Editing First Congo War (section)

==Background==

===Decline of Zaire===
{{further|Zaire|1991 Zaire unrest}}
[[File:Mobutu.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mobutu Sese Seko]], long-time dictator of [[Zaire]] ]]

A ethnic [[Ngbandi people|Ngbandi]], Mobutu came to power in 1965 and enjoyed support from the [[United States government]] because of his [[anti-communist]] stance while in office. However, Mobutu's totalitarian rule and corrupt policies allowed the Zairian state to decay, evidenced by a 65% decrease in Zairian [[GDP]] between independence in 1960 and the end of Mobutu's reign in 1997.<ref>Gondola, Ch. Didier. The History of Congo. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. p. 6</ref> Following the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1992, the United States stopped supporting Mobutu in favor of what it called a "new generation of African leaders",{{Sfn|Kennes|2005|p=147}} including Rwanda's [[Paul Kagame]] and Uganda's [[Yoweri Museveni]].

A wave of [[democratization]] swept across Africa during the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Joseph |first=Richard |date=April 1997 |title=Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/422126 |journal=Comparative Politics |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=363 |doi=10.2307/422126 |issn=0010-4159|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Under substantial internal and external pressure for a democratic transition in Zaire, Mobutu promised reform. He officially ended the [[one-party system]] he had maintained since 1967, but ultimately proved unwilling to implement broad reform, alienating allies both at home and abroad. In fact, the Zairian state had all but ceased to exist.{{Sfn|Kennes|2005|p=157}} The majority of the Zairian population relied on an [[informal sector|informal economy]] for their subsistence, since the official economy was not reliable.{{Sfn|Kennes|2005|p=157}} Furthermore, the Zairian national army, ''Forces Armées Zaïroises'' (FAZ), was forced to prey upon the population for survival; Mobutu himself allegedly once asked FAZ soldiers why they needed pay when they had weapons.<ref>
{{cite web |url= http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=61006 |title= Congo's Curse |agency= IRIN |date= 5 October 2010 |access-date= 2015-10-15 |quote= Ex-president Mobutu once asked his soldiers why they needed salaries when they had guns [...] |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100827170948/http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=61006 |archive-date= 27 August 2010 }}
</ref>

Mobutu's rule encountered considerable internal resistance, and given the weak central state, rebel groups could find refuge in Zaire's eastern provinces, far from the capital, [[Kinshasa]]. Opposition groups included leftists who had supported [[Patrice Lumumba]] (1925–1961), as well as ethnic and regional minorities opposed to the nominal dominance of Kinshasa. [[Laurent-Désiré Kabila]], an ethnic [[Luba people|Luba]] from [[Katanga (province)|Katanga]] province who would eventually overthrow Mobutu, had fought Mobutu's régime since its inception.{{Sfn|Gribbin|2005|p=190}}
The inability of the Mobutuist régime to control rebel movements in its eastern provinces eventually allowed its internal and external foes to ally.

===Ethnic tensions===
Tensions had existed between various ethnic groups in eastern Zaire for centuries, especially between the [[agrarian society|agrarian]] tribes of Congo and the [[Banyarwanda]] in the Eastern region of Congo of [[Kivu]]. When colonial boundaries were drawn in the late nineteenth century many Banyarwanda found themselves on the Congolese side of the Rwandan border, in Kivu province.{{sfn|Vlassenroot|2006|p=53}} The earliest of these migrants arrived before [[colonisation]] in the 1880s, followed by emigrants whom the [[Belgian Congo|Belgian]] [[colonization of Africa|colonizers]] forcibly relocated to Congo to perform manual labour (after 1908), and by another significant wave of emigrants fleeing the social revolution of 1959 that brought the [[Hutu]] to power in [[Kigali]].{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|p=32}}

Tutsi who emigrated to Zaire before Congolese independence in 1960 are known as [[Banyamulenge]], meaning "from [[Mulenge]]", and had the right to citizenship under Zairian law.{{sfn|Vlassenroot|2002}} Tutsi who emigrated to Zaire following independence are known as [[Banyarwanda]], although the native locals often do not distinguish between the two, calling both Banyamulenge and considering them foreigners.{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|p=32}}

