The Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) is a Congolese rebel group operating in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It has been assisted by the government of Rwanda and is a major figure in the ongoing Second Congo War. The group is more commonly known by its original French name, Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie.

In 1997 Laurent-Désiré Kabila was installed as President of the DRC following the victory by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL) in the First Congo War, with heavy support from the governments of Uganda and Rwanda. However, the ethnic tensions in eastern DRC did not disappear. Thousands of Hutu militants who had taken part in the Rwandan genocide and been forced to flee into the DRC maintained a low intensity war with the invading Rwandan army and their Banyamulenge co-ethnics living in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. By February 1998 the Kivus was engulfed in ethnic warfare. Banyamulenge troops based in the town of Bukavu who belonged to the AFDL mutinied as tensions increased. The mutiny caused a souring of the relationship between Kabila and his Rwandan and Ugandan allies.

In early August 1998, the newly formed RCD, led by its president Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, took the town of Goma and began a campaign against Kinshasa, marking the beginning of the Second Congo War. Reports indicate that the RCD was formed by Uganda and Rwanda after they grew disgruntled with Kabila. The core of the RCD was composed of former AFDL members, including many Banyamulenge who already tended to ally themselves with Rwanda against the anti-Tutsi forces in the region. Nevertheless, the Kabila forces managed to halt the RCD advance with the assistance of outside states such as Angola and Zimbabwe, marking the onset of a full-scale regional conflict.

During this period Congolese living in the Kivus increasingly came to view the RCD as a brutal oppressor. Rwanda had nearly complete control of the organization, while the RCD continued to increase taxation with no noticeable improvement in infrastructure or basic services. The RCD's undisciplined troops, along with those of other armed groups, were also responsible for acts of brutality against the population. Kivutians also criticize the dominance of Banyamulenge.

Stalemate leads to Fractures in the RCD

In 1999, the battle lines achieved a rough stalemate. At the same time, the character of the RCD changed as old supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko and dissidents from outside the country began to join. Once it became clear that Kabila would not be overthrown, fracture lines began to appear in the organization, and Rwanda and Uganda began to struggle over who would control the RCD, and the RCD's access to natural resources such as diamonds and other valuable minerals.

The tensions came into the open in May 1999 when Wamba dia Wamba left to establish a group in the town of Kisangani with the support of Uganda, apparently over a disagreement with former Mobutu supporter Lunda Bululu. His organization eventually became known as the RCD-Kisangani (RCD-K), or sometimes RCD-Wamba.

Dr. Emile Ilunga took over leadership of the older faction, which was occasionally referred to as RCD-Goma to distinguish it from the group led by Wamba. RCD-Goma, as the longest lived and one of the strongest rebel groups, may be referred to as the RCD in comparison with the various splinter groups. Rwanda became the primary supporter of the RCD, thereby tranferring the tension between Uganda and Rwanda into proxy rebel forces.

Things came to a head when the two RCDs and their patrons met in battle in Kisangani, the capital of Oriental Province, where the Ugandan army was defeated. Wamba retreated to Bunia, where he faced widespread discontent and revolt within his own organization. Mbusa Nyamwisi rejected Wamba's leadership and took control of northern North Kivu and Ituri with the support of some Ugandan generals. Nyamwisi renamed the RCD-K the RCD-Mouvement de Libération (RCD-Movement for Liberation, RCD-ML). The Rwandan-supported RCD retained control of southern North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, north Katanga, western Kasai and Kisangani.

In 2000, Adolphe Onusumba replaced Ilunga as head of the Goma-based RCD. The new RCD leadership's authority was demonstrated after the Kinshasa offensive in November 2000 was defeated at Pweto. This also illustrated that it was unlikely that Kinshasa would be able to retake eastern Congo militarily. Despite attempts to win the hearts and minds of the Kivutians, the continued human rights abuses and bureaucratic ineptitude ruined these efforts.

The Rwandan-backed RCD continues to the primary Tutsi force aligned with Rwanda and Burundi. Rwanda appears to have decided that maintaining a sphere of influence in the Kivus through proxy forces is in its best interests. This is similar to the policy that Uganda had decided upon several years earlier.

Other RCD factions

• RCD-Authentique (RCD-A)
• RCD-Congo: Faction of RCD-Goma led by Kin-Kiey Mulumba that broke off in June 2002
• RCD-National (RCD-N): Ugandan-backed rebel group led by Roger Lumbala that split from the RCD-K/ML and is now allied with the MLC
• RCD-Originel (RCD-O)