First Congo War

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First Congo War
Date 1996–1997 Location Zaire Result Mobutu Sese Seko overthrown; Laurent-Désiré Kabila becomes president
Combatants
AFDL, Uganda, Rwanda	Zaire
Commanders
Laurent-Désiré Kabila	Mobutu Sésé Seko
Casualties
Civilians killed: 200,000+

The First Congo War was a conflict from late 1996 to 1997 in which Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as Uganda and Rwanda. Rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila declared himself president and changed the name of the nation back to Democratic Republic of the Congo. The war set the foundation for, and was quickly followed by, the Second Congo War, which began on 2 August 1998.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Course of the war 3 Bibliography 4 Glossary of Armed Groups

[edit] Origins

Mobutu had controlled Zaïre since 1965 with backing from the United States, which had viewed him as a bulwark against leaders it perceived to be Soviet-backed, such as Patrice Lumumba.

History of DR Congo

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 Towards unity (2003–2006)

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The early 1990s had seen a wave of democratization in Africa. There was substantial internal and external pressure for democratization in Zaïre, and Mobutu promised reform. He officially ended the one-party system he had maintained since 1967, but ultimately was unwilling to implement broad reform, alienating allies both at home and internationally.

There had long been considerable internal resistance to Mobutu's rule. Opposition included leftists who looked back on the abortive rule of Patrice Lumumba with fondness as well as various ethnic and regional minorities opposed to the dominance of the Kinshasa region over the rest of the country. Kabila was one of these. He was also an ethnic Katangese who had been fighting the Mobutu government for decades.

In what became known as the Great Lakes refugee crisis, the Rwandan Genocide resulted in the flight of two million Hutu refugees from Rwanda after the Rwandan Patriotic Front took over the country in July 1994. Among the refugees were members of the interahamwe, militia groups linked to political parties who took part in the genocide. They set up camps in eastern Zaire from which they attacked both Rwandan Tutsis and Zairian Tutsis called the Banyamulenge. Mobutu, whose control of the country was beginning to weaken, supported the Hutu extremists for political reasons and did nothing to stop the ongoing violence.

[edit] Course of the war

When the vice-governor of South Kivu Province issued an order in November 1996 ordering the Banyamulenge to leave Zaire on penalty of death, they erupted in rebellion. The anti-Mobutu forces combined to form the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire (AFDL). The AFDL received the support of the leaders of African Great Lakes states, particularly Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Lacking foreign military assistance, many elements of the Zairian Army joined Laurent-Désiré Kabila as they marched from eastern DRC on Kinshasa.

With active support from Rwanda, Uganda and Angola, Kabila's forces moved methodically down the Congo 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.[4]

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.

However, once Kabila was in power the situation changed dramatically. He quickly became suspected of being as corrupt and authoritarian as his predecessor. Many of the pro-democracy forces abandoned him and he began a vigorous effort to centralize control. This brought renewed conflict with the minority groups of the east who demanded autonomy. Furthermore, Kabila began to turn against his former Rwandan allies when they showed little sign of withdrawing from his territory. He accused them and their allies of trying to capture the region's mineral resources. Furthermore, his overreliance on the Rwandans for political and military control was a major reason that pro-democracy forces accused Kabila of being a puppet of Kigali.

In August 1998, Kabila removed all ethnic Tutsis from his Government and ordered all Rwandan and Ugandan officials out of the DRC. The two countries then turned against their former client, sending troops to aid rebels attempting to overthrow Kabila and triggering the Second Congo War.

[edit] Bibliography

• Clark, John F. (2002) The African Stakes in the Congo War New York: Palgrave McMillan. ISBN 1-4039-6723-7. Deals specifically with the current war using a political science approach to understanding motivations and power struggles, but is not an account of specific incidents and individuals.
• Edgerton, Robert G. (2002) The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30486-2. There is a modicum of information on the troubles since 1996 in the latter sections.
• Gondola, Ch. Didier. (2002) The History of Congo, Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-31696-1. Covers events up to January 2002.

[edit] Glossary of Armed Groups