User:Junesix/Congo Civil War
The Congo Civil War is a conflict taking place largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). The widest interstate war in modern African history, it has directly involved nine African nations. According to the International Rescue Committee, nearly 3 million people have been killed since 1998 with millions more displaced from their homes or seeking asylum in neighboring countries.
Origins[edit]
The Congo Civil war began on August 2, 1998, after Laurent-Désiré Kabila had overthrown the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In an attempt to consolidate power, the new President tried to expel Rwandan military forces from the DRC. These were the same armed forces under the banner of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) that had helped Kabila overthrow the previous authoritarian regime. To aid in the removal of the occupying Rwandans, Kabila enlisted the aid of Hutu insurgents in eastern Congo. These rebels were responsible for the Rwandan massacres of Tutsis in 1994 and now operated within Congo's borders against Rwanda. The Tutsi-led Rwandan government allied with Uganda and Burundi retaliated, occupying a portion of northwestern Congo to protect their own borders against Hutu rebels based in eastern Congo.
A few months later Zimbabwe to the south led by President Robert Mugabe, joined Kabila, lured by Congo's rich natural resources (gold, diamonds, metals, timber). 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.
By the end of 1998, the Congolese government had lost control of more than one-third of the country's territory to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), dominated by members of the Tutsi ethnic minority and backed by Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi.