A brief history of Congo's wars
Editor鈥檚 Note: This post is a brief history, intended to provide a contextual background for understanding the complex issues that the Enough Project works on. It is part of the series聽.
Acronyms to Know:
- RPF 鈥� Rwandan Patriotic Front
- ALiR 聽鈥� Army for the Liberation of Rwanda
- AFDL 聽鈥� Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire
- MONUC 鈥� United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The First Congo War: October 1996- May 1997
The post-Mobutu phase of the Congo鈥檚 history cannot be understood without factoring in neighboring countries, and the 1994 Rwandan genocide was the spark that lit the regional fire. In the Rwandan genocide, Hutu-power groups (called the聽Interahamwe聽and the聽Impuzamugambi) led mass killings of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus, murdering 800,000 people in approximately 100 days.聽
In response, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF, overthrew the Rwandan Hutu government.
During and after the genocide, an estimated two million refugees, mostly Hutu, poured over Rwanda鈥檚 western border into the Congo.
The refugee camps in eastern Congo served as de facto army bases for the exiled Interhamwe and Army for the Liberation of Rwanda, or ALiR, genocidaires. They terrorized and robbed the local population with impunity until聽October 1996, when eastern Congolese Banyamulenge (Tutsi) led an uprising to force the Rwandans out of the Congo, sparking the First Congo War.
In response, Rwandan and Ugandan armies backing Laurent-D茅sir茅 Kabila invaded the Congo. The combined effort was called the聽Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, or AFDL. By December they controlled eastern Congo, and in聽May 1997聽they marched into Kinshasa and overthrew Mobutu鈥檚 government. The country was re-named the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kabila took over as president in聽September 1997.
Second Congo War/The Great War of Africa: August 1998- July 2003
Despite the new government, the eastern Congo聽. Kabila turned on his former backers (Rwanda and Uganda) and allowed Hutu armies to regroup in eastern Congo. This resulted in a Rwandan/Ugandan joint invasion in聽1998.聽Neighboring countries came to Kabila鈥檚 rescue and temporarily halted the Rwandan and Ugandan troops. The five-year conflict pitted Congolese government forces, supported by Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, against rebels and soldiers backed by Uganda and Rwanda.聽
In聽July 1999, the seven countries involved signed the Lusaka Peace Accord and 5,000 United Nations peacekeepers (the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or MONUC) were sent to monitor the situation.
In聽January 2001, President Kabila was assassinated by his bodyguard, and his son, Joseph Kabila, took over.
Joseph Kabila proved to be an adept negotiator and in聽2002聽completed successful peace deals that finally saw Rwanda鈥檚 and Uganda鈥檚 withdrawal from the Congo.
In聽December 2002, Kabila negotiated a peace deal with internal rebel groups, promising them a power-sharing interim government. This deal became official when Kabila signed a transitional constitution in聽April 2003.
罢丑别听聽that between聽August 1998聽and聽April 2004聽(when a bulk of the fighting occurred) some 3.8 million people died in the Congo.
For more on the Congo鈥檚 history, read last week鈥檚 Enough 101 post, 鈥�.鈥�
鈥� Mollie Zapata blogs for the Enough Project at .
