The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 6 August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted when Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila turned against his former allies from Rwanda and Uganda, who had helped him seize power. The conflict expanded as Kabila rallied a coalition of other countries to his defense. The war drew in nine African nations and approximately 25 armed groups, making it one of the largest wars in African history.
Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, and the war officially ended on 18 July 2003 with the establishment of the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the raising of the DRC's flag in the rebel-controlled city of Goma, violence has persisted in various regions, particularly in the east, through ongoing conflicts such as the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts.
The Second Congo War and its aftermath caused an estimated 5.4 million deaths, primarily due to disease, malnutrition and war crimes, making it the deadliest conflict since World War II, according to a 2008 report by the International Rescue Committee. The conflict also displaced approximately 2 million people, forcing them to flee their homes or seek asylum in neighboring countries. Additionally, the war was heavily influenced and funded by the trade of conflict minerals, which continues to fuel violence in the region.
The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted when Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila turned against his former allies from Rwanda and Uganda, who had helped him seize power. The conflict expanded as Kabila rallied a coalition of other countries to his defense. The war drew in nine African nations and approximately 25 armed groups, making it one of the largest wars in African history.
Amidst rumors of a Rwandan-backed coup plot against Kabila, he ordered all Rwandan troops to leave the country on 27 July 1998. Banyamulenge Congolese Tutsi soldiers, feeling threatened by the move, declared a rebellion against Kabila on 2 August, which received Ugandan and Rwandan backing. During August, Rwandan troops and Congolese defectors made an attempt to seize Kinshasa and overthrow Kabila. It was stopped by the intervention of Zimbabwean and Angolan troops, and by the Kabila government's ethnic incitement campaign that pitted Kinshasans against Tutsis. The attackers then fought their way to UNITA territory in northeast Angola, from where they flew back to Rwanda.
Having failed in the air assault against Kinshasa, Rwanda turned to a conventional strategy. Rwandan troops and Congolese RCD rebels overran eastern Congo's North Kivu and South Kivu provinces beginning on 2 August 1998. They captured Kisangani in Orientale Province on 23 August, which expanded the fighting to northern Congo and led to Uganda deploying its troops to the region. The MLC rebel group later emerged there, and Chadian troops were sent to stop the Ugandan-backed rebel advance. After the initial fighting, Rwandan and RCD forces advanced into the central and southern DRC, but Kindu became the main focus, as the Kabila government wanted to use it for a counteroffensive into the Kivus. However, the city was taken by rebels from Congolese government troops on 16 October 1998. Fighting also occurred in the southern DRC's Katanga Province.
Ugandan troops were present in Kisangani and Équateur Province, while Rwandan and Burundian control extended from the Kivus to parts of Katanga. There were no significant territorial changes from November 1998 until mid-1999, as both sides prepared for a battle over the strategic central city of Mbuji-Mayi. Rwandan and rebel troops began their offensive in February 1999. In June, the offensive got closer to the city, causing a crisis for Kabila and international pressure on Rwanda to negotiate. The Lusaka Peace Agreement of July and August 1999 was the result. It largely stopped movement on the front lines, but fighting continued. The war became a stalemate, with the 2,400-km front line running from around Mbandaka, northeast of Kinshasa, to Mbuji-Mayi in the Kasaï region, and to northern Katanga Province. Besides the conventional warfare between armies at the front, guerilla groups such as the Interahamwe and Mai-Mai were active behind the front, and there was also inter-ethnic fighting. Rwanda faced increasing resistance in the occupied territory, which was many times its size.
After the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila in January 2001, peace talks took place under his successor Joseph Kabila, culminating in the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement of 17 December 2002 and the Final Act of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue of 2 April 2003. Although the war officially ended on 18 July 2003 with the establishment of the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the raising of the DRC's flag in the rebel-controlled city of Goma, violence has persisted in various regions, particularly in the east, through ongoing conflicts such as the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. The Second Congo War and its aftermath caused an estimated 5.4 million deaths, primarily due to disease, malnutrition and war crimes, making it the deadliest conflict since World War II, according to a 2008 report by the International Rescue Committee. The conflict also displaced approximately 2 million people, forcing them to flee their homes or seek asylum in neighboring countries. Additionally, the war was heavily influenced and funded by the trade of conflict minerals, which continues to fuel violence in the region.
