Editing AFDL (section)

== The course of the war ==
{{Further|First Congo War}}
One of the first actions of the AFDL after it began to capture towns along the Zairian border was the dispersal of the large Hutu refugee camps that were offering safe haven to many [[Republican Rally for Democracy in Rwanda|RDR]] militants, an act humanitarian and human rights organizations fiercely criticized. As each camp was destroyed, the refugees fled to the next, creating camps with massive populations. One camp at Mugungu, north of [[Lake Kivu]], reached 500,000 inhabitants, which was completely unmanageable by humanitarian organizations. However, in fierce fighting in mid-November the Zairian government forces and RDR were either destroyed or forced out of the provinces of [[North Kivu|North]] and [[South Kivu]]. The Hutu refugees then split, about 800,000 fleeing back into Rwanda and several hundred thousand moving west into the Zairian jungles where many died of starvation and exposure to the elements or fell victim to attacks by various armed parties. The [[Rwandan Defence Forces]] and the AFDL carried out mass atrocities during the war, with tens of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees going missing.<ref>CDI: The Center for Defense Information, The Defense Monitor, "The World At War: January 1, 1998".</ref><ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/033/1998/en/ Democratic Republic of Congo. An long-standing crisis spinning out of control] . Amnesty International, 3 September 1998. p. 9. AI Index: AFR 62/33/98</ref>

While Kabila, due to his international contacts and ability to speak multiple languages, was clearly the AFDL spokesperson, there was some question about who was the ultimate leader. André Kisase Ngandu, an elder insurgent with revolutionary credentials, was the president of the AFDL's military wing, the National Resistance Council (CNRD), and apparently expressed opposition to the massacre of Hutu refugees in Congolese camps. This internal tension between the two men was resolved on 4 January 1997, when Ngandu was assassinated in North Kivu by Rwandan Tutsi soldiers, allegedly at the instigation of Kabila and/or Rwandan President Paul Kagame.<ref>{{cite web|last=Djema|first=Issa|title=Qui a tué André Kisase Ngandu?|url=http://www.congoindependant.com/article.php?articleid=5892|publisher=Congo Independent|access-date=22 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017115318/http://www.congoindependant.com/article.php?articleid=5892|archive-date=17 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kabila thereafter appointed himself president of the CNRD as well as retaining his position as spokesperson and head of the political wing.

Once the Kivus were secured, the remainder of the First Congo War consisted for the most part of the AFDL and its allies walking and driving across Zaire to the capital, [[Kinshasa]]. The population proved to have a deep antipathy towards [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] after decades of corruption and despotism. Most of the demoralized soldiers in the national army either joined the AFDL or deserted. Men from villages and towns throughout Zaire spontaneously joined the AFDL's advance. The AFDL was only slowed down by the country's decrepit infrastructure. In several parts of the country, no paved roads existed; the only links to the outside world were irregularly used dirt paths.

On 16 May 1997, after seven months of rebellion and the failure of peace talks, Mobutu fled the country. The AFDL marched into Kinshasa a day later. Kabila declared himself [[List of heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|president]] and renamed the country to the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (DRC). The AFDL then became the new national armed forces.