The Congo Civil War is a conflict largely confined to the territory of Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaïre). 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 died since 1998, mostly from starvation and disease brought about by the conflict. Millions more have been displaced from their homes or are seeking asylum in neighboring countries. Despite several partially successful peace initiatives and agreements, hostilities continue as of October 2004.

Contents

1 Origins 2 Armed parties 3 Course of the war 3.1 Lusaka Peace Agreement 3.2 Kabila's assassination 3.3 Attempts at peace 3.4 Transitional government 4 Effects 5 See also 6 References

Origins

The war grew out of the violence of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 and related violence in Burundi which saw hundreds of thousands of Hutus flee both countries into eastern Zaïre. The resulting refugee camps quickly became dominated by the Interahamwe Hutu militias that had carried out much of the genocide supported by Hutu members of the Rwandan military.

In an effort to punish members of these militia and to prevent raids or an invasion by the groups involved, the newly Tutsi-dominated army of Rwanda entered eastern Zaïre, supported by forces from Burundi and Uganda. This intervention was strongly opposed by the government of Zaïre under dictator Mobuto Sese Seko.

Mobuto had controlled Zaïre for many years with backing from the United States, thanks to his opposition to communism. With the end of the Cold War, both superpowers disengaged from Sub-Saharan Africa. When the United States withdrew its backing of Mobuto, rebels felt they could work to oust him without fear of a superpower backlash. The Rwandan and Burundians began to funnel weapons and money to the anti-Sese Seko Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaïre , or ADFL, under Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

The early 1990s had seen a wave of democratization in Africa. There was substantial internal and external pressure for democratization in Zaïre, and Mobuto promised reform. He never carried out these promises, alienating allies both at home and internationally.

There had long been considerable internal resistance to Mobuto'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 Mobuto government for decades.

Due to the support of the African Great Lakes states, and given no sign of external aid for Mobuto, the Zairian army joined Kabila, and Mobuto fled the country. Kabila formally took power on May 20, 1997, and he renamed Zaïre as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 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 turned 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 for pro-democracy forces accusing Kabila of being a puppet for Kigali.

In August 1998, Kabila removed all the Tutsi officials in his government and ordered all Rwandan and Ugandan officials out of the country. Almost immediately, ethnic Tutsis erupted in rebellion a second time, and Rwandan government troops joined them. To help remove the occupying Rwandans, Kabila enlisted the aid of the Hutu insurgents in eastern Congo. The Tutsi-led Rwandan government allied with Uganda, and Burundi also retaliated, occupying a portion of northwestern Congo.

The Rwandan government also claimed a substantial part of eastern Congo as "historically Rwandan". The Rwandans also alleged that Kabila was organizing a genocide against their Tutsi brethren in the Kivu region.

Thus, a multi-sided war quickly began. The Great Lakes states supported the Congolese Democratic Rally in a war against Kabila. This group quickly came to dominate the resource-rich eastern provinces and based its operations in the city of Goma . By the end of 1998, Kabila's government had lost control of more than one-third of the country's territory.

The rebel forces and their allies were opposed by a number of groups. These included:

• the Hutu militias in the refugee camps;
• the Mai Mai , a loose association of traditional Congolese local defense forces;
• the Alliance of Democratic Force s, or ADF, made up of Ugandan expatriates and supported by the government of Sudan; and
• several groups of Hutus from Burundi fighting the Tutsi-dominated government of Burundi,
• as well as the forces loyal to Kabila.

Other states entered the conflict for a variety of reasons. Uganda participated because of its long alliance with Rwanda and to prevent some of its own rebel groups from hiding in eastern Congo. Most important, however, was the opportunity for financial gain by extracting resources from the region. President Yoweri Museveni also hoped to enhance his own reputation as a statesman of power and influence. Zimbabwe, led by President Robert Mugabe, joined Kabila for similar reasons, lured by Congo's rich natural resources and desire to increase his own power and prestige in Africa.

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.

