To illustrate and explain the links with the past require one first to summarize recent events and then to revisit a dense and complex period in the Congo’s history which occurred nearly forty years ago. The reader should, therefore, be forewarned that while the goal of this article is to explain the present, much space will be devoted to a distant past. Perhaps this is suprising since the upheavals which started in 1996 initially revolved around getting rid of Mobutu. The Mobutu regime lasted from 1965 to 1997 and yet it is the period immediately before and immediately after this long dictatorship which is having the greatest impact on the DRC today.

Africa’s First Continental War

First, we will begin with a description of the major events of the last three years which have transformed the DRC into an arena of international and internal violence and conflict involving so many participants that cumulatively it can legitimately be described as the first African Continental War. But it is important to note that there are in fact two wars which have taken place in the DRC; the first started in September 1996 and ended in May 1997 with Mobutu’s exile and the establishment of the Kabila regime. The second started in August 1998 when Rwanda, Uganda, and a series of Congolese army units took control of large segments of Eastern DRC. The international community and African governments have made more than two dozen attempts to end this war over the last year. Finally, an agreement was signed by almost all parties to this dispute in Lusaka in July 1999.

The Lusaka Agreement

The Lusaka Agreement is a very complicated plan for peace resting on six essential elements:

First, that the sovereignty of the DRC in its present frontiers and that of its neighbors is agreed upon.

Second, that an all inclusive process will be undertaken by the Congolese in order to establish a new political order. This process is to have a neutral convener and is to include all parties to the internal dispute whether armed or not, and they are to meet as equals.

Third, the parties agreed to cooperate in addressing the security concerns of each state.

Fourth, the agreement specifically calls for the disarming of militia groups in the DRC.

Fifth, it calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the DRC.

Sixth, it calls for a Chapter VII UN peacekeeping force to ensure implementation of the Agreement. Whether peace has really begun remains to be seen.

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The War’s Origins

WHAT ARE THE MAIN INGREDIENTS of the Continental War which has so profoundly affected the DRC as well as the rest of the African continent? To answer, one must look at the following events:

• The Tutsi genocide in Rwanda and its immediate consequences.
• The motives and actions of internal and external anti-Mobutu forces which resulted in the end of that regime.
• The main features of the Kabila regime, which came into power in May 1997.
• Why the Second Congo War occurred and what its consequences are.

The Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda and its Consequences

The genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 which involved Hutu leaders mobilizing almost the entire Hutu population in mass murder is the first event in a series which has transformed a relatively peaceful society — the DRC — into an arena of conflict and war. This event was such a massive escalation of inter-communal conflict that it is unique in modern African history. Apart from the inherent catastrophe which this totalitarian killing of one people (and those Hutu who refused to go along) by another involved, it is also at the root of a new ideology — accepted by quite a few Africans — that the people of the continent are divided culturally and physically, i.e. biologically, between the “Bantu” and the “Hamites” (or “Nilotics”). The “Hamites” are accused of having designs on the land of the “Bantu” and wishing to oppress them. Rwandan Tutsi in particular, but also the Ugandans and Burundians are seen as expansionists wanting to create a so called “Hima” empire at the expense of the “Bantu” in the DRC. Of course, there have always been ethnic conflicts but if this ideology really takes hold it is likely to have massive, lethal consequences.

Eastern Congo Destabilized
The genocide in Rwanda has profoundly destabilized Eastern Congo with the result that this area has been plunged into endless cycles of violence. Inter-ethnic relations in the Kivus (both North and South) have, for many years, been more problematic than in most other parts of the DRC. This is probably due to three underlying factors: first, the coexistence of pastoralists and sedentary farmers; second, a higher than usual population density; and third, a cultural divide between the original sons of the land and Kinyarwanda speaking immigrants — both Hutu and Tutsi — migrating westward from Rwanda and Burundi. It should be noted some of these migrations occurred hundreds of years ago while others are of much more recent vintage.

