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Congo Civil War

The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC - formerly called Zaire under President Mobutu Sese Seko) is the widest interstate war in modern African history. The DRC has become an environment in which numerous foreign players have become involved, some within the immediate sub-region, and some from much further afield. That only serves to complicate the situation and to make peaceful resolution of the conflict that much more complex. The war, centered mainly in eastern Congo, has involved nine African nations and directly affected the lives of 50 million Congolese.

The International Rescue Committee says that between August 1998 and April 2004 (when the bulk of the fighting occurred) 3.8 million people died in the DRC. Most of these deaths were due to starvation or disease that resulted from the war, not from actual fighting. Millions more have become internally displaced or have sought asylum in neighboring countries.

The Congolese people are made up of around 200 separate ethnic groups. These ethnic groups generally are concentrated regionally and speak distinct languages. There is no majority ethnic group - some of the largest ethnic groups are the Luba, Kongo and Anamongo. The various ethnic groups speak many different languages but only four indigenous languages have official status - Kiswahili, Lingala, Kikongo and Tshiluba. French is the language of government, commerce and education. Societal discrimination on the basis of ethnicity is widely practiced by members of virtually all ethnic groups and is evident in private hiring and buying patterns and in patterns of de facto ethnic segregation in some cities. In large cities, however, intermarriage across ethnic and regional divides is common.

By 1996, the war and genocide in neighboring Rwanda had spilled over to the DRC (then Zaire). Rwandan Hutu militia forces (Interahamwe) who fled Rwanda following the ascension of a Tutsi-led government were using Hutu refugee camps in eastern DRC as bases for incursions against Rwanda.

In October 1996, Rwandan troops (RPA) entered the DRC with an armed coalition led by Laurent-Desire Kabila known as the Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo-Zaire (AFDL). With the goal of forcibly ousting Mobutu, the AFDL, supported by Rwanda and Uganda, began a military campaign toward Kinshasa. Following failed peace talks between Mobutu and Kabila in May 1997, Mobutu left the country, and Kabila marched into Kinshasa on May 17, 1997. Kabila declared himself president, consolidated power around himself and the AFDL, and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). RPA units continued to operate with the DRC’s military, which was renamed the Forces Armees Congolaises (FAC).

Congolese Tutsis as well as the Governments of Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda, all relied on the Rwandan military presence in DRC for protection against hostile armed groups operating from the eastern part of the country. These groups included:

• The Interahamwe militia of ethnic Hutus, mostly from Rwanda, which fought the Tutsi-dominated Government of Rwanda
• Hutu members of the former Rwandan Armed Forces, believed to be responsible for the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, which also fought the Government of Rwanda
• The Mai Mai, a loose association of traditional Congolese local defense forces, which fought the influx of Rwandan immigrants
• The Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF), made of up Ugandan expatriates and supported by the Government of Sudan, which fought the Government of Uganda
• Several groups of Hutus from Burundi fighting the Tutsi-dominated Government of Burundi

During 1997, relations between Kabila and his foreign backers deteriorated. In July 1998, Kabila ordered all foreign troops to leave the DRC. Most refused to leave. On August 2, fighting erupted throughout the DRC as Rwandan troops "mutinied," and fresh Rwandan and Ugandan troops entered the DRC. Two days later, Rwandan troops flew to Bas-Congo, with the intention of marching on Kinshasa, ousting Laurent Kabila, and replacing him with the newly formed Rwandan-backed rebel group called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD). The Rwandan campaign was thwarted at the last minute when Angolan, Zimbabwean, and Namibian troops intervened on behalf of the DRC Government. The Rwandans and the RCD withdrew to eastern DRC, where they established de facto control over portions of eastern DRC and continued to fight the Congolese Army and its foreign allies.

In February 1999, Uganda backed the formation of a rebel group called the Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo (MLC). Together, Uganda and the MLC established control over the northern third of the DRC.