Outside of Africa, most states remained neutral, but pushed for an end to the violence. Non-African states were extremely reluctant to send troops to the region. A number of Western mining and diamond companies, most notably from the United States, Canada, and Israel, supported the Kabila government in exchange for business deals. These actions attracted substantial criticism from human-rights groups.

Armed parties

• Angola
  • UNITA
• Congo
  • Banyamulenge
  • Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC)
  • Local militia
  • Mai-Mai
  • Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC)
  • Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie /Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)
• Burundi
  • Burundian Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD)
  • Front de Libération Nationale (FLN or FROLINA)
• Rwanda
  • Hutu soldiers
  • Rwandan Patriotic Army
• Uganda
  • Allied Democratic Forces
  • Uganda People's Defence Forces

Course of the war

The Congo war has largely been one without large battles or front lines. While significant numbers of trained soldiers from national armies have been involved, the rulers of those nations have been extremely loath to risk their forces in open combat. Even though they are poorly armed by Western standards, the equipment and training of the national armies represents a major investment for the poor states of the region and any losses would be very difficult to replace.

As a result, the war has largely been fought by loosely organized militia groups. These untrained and undisciplined forces have greatly contributed to the violence of the conflict by frequent looting, raping of women, and ethnic cleansing. It has also made peace far harder to enforce as the militias continue operating despite cease-fires between their patrons. Many Congolese have been killed by these uncontrolled, armed militias and their government allies. Many more have died from disease and starvation brought about by the chaos in the region.

Conflicts were mostly focused on gaining control of the abundant natural resources of the Congo. The African Great Lakes states have largely paid their war by extracting minerals, diamonds, and timber from the eastern Congo. These efforts have been directed by officers from the Rwandan and Ugandan armies who have grown wealthy as a result. Over time, the Rwandan forces became far less interested in hunting down those responsible for the genocide and more concerned with protecting their fiefdoms in eastern Congo. The occupying forces also levy high taxes on the local population and confiscated almost all of the livestock and much of the food in the region.

Competition for control of these resources between the anti-Kabila forces has also resulted in conflict. In 1999, Ugandan and Rwanda troops clashed in the city of Kisangani. The Congo also split into two factions, greatly weakening the anti-Kabila forces and confining their operation to the eastern portion of the country. The forces loyal to Kabila were too depleted and exhausted to take advantage of this, however.

Lusaka Peace Agreement

These circumstances contributed to the first cease-fire of the war. In July 1999, the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement was signed by the six warring countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Uganda) and rebel groups. Under the agreement, forces from all sides, under a Joint Military Commission, would cooperate in tracking, disarming and documenting all armed groups in the Congo, especially those forces identified with the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Few provisions were made to actually disarm the militias.

The United Nations Security Council deployed about 90 liaison personnel in August 1999 to support the cease-fire. However, in the following months all sides accused the others of repeatedly breaking the cease-fire, and it became clear that small incidents could trigger attacks. In November, government-controlled television in Kinshasa claimed that Kabila's army had been rebuilt and was now prepared to fulfill its "mission to liberate" the country. Rwandan forces launched a large offensive and approached Kinshasa before being repelled.

By November 30 1999, the U.N. authorized a force of 5,500 troops, the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known by the French acronym, MONUC), to monitor the ceasefire. However, fighting continued between rebels and government forces, and between Rwandan and Ugandan forces.

Kabila's assassination

In January 2001, Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards. It is unknown who ordered the killing but most feel Kabila's allies were to blame as they were tired of his duplicity. By unanimous vote of the Congolese parliament, his son, Joseph Kabila, was sworn in as president to replace him. This was largely as a result of Robert Mugabe's backing. In February, the new president met Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the United States. Rwanda, Uganda, and the rebels agreed to a U.N. pull-out plan. Uganda and Rwanda began pulling troops back from the front line.

In April 2001, a U.N. panel of experts investigated the illegal exploitation of diamonds, cobalt, coltan, gold and other lucrative resources in the Congo. The report accused Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe of systematically exploiting Congolese resources and recommended the Security Council impose sanctions.