The Tutsi genocide completely changed the balance of power in the Kivus. As has been recounted in numerous publications, when the Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Army — RPA — defeated the Hutu government of Rwanda (which had perpetrated the genocide), about a million Hutu — some with French army cover — moved into the Kivus. Close to the Rwanda border, UNHCR camps were established in which the political and military structures and personnel that were responsible for the genocide reestablished themselves. From these camps attacks were launched against the new government of Rwanda.

But more important, from the Congolese perspective, the ethnic balance in the Kivus was upset. The Hutu became a dominant force in some regions and proceeded to isolate and attack Congolese Tutsi and, because there had been an alliance between the Habyarimana (i.e. Rwandan Hutu) and the Mobutu regimes, these attacks found moral and eventually military support from the Congolese (then Zairian) army and some Kivu politicians. The presence of the camps also resulted in a serious ecological degradation and the channeling of foreign aid away from Congolese villagers in favor of the camp residents. This constellation of circumstances resulted in attacks on the Tutsi in the Masisi area of North Kivu. Those who managed to escape took refuge in Rwanda where they were, in the main, placed in camps. Then, in early and mid-1996, growing pressure developed against the Tutsi in South Kivu. These were the Banyamulenge, most of whom lived in homogeneous communities high on a plateau. They are probably the oldest of the Tutsi communities in the DRC.

The Banyamulenge’s Preemptive Strike
Faced with the danger of an ethnic cleansing campaign against them, the Banyamulenge undertook a preemptive strike against the National Zairian Army (ANZ) soldiers and the Hutu “refugee” camps in their neighborhood in September 1996. It is an, as yet, unanswered question at exactly what point the Banyamulenge attack was coordinated with Rwandan strategy, but as soon as the attacks against the camps began Rwandan forces entered the fray and the war against the Mobutu regime had begun. It will be recalled that the Rwandan Vice-President, General Paul Kagame, had pleaded with the international community to separate the Hutu military and militia (the Interahamwe) from civilian refugees and to make it impossible for the camps to be used to launch attacks against Rwanda. When nothing was done, he warned that in the end Rwanda would act on its own. His words were not taken seriously. The attempt to expel the Banyamulenge from their homes in the DRC was, therefore, a gift from the heavens since Rwanda was able to defend its cross-border advances as preventing another genocidal attack against a Tutsi community.

Rwanda and Uganda Invade the DRC (at the time, Zaire)
In rapid succession, the Rwandan army attacked the Hutu camps and the Zairian army with the result that the ex-FAR (i.e. the former Hutu army of Rwanda) and the Interahamwe tended to flee westward with many Hutu civilians while the vast majority had little choice but to walk back into Rwanda where they were channeled to their home communities. Parenthetically, it should be noted that no genocidal killings were perpetrated against them even though the Tutsi in Rwanda had the power to follow any policy they chose. The picture was somewhat different in the DRC where, in subsequent months, the retreating Hutu both fought for the Mobutu regime and were massacred — men, women, and children — by the advancing anti-Mobutu armies.

Looking for Congolese Allies
It is obvious that it was very much in the interest of Rwanda and Uganda (which almost immediately joined the Rwandan invasion of the DRC) to portray their actions as something other than an attack against a sovereign state, no matter how corrupt and unpopular its leadership had become. Finding Congolese allies against Mobutu was, therefore, a priority. But the problem with this scenario was that, although a broad and substantial Congolese/Zairian opposition to Mobutu did exist, it had firmly opted for a non-violent strategy.

The Non-Violent Opposition
The so called “non-violent” opposition to Mobutu was started by a small group of politicians who had, in fact, begun by cooperating with his regime. But by 1980 his excesses inspired them — they were members of the Mobutu Parliament — to demand reforms and two years later to form a political party, Union pour la democratie et le Progres Social, UDPS. This initiative was, of course, met with harassment and jailings as well as defections in response to Mobutu’s carrot and stick manipulations. This was the beginning of concerted, ongoing, internal pressure against the Mobutu regime. By 1990, the end of the Cold War resulted in his Western allies exerting growing pressure on Mobutu to reform and democratize. Ultimately, he was forced to make some concessions. They took the form of freedom to form political parties (over 200 were established, many by Mobutists), of promised elections (which never took place), of the installation of transitional governments (which were dismissed when they opposed the President’s interests), and a National Sovereign Conference (which did take place, but its decisions were never applied).