After coming to power in 1965, Mobutu gave the Banyamulenge political power in the east in hopes that they, as a minority, would keep a tight grip on power and prevent more populous ethnicities from forming an opposition.<ref name="Autesserre, Severine 2008">{{Citation |last=Autesserre |first=Séverine |title=The Trouble With Congo: How Local Disputes Fuel Regional Conflict. |work=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=87 |issue=3 |year=2008 |author-link=Séverine Autesserre}}</ref> This move aggravated the existing ethnic tensions by strengthening the Banyamulenge's hold over important stretches of land in [[North Kivu]] that indigenous people claimed as their own.<ref name="Autesserre, Severine 2008"/> From 1963 to 1966 the [[Hunde]] and [[Nande language|Nande]] ethnic groups of [[North Kivu]] fought against Rwandan emigrants<ref>{{cite book
 |title       = Struggles for Citizenship in Africa: African Arguments
 |author      = Bronwen Manby
 |publisher   = Zed Books Ltd
 |year        = 2013
 |isbn        = 978-1-84813-786-8
 |via         = Google Books
 |url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=vYdjDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT54
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20180507135116/https://books.google.com/books?id=vYdjDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT54
 |archive-date = 7 May 2018
 }}(no page numbers)</ref> — both Tutsi and Hutu – in the [[Kanyarwanda War]], which involved several massacres.{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|p=13}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/conflict-and-environmental-insecurity-in-the-north-kivu-province-of-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/|title=Conflict and environmental insecurity in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – ACCORD|website=accord.org.za|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129004851/http://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/conflict-and-environmental-insecurity-in-the-north-kivu-province-of-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/|archive-date=29 January 2018}}</ref>

Despite a strong Rwandan presence in Mobutu's government, in 1981, Zaire adopted a restrictive citizenship law  which denied the Banyamulenge and Banyarwanda citizenship and therewith all political rights.{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|pp=15–16}} Though never enforced, the law greatly angered individuals of Rwandan descent and contributed to a rising sense of ethnic hatred.<ref name="Autesserre, Severine 2008"/> From 1993 to 1996 Hunde, Nande, and [[Nyanga language|Nyanga]] youth regularly attacked the Banyamulenge, leading to a total of 14,000 deaths.{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|pp=13–14}} In 1995 the Zairian Parliament ordered all peoples of Rwandan or Burundian descent repatriated to their countries of origin, including the Banyamulenge.{{Sfn|Lemarchand|2009|p=16}} Due to political exclusion and ethnic violence, as early as 1991 the Banyamulenge developed ties to the [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]] (RPF), a mainly Tutsi rebel movement based in Uganda but with aspirations to power in Rwanda.{{sfn|Vlassenroot|2002|p=508}}

===Rwandan genocide===
{{Main|Rwandan Civil War|Rwandan genocide}}
[[File:Rwandan refugee camp in east Zaire.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|A Rwandan refugee camp in Zaire, 1994]]

The most deciding event in precipitating the war was the genocide in neighbouring [[Rwanda]] in 1994, which sparked a mass exodus of refugees known as the [[Great Lakes refugee crisis]]. During the 100-day genocide, hundreds of thousands of [[Tutsi]] and sympathizers were massacred at the hands of predominantly Hutu aggressors. The genocide ended when the Hutu government in Kigali was overthrown by the Tutsi-dominated [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]] (RPF).

Of those who fled Rwanda during the crisis, about 1.5 million settled in eastern Zaire.{{Sfn|Reyntjens|2009|p=45}} These refugees included Tutsi who fled the Hutu ''[[Genocidaires|génocidaires]]'' as well as one million Hutu that fled the Tutsi RPF's subsequent retaliation.<ref name="Autesserre, Severine 2008"/> Prominent among the latter group were the ''génocidaires'' themselves, such as elements of the former Rwandan Army, ''{{Interlanguage link|Forces armées rwandaises|fr}}'' (FAR), and independent Hutu extremist groups known as ''[[Interahamwe]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mugnier |first=David |date=2007-12-03 |title=North Kivu: How to End a War |url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/north-kivu-how-end-war |url-status=live |access-date=2022-10-14 |website=[[International Crisis Group]] |archive-date=14 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014122038/https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/north-kivu-how-end-war }}</ref> Often, these Hutu forces allied themselves with local [[Mai Mai]] militias, who granted them access to mines and weapons. Though these were initially self-defense organizations, they quickly became aggressors.<ref name="Autesserre, Severine 2008"/>

The Hutu set up camps in eastern Zaire from which they attacked both the newly arrived Rwandan Tutsi as well as the [[Banyamulenge]] and [[Banyarwanda]]. These attacks caused about one hundred deaths a month during the first half of 1996.{{Sfn|Gribbin|2005|p=143}} Furthermore, the newly arrived militants were intent on returning to power in Rwanda and began launching attacks against the new regime in Kigali, which represented a serious security threat to the infant state.{{Sfn|Reyntjens|2009|p=30}} Not only was the Mobutu government incapable of controlling the former ''génocidaires'' for previously mentioned reasons but actually supported them in training and supplying for an invasion of Rwanda,{{Sfn|Reyntjens|2009|p=18}} forcing Kigali to act.