Despite frequent accusations of misdeeds in the Congo, the Rwandan government continued to received substantially more international aid than went to the vastly larger Congo. Rwandan President Paul Kagame was also still respected internationally for his leadership in ending the carnage and for his efforts to rebuild and reunite Rwanda.

Attempts at peace

A number of attempts to end the violence were attempted, but these were not successful. In 2002 Rwanda's situation began to worsen. Many members of the RCD either gave up fighting or decided to join Kabila's government. Moreover, the ethnic Tutsis of the Congo, the backbone of Rwanda's militia forces, became increasingly tired of control from Kigali and constant involvement in the unending conflict. A number of them mutinied, leading to violent clashes between them and Rwandan forces. At the same time the western Congo was becoming increasingly secure under the younger Kabila. International aid was resumed as inflation was brought under control.

The Sun City Agreement was formalized on April 19, 2002. It was a framework for providing with the Congo with a unified, multipartite government and democratic elections; however, critics noted that there were no stipulations regarding the unification of the army, which weakened the effectiveness of the agreement. There have been several reported breaches of the Sun City agreement, but it has seen a reduction in the fighting.

On July 22 2002, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo reached a peace deal after five days of talks in Pretoria, South Africa. The talks centered on two issues. One was the withdrawal of the estimated 20,000 Rwandan soldiers in the Congo. The other was the rounding up of the ex-Rwandan soldiers and the dismantling of the Hutu extremist militia known as Interahamwe, which took part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide and continues to operate out of eastern Congo. Rwanda had an estimated 20,000 soldiers in the Congo and had refused to withdraw them until the Interahamwe militiamen were dealt with.

The Gbadolite Agreement of December 31, 2002 was signed by the MLC, RCD-N and RCD-ML. This obliged them to immediately stop all fighting in the Isiro -Bafwasende -Beni-Watsa quadrangle and to accept United Nations military observers in the area. It also contained guarantees of the freedom of movement of the civilian population and humanitarian organizations from one area to another. Again this treaty had limited effect.

Signed on 6 September 2004, the Luanda Agreement was a written peace agreement between Congo and Uganda. The treaty aimed to get Uganda to withdraw their troops from Congo and to improve the relationship between the two countries. Again this was not implemented.

Transitional government

In September 2004, between 20,000 and 150,000 people were fleeing unrest in the eastern Kivu province caused by an advance of government troops against break-away national army soldiers.[1]

On October 1 2004, the U.N. Security Council decided to deploy 5,900 more soldiers to the MONUC mission in Congo, although U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked for some 12,000.

Effects

The conflict has had wide ranging effects, most negative. The war has served to make a poor region even poorer as foreign investors have fled and resources have been devoted to fighting the war. Much of the already scant infrastructure in the Congo has been destroyed. The continuation and escalation of ethnic hatreds that fueled the Rwandan genocide have made the post-colonial ethnic division of the region even more concrete and intractable.

Effects with the DRC include the displacement of some 3.4 million people, as well as hundreds of thousands left destitute. The majority of the displaced are from the eastern section of the country. Nearly two million others have been displaced in the neighboring countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The war has also raised questions about Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. The increase in democratization and most notably the end of apartheid in South Africa raised great hope for the region in the post Cold War world. Some saw the prospect of an "African Renaissance." The seemingly unending violence in the Congo has dashed many of these hopes. It has hurt the reputations of a number of statesmen who were once seen as reformers.

See also

• History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

References

• Amnesty International: Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Africa's forgotten and ignored war by BBC correspondent Fergal Keane (October 2003)
• Civil War in Congo section in New York Times
• Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Webguide & Research at globalissues.net
• Congo Civil War at fpif.org (Foreign Policy in Focus)
• Congo Civil War at globalsecurity.org
• New threats to peace (summer 2004)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: Overview of warring parties
• Rape and sexual exploitation by soldiers including UN troops (BBC articles)
• Summer 2003 Peace Accord
• Timeline of Congo history, with emphasis on the war
• Washingtonpost.com: Democratic Republic of the Congo
• UN Mission in Congo
• Zimbabwe/DRC: The war that might not have been Article about Zimbabwean soldiers' involvement