In a word, the “transition” to a democratic state dragged on for seven years and in the end was overtaken by the arrival of Kabila. One may ask why this process failed and what, if anything, it has left behind. First and foremost, the failure must be attributed to Mobutu’s unwillingness to give up power. But dictators rarely give up power out of the goodness of their hearts, so the question is, really, why this opposition was unable to dislodge him despite his many manipulations to remain the dominant actor.

There are many factors which led to this result:

First, the opposition which grew ever stronger through the 1990’s, was extremely legalistic in its approach to gaining power almost ignoring the fact that Mobutu still had complete control over the military and police forces.

Second, it did a relatively poor job of mobilizing and organizing popular support. This is somewhat surprising because some of its leaders had led the independence struggle and at that time excelled at mass mobilization.

Third, the opposition was very divided and its leaders competed with one another to such a degree that real unity in the face of the dictatorship eluded them.

Fourth, this was an opposition which not only rejected violence as a form of struggle but was also timid in its use of non-violent methods. For instance, when demonstrations were opposed with violent means by Mobutu’s Presidential Division and Civil Guard they almost came to an end. The most important demonstration, in February 1992, was not even organized by the opposition parties but by Catholic priests. Thirty people were killed. The event largely discouraged further mass demonstrations.

The National Sovereign Conference (CNS) did finally begin in August 1991. The great hope that it engendered was at least partly due to the apparent success of National Conferences which had been held in Benin and Congo/Brazzaville earlier. The difference between those experiences and what was taking place in the Congo (then still Zaire) was that the presidents in those countries accepted — at least at the time the conferences were being held — the decisions and the consequent transfers of power. Mobutu had other plans; he used every opportunity to manipulate the CNS in his own interest and used force when that was not enough.

Despite many obstacles, the CNS did accomplish a great deal. Perhaps the most important result has been the broad legitimacy which the Congolese people have given to its decisions. “Les acquis de la Conference Nationale” is a phrase which has been heard repeatedly long after the end of the Mobutu regime. If the internal dialogue, which the Lusaka Agreement calls for, actually takes place, it can be safely predicted that the decisions of the CNS will, for many delegates, become the basis upon which national reconciliation and a “new political dispensation” should be built. The CNS undertook a serious and thorough examination of the Congo’s past, i.e. how it was ruled by the Mobutu regime. This examination analyzed the economy, political structures, past assassinations, so called “ill gotten gains,” minority rights, etc. The CNS opted for a federal, parliamentary system of government. Finally, the CNS held an election for interim Prime Minister and the long-time opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, who headed an alliance of anti-Mobutu parties, won an overwhelming victory. But the underlying problem was that Mobutu’s opponents at the Conference acted as if they were legislating in a post-revolutionary situation when in fact no revolution had occurred, and when Mobutu’s manipulative skills failed, he employed his control over raw force.¹

Congolese Revolutionaries
Since the non-violent opposition to Mobutu showed no inclination for joining the Ugandan/ Rwandan/Banyamulenge attacks on the government positions, other allies had to be found. These were the circumstances which produced the Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo, (AFDL) which was made up of four Congolese revolutionary parties in exile, all of which had almost no following. One of the four initial leaders did, however, have a certain revolutionary legitimacy. He was Laurent Désiré Kabila, who had not only fought in the great revolutionary upheavals of the mid-1960’s but had for over 20 years been the leader of a small revolutionary redoubt in South Kivu. In addition, he gained some fame from the fact that Ché Guevara and several hundred Cuban volunteers had joined the fight in 1964 precisely in the zone he commanded. The AFDL, therefore, became the main Congolese partner of an invasion by Rwanda and Uganda which was soon joined by Angola and given support by other African states determined to rid the DRC of the Mobutu regime.