Background
Local and regional instability
The war had its roots in the democratization of Zaire that began on 24 April 1990 and conflicts involving the Banyarwanda, a term for Kinyarwanda speakers with origins in Rwanda that had migrated in waves to the Kivu region of the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Banyarwanda population includes those that arrived before the colonial period, and those that arrived before and after Congo achieved independence from Belgium in 1960, including ethnic Tutsi and Hutu. The Belgians had encouraged Rwandan migration as a form of cheap labor. There was a conflict involving the Banyarwanda in the early 1960s, but it was followed by decades of calm when Mobutu Sese Seko was in power. The nationality status of the Banyarwanda remained unclear, and they were outside of the indigenous tribal structure that formed Congolese local government, which was also connected to land rights. The National Sovereign Conference was convened between 1991 and 1993 as part of Mobutu's liberalization in order to draft principles for the country's future. During the conference, representatives of local civil society from the Kivus questioned the "Zaireans of dual or doubtful citizenship," referring to Banyarwanda. Confrontations took place between the Banyarwanda and the region's "indigenous" ethnic groups (the Hunde, Nande and Nyanga) in 1991 and 1992. The disputes included questions over citizenship, land, and customary tribal authority.
In March 1993, fighting escalated between the two sides in the Walikale Territory of North Kivu, and both blamed each other: the Banyarwanda claimed that the indigenous wanted to massacre them, while the indigenous believed that the Banyarwanda (and the Hutu in particular) wanted to take their territory, which they allegedly saw as "Ancient Rwanda." Order was later restored for several months, when Mobutu visited the region and brought units of the Special Presidential Division, which calmed the situation. But Zaire experienced an influx of 255,000 Hutu refugees from the Burundian Civil War into South Kivu starting in October 1993, and 1.5 million Hutu refugees from the Rwandan Civil War into both Kivus starting in July 1994, the latter following the Rwandan genocide of Tutsis between April and July 1994. Although they were largely civilians, there was a political and military leadership among them that intended to fight an insurgency against their respective countries' governments. The Rwandan Hutu genocidaires among the refugees spread their anti-Tutsi ideology and formed militias such as the Interahamwe, the Rally for Democracy in Rwanda (RDR), and the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALiR). Burundian and Rwandan insurgents—including Interahamwe and ex-Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR)—were able to acquire weapons and training with the support of the Zairean state, and launched cross-border raids against the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in western Rwanda throughout 1995.
The influx had other destabilizing effects: the Banyarwanda and the Rwandan refugees became the majority of North Kivu's population, and there was increased pressure on the environment and infrastructure. Additionally, the alliance between the Tutsis and Hutus ended, and the two groups entered into conflict, like in Rwanda. The Zairean government announced in August 1995 that the refugees would be expelled at the end of that year, before going back on the policy under international pressure. However, this caused many Rwandan Hutu refugees to leave the camps and to settle in other areas, which brought them into conflict with Tutsi Banyarwanda, and also created fears among Zaireans that North Kivu was being turned into a Hutu territory. Violence broke out in November 1995 as Hutu militias killed Hunde and Tutsi people, and Hunde militias killed Tutsi and Hutu people. The Zairean government did nothing to prevent the massacres. Poorly paid regular troops from the Zairean Armed Forces (FAZ) participated in looting and fought on the side of the Hutus for economic reasons.
First Congo War
During early 1996, the Rwandan press close to the RPA reported that Rwandan Vice President Major General Paul Kagame was planning a war to end the Mobutu regime and the security problem for Tutsis posed by the Hutu refugee camps in Zaire. Earlier, in 1995, Kagame had recruited several thousand Zairean Tutsis (including Banyamulenge from South Kivu), and it was these men that launched the precipitating event of the First Congo War — the "Banyamulenge rebellion" of September 1996. The Banyamulenge were Tutsis of Rwandan and Burundian origin that had lived in South Kivu since the 18th or 19th centuries. Some were veterans of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the exiled movement that won the Rwandan Civil War and ended the genocide in 1994. Although the Banyamulenge had genuine grievances, including attacks on them by militias, the decision to launch what became the First Congo War was made in Kigali, Rwanda; not in South Kivu. The RPA was making preparations for a war in Zaire as of June 1996. On the night of 31 August 1996, a group of "Banyamulenge infiltrators" got into a firefight with Zairean commandos near Luberizi. During September the RPA was seen moving equipment into South Kivu, and the Banyamulenge armed themselves and began their rebellion that month. The Banyamulenge rebellion has been described as "the extension of the Rwandan civil war into Zairean territory."
