Offensive against FDLR Thereafter, the military and the FIB instead focused on fighting the FDLR (and ADF-Nalu). Assessors pointed out that it would be difficult to defeat the FDLR with military means alone. It had long been emphasized that political and economic measures...
A divided country In the parliamentary elections, parties loyal to Kabila had gained a majority, but in the presidential election a second round of elections was required between Kabila and the former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba. Bemba played on xenophobic sentiments against...
Short-term peace agreement In November 1998, a Ugandan-backed rebel movement, the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), opened a new front against Kabila in the north. The following year, the RCD was split into two factions, one supported by Rwanda and one by Uganda. The rebel movements in the...
Africa’s First World War The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 contributed to the overthrow of dictator Mobutu after many years in power. But the new rulers were not interested in a real democratization of Congo-Kinshasa and in 1998 war broke out. More and...
Great UN effort After a ceasefire was concluded in August 1999, the UN sent a peacekeeping force, Monuc , to the country. It grew in a few years to 17,000 men, but still had difficulty creating calm. In 2010, it was transformed into Monusco, whose...
The great war that broke out in Congo-Kinshasa in 1998 had devastating consequences. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives and the civilian population was subjected to horrific abuses. The war formally ended in 2003, but the struggle over who should control...