The Return of the Katanga Tigers
There was another Congolese force which joined this alliance. It was made up of the so called “Katanga Tigers” composed mainly of Katangese soldiers who, under the leadership of Moise Tshombe, had been part of an attempted secession in 1960 and who, after their defeat by UN forces in 1962, had fled to Angola. Their story needs to be looked at in some detail, but suffice it to say here that they had remained as a cohesive military force and, along with some Angolan army units, joined the attack on the Mobutu regime.

Mobutu’s Limited Support
The Mobutu regime desperately tried to convince the world that what was happening was simply an invasion, but to little avail. Neither the UN nor the OAU condemned the invaders and the notion that what was happening was largely a revolution against the Mobutu regime gained wide currency. More importantly, Mobutu failed to obtain any serious military support from abroad. His army retreated on all fronts and in so doing looted, raped, and killed Congolese civilians. This was one reason why the Congolese soon welcomed the AFDL and allowed young men and boys to be recruited into its ranks. The only forces which did any serious fighting for the Mobutu regime were the Hutu ex-FAR/Interahamwe, the UNITA forces of Jonas Savimbi, and some Serb mercenaries. Mobutu also received modest support from France. When Kinshasa fell, in May 1997, eight months after the war had started, a substantial number of the victorious forces were in fact Congolese; but, with the exception of the Katangans and a few ANZ units which had changes sides, they tended to be very young and untrained. In addition, Banyamulenge soldiers, some trained by Rwanda before the war broke out, some recently recruited, were among the victors; but, at that time, they tended to be viewed simply as Tutsi by the Congolese public.

The Motivations of the Anti-Mobutu Alliance

Why did Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, and other African states initiate and/or support this war against the Mobutu regime? The answer for Rwanda has already been given, the presence on its borders of UNHCR camps with close to a million Hutu who had been allowed to reestablish their political leadership and military structures. For Uganda, a similar but no doubt less pressing motive existed. The DRC had for some time been used as a rear base by anti-Museveni forces such as the Lord’s Resistance Army, the West Nile Bank Front, and the Allied Democratic Forces, some of which were supported by the Sudan government. By occupying the frontier region in the DRC, Uganda hoped to end this threat. Angola had very much the same motive. UNITA had for years not only been supplied via the DRC but there were UNITA bases in the country.

There were two other, perhaps more vague, reasons to support an anti-Mobutu alliance.

     First, for some African leaders, an old leftist, even Marxist, sympathy and friendship circle played a role. Hence, the antagonism toward Mobutu — long allied to Western powers during the Cold War — and the support given Kabila by Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, and by Sam Nujoma, President of Namibia.

     Second, the notion that a new dawn with new leaders had begun in Africa which required change, especially in a country as important as the DRC. This theme could be seen as applying to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and, of course, Uganda and Rwanda. The latter view had some resonance in the U.S. and was one of the reasons why the U.S. did not respond to appeals by Mobutu regarding the violation of the Congo’s sovereignty.

Kabila Seeks a Cultural Revolution
During the anti-Mobutu alliance’s quick march to Kinshasa, Kabila transformed himself from spokesman of the AFDL to its president. Because the foreign allies (Rwanda, Uganda, and a bit later Angola) preferred to keep their military presence and predominance as quiet as possible, Kabila was able to give a very personal imprint to the alliance. That imprint was profoundly affected by the period during the Cold War when he was a leftist — some thought Maoist — revolutionary. Thus, it soon became clear that he planned to lead a veritable cultural revolution in the Congo and not simply rid the country of Mobutu and the system he had created.

Kabila initiated political lessons which were to be conducted on a very wide basis and which were virtual copies of the ones employed in Hewa Bora, the small revolutionary redoubt he had led in South Kivu from the mid-60s to the mid-80s. These lessons had an arcane quality which had little relation to the society the DRC had become since independence. For instance, according to these lessons, Congolese society was divided into seven classes; the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, comprador bourgeoisie, national bourgeoisie, petite bourgeoisie, cultivators, workers, and proletarians! Ordinary citizens were to be watched by committees — “chembe-chembe” — organized on a street-by-street basis. Both established political parties and civil society organizations were disdainfully excluded from participation in the decision making processes. The party — the ADFL — and the state were to overlap.

