United Nations Security Council

This conflict was fought along both ethnic and national lines. After the Rwandan genocide (members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths) and first Congo war, in which Laurent Kabila who led the alliance of democratic forces for the liberation of Congo Zaire overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko the military dictator of the democratic republic of Congo (Zaire). He accomplished this with military backing from nearby nations, particularly Uganda and Rwanda, which were Tutsi dominated government. Each of these governments had their own reasons for helping Kabila. Many of Kabila’s soldiers were Congolese Tutsi’s so they had a vested interest in creating a secure state that could defend their kinsmen; with the help of these and a few other outside factions the AFDL took control over Zaire. Kabila’s government was awash with foreign military advisers and many citizens began to wonder if he was a puppet. He thought that by disassociating himself with the Tutsis’ he might be able to establish a more reliable political base. He dismisses James Kabarebe as chief of staff and asked all Rwandan military leaves the nation. This started the conflict as the defending rebels offered the countries a retroactive justification for the war they already wanted.