Second Congo War

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Congo Civil War is a conflict taking place largely in the Democratic Republic of the 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. Despite several partially successful peace initiatives and agreements, hostilities continue as of October 2004.

Origins

The war grew out of the violence of the Rwandan Genocide and related violence in Burundi. The violence saw hundreds of thousands of Hutus flee both countries into eastern Zaire. These 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 these militia members and also to prevent raids or an invasion by these groups, the newly Tutsi-dominated army of Rwanda entered eastern Zaire, supported by forces from Burundi and Uganda. This intervention was strongly opposed by the government of Zaire under dictator Mobuto Sese Seko.

Mobuto had controlled Zaire for many years with backing from the United States due to his opposition to communism. The end of the Cold War saw both superpowers withdraw from Sub-Saharan Africa. The United States withdrew its backing of Mobuto; for the first time 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-Zaire' (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 Zaire 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. Leftists who looked back on the abortive rule of Patrice Lumumba with fondness and also various ethnic and regional minorities opposed to the dominance of the Kinshasa region. Kabila was one of these, and an ethnic Katangese who had been fighting the Mobuto government for decades.

Due to the support of the African Great Lakes states, and no sign of external aid for Mobuto, the Zairian army joined Kabila, and Mobuto fled the country. Once Kabila was in power, the situation changed dramatically. He quickly proved to be as corrupt and authoritarian as his predecessor. Many of the pro-democracy forces abandoned him. Kabila also 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 gave little sign of withdrawing from his territory. He accused them and their allies of trying to capture the regions mineral resources. 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 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.

They were opposed by a number of groups, including the Hutu militias in the refugee camps, the Mai Mai, a loose association of traditional Congolese local defense forces; the Alliance of Democratic Forces (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 in eastern Congo. Most important, however, was the opportunity for financial gain by extracting resource 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. 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.

Course of the war

Lusaka Peace Agreement

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.

The UN Security Council deployed about 90 liaison personnel in August 1999 to support the ceasefire. However, in the following months all sides accused the others of repeatedly breaking the ceasefire, 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.

By 2000, the U.N. had authorized a force of 5,500 troops 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, and by unanimous vote of the Congolese parliament, his son Joseph Kabila was sworn in as president. In February, the new president met Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the U.S. 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.

Pretoria Accord

On 22 July 2002, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo reached a peace deal after five days of talks in 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 and dismantling of the ex-Rwandan soldiers and 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.

Luanda Agreement

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.

Gbadolite Agreement

Sun City Agreement

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 Congo, although U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked for 11,000.

See also

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