Kabila appears to have been so convinced that his revolutionary package would find great support among the masses of Congolese that he held elections in the towns which fell to the anti-Mobutu forces. Although organized in a rather crude fashion, people literally gathered in the “agora” and elected local officials by raising their hands; they turned out to be fair and honest. But it is here that he began to come up against Congolese realities he seems not to have expected. The elections were won either by members of the largest party belonging to what is commonly referred to as the non-violent opposition (“opposition” meaning to Mobutu but soon also opposition to Kabila), the UDPS, or by members of one of the civil society NGO’s which had in the previous approximately seven years achieved real strength and respect among the Congolese. Soon, no further elections were held. Without a real, strong, and united national revolutionary party, and the cadres to go with it, he did not have the tools to overwhelm resistance from the public.

Rejecting Political Pluralism
While liberation from Mobutu gave Kabila and the ADFL some credit and popularity, the ideology which they sought to impose on the Congolese public was very rapidly rejected.

The Congolese public wanted a symbiosis between the armed and the non-violent opposition to Mobutu. In a poll conducted in Kinshasa in August 1997, i.e. at the beginning of the Kabila regime, 86 percent of respondents favored a “meeting” between Kabila and the leaders of the non-violent opposition. In the first six months, Kabila always polled less than Etienne Tshisekedi, the leader of the largest of the non-violent opposition parties, the UDPS. Moreover, the long, even if unsuccessful non-violent struggle which many political and NGO leaders had been involved with and which had genuine popular support with real roots and often real organizational structures led them to expect a role in a post-Mobutu regime. But Kabila had no inclination to share power. His past did not suggest it, and his ideology positively opposed it. So he did not respond to the desired “meeting” and his success at ousting Mobutu failed to give him broad popularity. The honeymoon was one of the shortest a successful revolutionary leader had ever been granted!

Kabila’s Support
What then was the power base of the early Kabila regime? There were three real sources of power:

     First, there were the Tutsi soldiers (in the early days there was little distinction made between the Rwandan and Congolese Tutsi ), but they were rapidly resented as foreigners by the Congolese public.

     Second, there were the Katangans, but old intra-Katangan conflicts (to be discussed later) made their loyalty less than certain even though they were at least viewed as genuine Congolese.

     Third, there were the “kadogos,” the young men and boys who had been recruited into the ADFL army as it marched from the east to Kinshasa, but their youth and brutal behavior caused great resentment. As Colette Braeckman put it, their violence “shocked a population which was used to negotiate ... with Mobutu’s unpaid soldiers and who now encountered men who were unwilling to ‘palaver’ [negotiate, talk it over]”. In Kinshasa and the western Congo it would indeed, have been difficult to “palaver” since few of these soldiers spoke the local languages. In that sense, they were all foreign.

While Kabila did not share power with political parties or NGOs, he did coopt individuals with diverse political and ethnic backgrounds. His closest allies and his Cabinet ministers were generally people without their own political base. Many of them were returned exiles. This made them totally dependent on Kabila. However, this approach did not sit well with the general public.

The Early Kabila Regime – May 1997 to August 1998

Changes the Public Appreciated
If it is true that Kabila had one of the shortest post-revolution honeymoons on record, that does not mean that the change from Mobutu to Kabila was unappreciated. Kabila had disappointed the Congolese by not compromising with the non-violent opposition, by not respecting and working with civil society, by making party political activity illegal and by reducing rather than expanding human rights. But his regime did accomplish changes which in the eyes of the general public were important and appreciated. Foremost among these was the vast improvement in personal and property security which resulted from the fact that ordinary citizens were no longer repeatedly held up by unpaid soldiers and policemen. Of course, this was less appreciated by the elites than by the man in the street. Members of the old elite who did not succeed in making deals with the new rulers saw their property confiscated and their personal security in danger. Another major accomplishment which impacted on the ordinary citizen was the radical reduction in the rate of inflation. Based on public opinion polling results — unfortunately with one exception limited to Kinshasa — one can say that the public tended to define the new regime as a dictatorship but also approved of some of the changes it had succeeded in putting in place. It did not particularly like the new leaders and it viewed them as dangerously close to being the pawns of the foreign troops which had brought them to power, but its general performance was given substantial approval.