At this stage, the DRC was divided de facto into three segments, and the parties controlling each segment had reached military deadlock. In July 1999, a cease-fire was proposed in Lusaka, Zambia, which all six parties (The DRC, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Uganda, and Rwanda) signed by the end of August. The Lusaka Accord called for a cease-fire, the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation (MONUC), the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the launching of an "Inter-Congolese Dialogue" to form a transitional government leading to elections. The parties to the Lusaka Accord failed to fully implement its provisions in 1999 and 2000. Laurent Kabila drew increasing international criticism for blocking full deployment of UN troops, hindering progress toward an Inter-Congolese Dialogue, and suppressing internal political activity.

Each side in the conflict repeatedly accused the other of violating the Lusaka accord, which seemed to exist only on paper. As of late December 1999 the deteriorating military and security situation suggested that the slightest incident could have triggered large-scale organized attacks against civilians, especially ethnic Tutsis. Given the threat to the Congolese Tutsi community, they themselves could have triggered an anti-Tutsi offensive through violent actions against their neighbors.

In June 2000, the President of the UN Security Council requested the UN Secretary-General to establish a Panel of Experts on the illegal exploitation of the natural resources and other forms of wealth of the DRC to follow up on reports and collect information on all activities of illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the DRC, including in violation of the sovereignty of that country; and to research and analyze the links between the exploitation of the natural resources and other forms of wealth in the DRC and the continuation of the conflict.

On January 16, 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. In October 2001, the Inter-Congolese Dialogue began in Addis Ababa under the auspices of Ketumile Masire (former president of Botswana). The initial meetings made little progress and were adjourned. In February 2002, the dialogue was reconvened in South Africa. It included representatives from the government, rebel groups, political opposition, civil society, and the Mai-Mai . The talks ended inconclusively in April 2002, when the government and the MLC brokered an agreement that was signed by the majority of delegates at the dialogue but left out the RCD and opposition UDPS party, among others.

This partial agreement was never implemented, and negotiations resumed in South Africa in October 2002. This time, the talks led to an all-inclusive powersharing agreement, which was signed by delegates in Pretoria on December 17, 2002. By the end of 2002, all Angolan, Namibian, and Zimbabwean troops had withdrawn from the DRC. Rwandan troops had officially withdrawn from the DRC in October 2002, although there were continued, unconfirmed reports that Rwandan soldiers and military advisers remained integrated with RCD forces in eastern DRC. The Pretoria Accord was formally ratified by all parties on April 2, 2003 in Sun City, South Africa. Ugandan troops officially withdrew from the DRC in May 2003.

Following nominations by each of the various signatory groups, President Kabila on June 30, 2003 issued a decree that formally announced the transitional government lineup. The four vice presidents took the oath of office on July 17, 2003, and most incoming ministers assumed their new functions within days thereafter. Elections were then scheduled for 2005 or 2006.

Despite the supposed cessation of hostilities, massacres continued in eastern Congo during 2003-2004. Rwandan Hutu militiamen feared returning to Rwanda, believing they would be targeted by revenge-seeking Tutsis. These Hutu remained in the forests of east Congo, preying on villages for food and money. Rwandan incursions into the DRC disrupted the fragile government and created instability. In December 2004, rival units within the DRC's national army clashed in the eastern part of the country. In May 2005 it was reported that Rwandan Hutu rebels based in eastern Congo were responsible for hundreds of summary executions, rapes, beatings and hostage-taking of Congolese civilians in the territory of Walungu, South Kivu Province.

Throughout 2005, rival militias backed by Rwanda and Uganda, respectively, created instability in the northeastern region of Ituri, as they battled over border trade and gold fields. Additionally, Rwandan militias continued to operate in eastern rainforests, keeping the threat of an invasion alive. Still, the rest of the country remained relatively stable under President Kabila.

Elections were scheduled first for June 2006 but the UDPS party threatened to boycott, postponing elections until late July 2006.

The July 2006 presidential election in Congo, with a field of 32 candidates, ended in crisis. The leading candidates, incumbent Joseph Kabila and rebel leader Jean Pierre Bemba, kept their forces on alert. Bemba, who had trailed Kabila by over 16% refused to accept defeat. Fortunately, there was only sporadic fighting in the wake of the result. In early December 2006, Kabila was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by many of Africa's heads of state--Bemba was conspicuous by his absence. Other nations in the Great Lakes region expressed their hope that the election will bring an end to fighting.