Crisis in Congo

Sadly, the situation in Western Sudan, in the Dafur region, is not the only humanitarian crisis in Africa. War in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has led to perhaps 3.5 million civilians dead, a toll that makes this war more deadly to civilians than any other since World War I, and a refugee crisis of enormous magnitude. At stake is control over gold, diamonds, timber and coltan, used in the making of mobile phones.
The power-sharing government, installed in 2003, is beginning to crumble and there is great risk of a return of overt war. On Aug 13th, 151 Congolese Tutsi refugees, known as Banyamulenge, were massacred in Gatumba refugee camp, some 120 km south from Bukavu. Gatumba sheltered 860 Congolese before the attack. It is one of three camps near the DRC border hosting 20,000 Congolese who fled fighting in the DRC's South Kivu province in June.
A Burundian rebel movement, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL) led by Agathon Rwasa, has claimed responsibility for the massacre. Rwasa's FNL, whose stronghold is in the province of Bujumbura Rural that surrounds the capital, is the only rebel group in Burundi not to have laid down its arms.
However, several regional leaders, including Azarias Ruberwa leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD-Goma) and one of Congo's four vice-presidents, blame the massacre on Rwandan Hutu rebels in the DRC known as Interahamwe and elements of the Mayi-Mayi. On monday, Aug 23rd, Ruberwa announced his group, the RCD, has suspended its participation in the country's power-sharing government, saying Congo's peace process has broken down and needs to be reassessed. The former rebels say they have no plans to resume fighting.
Understanding the politics of the Congo is hard. Its a huge country, the 12th largest in the world with over 250 ethnic groups, and some 700 local languages and dialects. War has involved numerous factions and many of the DRC's neighboring countries. A brief history of the more recent conflict is helpful.
The genocide in neighboring Rwanda and Burundi, in 1994, led to the massive inflow of more than a million Hutu refugees into exile in the DRC. In late 1996, Rwandan sent its troops into the Congo, asserting the need to impede preparations for attacks on Rwanda and to protect the Banyamulenge, Congolese of the Tutsi ethnic group. Rwandan soldiers together with combatants of the Allied Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaire, AFDL), a hastily organized coalition of Congolese forces led by Laurent-Desire Kabila, attacked refugee camps, killed tens of thousands of Rwandans, many of them unarmed civilian refugees, and forced hundreds of thousands to return to Rwanda.
The AFDL rebel force and its Rwandan and later Ugandan allies overthrew the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, in May 1997. Kabila assumed the presidency, and 14 months later sought to oust their foreign backers. Rwanda and Uganda supported a new rebellion against the Congolese government led by the RCD. In August 1999, Tutsi troops supported by Rwanda and Uganda attempted to overthrow Kabila. The rebel groups took control of much of the east of the DRC. Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, Sudan, and Angola sent troops in support of Kabila. In 1999, rifts emerged between Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) rebels supported by Uganda and Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) rebels backed by Rwanda.
A cease-fire was signed in Lusaka, in July of 1999. However, the fighting continued between rebels and government forces, and between Rwandan and Ugandan forces. In January 2001, President Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard, and was succeeded by his son, Joseph Kabila. In February, Kabila met Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington, after which Rwanda, Uganda and the rebels agreed to a UN pull-out plan.
In Dec.'02, a peace deal was signed in South Africa between Kinshasa government and main rebel groups. Under the deal rebels and opposition members are to be given portfolios in an interim government. In April 2003, Pres. Kabila signed a new constitution, under which an interim government will rule for two years, pending elections. In June, Kabila named a transitional government to lead DR Congo until democratic elections take place in 2005.

Some of the groups involved:

• Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) rebels supported by Uganda.
• Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) purportedly launched to promote reconciliation, the UPC quickly became a predominately Gegere-led political party intent on promoting the interests of the Hema and related Gegere. It turned to Rwanda for support and formed an alliance with the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma after being excluded by the RCD-ML and the MLC from the Mambasa ceasefire talks in December 2002.
• Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD-Goma), or Rally for Congolese Democracy. A movement split from the RCD-ML, backed by Rwanda, that provides aid to the Union of Patriotic Congolese (UPC), a Hema militia group. RCD-Goma refers to the group based in Goma which controls most of North and South Kivu, parts of Maniema, Orientale, and Katanga, and a large part of Kasai Orientale provinces. RCD-Goma is widely described as proxy of the Rwandan government and dominated by forces of the Rwandan army which occupies this territory. The Banyamulenge play a major role in the RCD
• Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie - Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) also refered to as Congolese Rally for Democracy. Launched in September 1999 after a split from the RCD-Goma. Backed at the start by Uganda, the RCD-ML has been fractured by leadership struggles and in-fighting.The RCD-ML's military wing is the Congolese Popular Army (APC). The RCD-ML entered into the Sun City agreement of April 2002 and the APC are now being trained and armed by Kinshasa.
• Rally for Congolese Democracy - National (RCD-N): Congolese Rally for Democracy
  initially operated as a front organization for the Ugandans in exploiting the diamond riches of the town of Bafwasende. In 2001 and 2002, the RCD-N supported MLC attempts to win resource-rich areas from the RCD-ML.
• The term Mayi-Mayi originally applied to numerous locally based groups of combatants committed to the defense of their communities against outsiders. During the course of the war, some Mai-Mai came to focus on increasing their own wealth and power in the name of defending their communities. They became opportunistic predators, killing, raping and pillaging local civilians.
• Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (Armée pour la liberation du Rwanda, ALIR), a Rwandan Hutu militia, operates in eastern Congo, in Kivu
• Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques pour la liberation du Rwanda, FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu militia affiliated more closely with the Congolese army (Forces Armées Congolaises, FAC) operated mostly in South Kivu and Katanga.
• The Interahamwe (Those who attack together) was one of the military groups that acted to exterminate Rwanda's ethnic Tutsi population in 1994.
• Forces nationales de liberation' (FNL) is the armed wing of the Parti pour la liberation du peuple hutu (PALIPEHUTU), the longest-established Hutu rebel group in Burundi. FNL also is widely believed to have been behind the December 2003 killing of the Vatican's representative in Burundi, Monsignor Michael Courtney, 50 kilometers south of Bujumbura.