé du Peuple Congolais) or (Armee Populaire
                 Congolaise)
                 The military wing of the RCD-ML.
          + RCD-N (RCD-National): Ugandan-backed rebel group led by Roger
            Lumbala that split from the RCD-K/ML and is now allied with
            the MLC
     * RDR ( Rassemblement Démocratique pour le Rwanda)
       Rwandan Hutu militia, successor organization to the Interahamwe in
       Congo that morphed into the ALIR.
     * SPLA (Sudanese People’s Liberation Army)
       Sudanese militia
     * UNITA ( National Union for Total Independence of Angola)
       Angolan faction; officially demilitarised in 2002.
     * UPC (Union of Congolese Patriots)

     * FAB (Forces Armées Burundaises)
       Army of Burundi (dominated by Tutsi, cooperates with the RCD and
       RDF)
     * FARDC or FAC (Forces Armées de la Républic Démocratique du Congo)
       Army of Democratic Republic of the Congo
     * FAZ ( Zairean Armed Forces)
       Army of Zaire(now Congo) under Mobuto Sese Seko
     * RDF ( Rwandan Defense Forces) formely the RPA (Rwanda Patriotic
       Army)
       Army of Rwanda (dominated by Tutsi)
     * UPDF (Ugandan People’s Defense Force)
       Army of Uganda
     * ZNA ( Zimbabwe National Army)
       Army of Zimbabwe, formed from the militias ZANLA and ZIPRA

   Political Parties
     * FDLR ( Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda)
       Congolese Hutu group created in 2000 after the Kinshasa-based Hutu
       command and Kivu-based ALIR agreed to merge and announced in March
       2005 that they were abandoning armed resistance.
     * RPF ( Rwandese Patriotic Front)
       Rwandan political wing of Uganda-based Tutsi rebel group led by
       Paul Kagame that chased out the genocidaires in 1994. Now the
       ruling Rwandan political party.

   United Nations
     * MONUC ( United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo)

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