The conflicts in the Great Lakes region in Central Africa since the 1990s until now can be characterized as extremely violent and complex. Historical, political, economic and ethnic factors are intertwined in an ongoing situation of threat and violence. This article explains the causes of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The causes of the conflict in the DRC
The breeding ground for the wars in the DR Congo, in which approximately 5.4 million people have died to date, making it the world’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War (IRC, 2008), is not only ethnic friction but also due to economic, geographic and demographic factors. The civil war in DR Congo is a complex war, if only due to the fact that no fewer than nine countries are involved in Congolese territory, not including the number of rebel armies. Although the war officially ended in 2002, the country still experiences violent conflicts, large-scale rape and looting to this day, resulting in an unstable region.
Spillover from Rwanda
The indirect cause of the conflict lies in the genocide in Rwanda in the spring of 1994, in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu militias. The fastest genocide in history took place under the squinting eye of the international political outside world. Fear of a new collapse made the UN stand by in silence. The many refugees from Rwanda and Burundi fled to Zaire, modern-day DR Congo, and stayed in overcrowded refugee camps where much disease, hunger and exhaustion turned into a humanitarian nightmare. Due to the strong advance of the Front Patriotique Rwandais (FPR), a Tutsi party that defeated the Hutus in Rwanda, many Hutu rebels, guilty of genocide, also fled to Zaire. In the refugee camps the Hutu rebels were able to organize, which again led to the persecution of the Tutsis; the genocide was prosecuted in Zaire. The flow of refugees is a major cause of the civil war in Zaire.
From Zaire to the DRC
At that time, Zaire was ruled by dictator-president Mobutu Sese Seko, who held this office from 1965. Tensions between the Congolese government, the Hutu rebels and the Tutsis led to the first Congolese war, which broke out in October 1996. At the time of this war, Laurent-Désiré Kabila led the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la liberation du Congo-Zaire (AFDL) into an armed uprising that succeeded in deposing President Mobutu. The new president of Zaire Kabila renamed Zaire the Democratic Republic of Congo after 32 years. The AFDL was an alliance of Tutsis resistance groups. (Mattelaer 2006)
The second Congolese war
The legitimacy of Laurent Kabila’s rule did not last long. Mobutu’s dictatorship was persecuted by Kabila, leading to tension between him and his former Tutsi allies. In 1998, Rwandan and Ugandan troops invaded the DR Congo, which together with Congolese Tutsis formed the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD). Although there is generally a civil war in the DR Congo, this is in fact a semi-interstate conflict; after all, this is the second time that Rwandan troops have entered Congolese territory. In addition, various groups with different agendas are joining the uprising. However, Kabila can count on the support of Angola, Zimbabwe and Nambia, while Chad, Libya and Sudan later also joined Kaliba. Due to increasing foreign interference, the DR Congo is more or less declared a permanent war zone, with intervening states in the west and south, together with Kabila’s government army and the RCD rebels in the east. The establishment of militias for self-protection, the mayi-mayi, also did not contribute to stability. The various parties that fought in the DR Congo all had different interests and motives for going to war with the rebels. Apart from economic, political and ethnic reasons, historical factors also play a role. Many countries have a long-standing tradition of conflict that could be settled in the DR Congo.
Interests in Congo
The DR Congo has served as the epicenter of the African World War since 1998, with the convergence of various factors resulting in an eruption of violence and humanitarian crises. The role of the rebels in particular is complex, as the rebel militias pursue the same goals, namely deposing Kabila, but are adversaries rather than partners. This can be explained by the fact that they hold different pieces of territory and are supported by different states. When invading Congo, Rwanda and Uganda had the same objectives, namely to secure Congo’s eastern border against genocidal Hutu rebels. In addition, both parties had a great interest in the exploitation of the resources in Eastern Congo. Gradually the secondary interest for both Rwanda and Uganda took over. The exploitation of the natural resources of the DR Congo is a motivation for the prosecution of the (civil) war in the DR Congo that should not be underestimated. The financing of the war came from this exploitation of Congo’s natural resources such as gold, copper, diamonds, uranium, coltan, cobalt and wood. In particular, the Rwandan and Ugandan involvement in the war is, in addition to securing the border areas, closely intertwined with expansionist goals.