Zaire accused Rwanda and Burundi of stirring up a conflict in South Kivu on 13 September 1996. Mobutu's dictatorship culminated in the collapse of the Zairean state, which had practically lost the ability to defend its borders during the 1980s and early 1990s. Although a large army on paper, the unmotivated FAZ was unable to prevent the Banyamulenge from taking over South Kivu with RPA support by the end of October 1996. The conflict also spread to North Kivu in the form of Rwandan attacks on the refugee camps. During a press conference that month, Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu appeared with maps that he used to claim that the Banyamulenge land was historically part of Rwanda. Kagame later said that Rwanda would react to "Zairean aggression," and circulated a document calling for a "Berlin Conference II". The first phase of the war was completed by the start of 1997, when an occupied zone was established along Zaire's borders with Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda, extending into Zaire's interior as far west as the Walikale Territory. On 18 October 1996, the Alliance of Democratic Forces For the Liberation of the Congo-Zaire (AFDL) was established to provide political cover. When Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni tried to find a "suitable Congolese" to lead the movement in the first half of 1996, Tanzanian politician Julius Nyerere suggested the anti-Mobutu rebel exile Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who started off as the AFDL's spokesman.
The next phase of the First Congo War occurred when Angola provided assistance to the AFDL, reportedly after members of Mobutu's regime sold equipment to the UNITA rebels, in violation of a previous agreement between the two countries. The Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) airlifted the Katanga Gendarmerie, which had been in exile in Angola and integrated into the military there, to Rwanda, from where they were sent into Zaire. This intervention caused the rebellion to expand from the east into the rest of the country, as the Gendarmes had a critical role in the capture of major cities. The AFDL and its backers completed the takeover of Zaire between February and May 1997. Kabila's new government received widespread international recognition after the collapse of the Mobutu regime. Kabila declared himself president and changed the country's name from Zaire to the DRC when he reached the capital Kinshasa on 17 May, and declared the Congolese Third Republic at his inauguration on 29 May 1997.
Expulsion of former allies
After taking power, Kabila sent former FAZ soldiers to "reeducation" camps, and the AFDL were initially supported for having ended the abuses of the FAZ. However, the status of the Banyarwanda and the security problem posed to neighboring states had still not been resolved. RPA and Burundian troops were still deployed in the east, and initially most of the Congolese troops there were Tutsi (Banyamulenge or Banyarwanda). Their presence and actions increased anti-Tutsi sentiment. When ex-FAZ soldiers entered service in Kabila's new Congolese Armed Forces (FAC), they were distinct in that they had conventional military training, in contrast to the AFDL fighters. They were hostile to their former enemies, and in the eastern DRC, ex-FAZ officers wanted to break up Banyamulenge units in February 1998, so that they could be dispersed throughout the country. This occurred during ongoing attacks against their villages by Mai-Mai militias allied with Rwandan Interahamwe elements. The Banyamulenge saw this as a threat, and the situation only deescalated in March after negotiations by the FAC chief of staff, the Rwandan-Ugandan officer James Kabarebe.
The situation remained tense, and the region saw looting and massacres committed by the RPA and their allies from 1997 to 1998, mostly against civilians. Although the DRC and Rwanda had signed an agreement in September 1997 for joint operations between the FAC and the RPA against the Mai-Mai and Interahamwe, the non-Tutsi FAC elements had no interest in doing so, and cross-border raids into Rwanda continued. In the spring of 1998 Rwanda and Uganda were planning military action. Amid rumors of a Rwandan-backed coup plot against him, Kabila dismissed Kabarebe as military chief on 13 July 1998, and on 27 July he ordered all Rwandan troops to leave the country, during a television address in which he thanked the Rwandans for their "solidarity" and the Congolese people for "tolerating and sheltering" them. The departure of the Rwandan troops made the Banyamulenge feel threatened and accelerated the rebellion. On 28 July, Kabarebe returned to Rwanda and started planning another invasion of the DRC with Kagame.
Course of the war
1998
During the Rwandan military withdrawal, on 2 August 1998, FAC 10th Brigade commander Sylvain Mbuki entered a radio station in Goma, North Kivu, to announce that the Congolese military has "taken the decision to remove President Laurent-Désiré Kabila from power." The next day, the FAC 12th Brigade joined the uprising, and with support from Rwandan troops, the rebels quickly took over Goma, Bukavu, and Uvira without resistance. Fighting broke out south of Uvira, and there were also clashes beyond the Kivus: in Kindu, Kisangani, and across the country. In Kinshasa, Banyamulenge fought with other FAC soldiers at the Kokolo and Tshatshi military camps. By 3 August, the RPA was seen moving across the border, and all critical targets in the Kivus fell in the first 48 hours. In Kinsangani the rebels were defeated, in the Kinshasa area the Banyamulenge and remaining Rwandan soldiers were killed. It was not until 5 August that Arthur Z'ahidi Ngoma emerged as a "coordinator" of the rebellion, and an organization was formed on 12 August, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). Ernest Wamba dia Wamba became the RCD's elected president, and its leadership included several former AFDL officials that had served under Kabila.