The one public opinion poll which it was possible to conduct outside Kinshasa produced results which clearly indicate that regional identities were very important in the opinions expressed about the Kabila regime. In Lubumbashi, support for Kabila and his policies was very substantially higher than in the rest of the country. In Mbuji Mayi — the home base of Kasai Luba, of the UDPS and of Tshisekedi — the support was, not surprisingly, the lowest. The Lubumbashi results are interesting because Kabila is generally regarded as part of the greater northern Katanga Luba community and Lubumbashi is in the south where the traditional competitors — if not enemies — of the Luba, the Lunda, predominate. Thus a regional rather than a strictly ethnic sense of identity manifested itself.

The New Force Armées Congolaises — FAC
Integrating and disciplining and assuring the loyalty of the different armed units would be an essential and indispensable task for any new ruler, especially for one who rejects pluralism. For Kabila this was an especially daunting exercise because there were so many different armed “soldiers” and because none of them, perhaps with the exception of the “kadogos”, had any reliable loyalty to him. In effect, the following potential participants in a new national army were available.

1. The Katanga Tigers. These were, in the main, the remainder or the sons of the Katanga Gendarmes who had fled to Angola after the Katanga attempted secession was defeated by a U.S. backed UN military operation in 1962. At the time, they were mainly south Katangan Lunda, but in subsequent years they were joined by other Congolese who fled the Mobutu regime into Angola. Among these newcomers were Katanga Luba from the north, as well as some former members of the Mulele led rebellion in Bandundu province (1963–67). The Katanga Tigers were first used by the Portuguese but later were allied with a variety of Angolan politico-military forces. They ended up as close supporters of the MPLA-dominated Angolan government. From this base, they attacked the Congo in 1977 and 1978 by which time their ideological idiom had made a 180° turn; from pro-Western Tshombists they had become anti-Mobutu Marxists. When they joined the 1996–97 attack against the Mobutu regime, they did so in conjunction with the Angolan army. Their civilian leader at that time was Emile Ilunga, originally from north Katanga, who was promised the vice-presidency after victory. But Kabila did not offer him such a position and he thereafter opposed the new regime arguing that it had turned into a dictatorship. Later, Emile Ilunga became the leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, RCD/ Goma, i.e. the Rwanda backed rebellion against Kabila. In the summer of 1997, it was for the above cited reasons not certain that Kabila could really count on the Katanga Tigers even though they both hailed from Katanga.
   
   
2. Former members of the Forces Armees Zairoises (FAZ), Mobutu’s army. Clearly former FAZ members were, from Kabila’s point of view, the least trustworthy future members of the new army. Nonetheless, distinctions have to be made. There were ordinary army units and special units like the Presidential Guards, the DSP. There were units which had joined the Alliance during its march to Kinshasa and there were units which remained quasi-loyal to the Mobutu regime until the end. Kabila’s response to this problem was to send them off to be “re-educated”. However, this was done under such humiliating and at times physically abusive conditions that for many, the exercise had the opposite effect to that which was desired. They came away angry and disaffected from the new government.
   
   
3. The Banyamulenge and other Congolese Tutsi: For Congolese Tutsi the never changing, eternally challenged goal was to have their Congolese citizenship recognized and no longer disputed. In this vein, they had supported Mobutu and joined his army until the regime changed sides and curried favor with the ethnic groups in the Kivus who considered them foreigners and enemies. The alliance between Mobutu and the Hutu regime in Rwanda, and the events which followed the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, changed their situation radically and for the worse. At that time, roughly from 1993 to 1996, they drew close to the Rwandan Tutsi and then participated in the Kabila “led” march to Kinshasa. After the Alliance’s victory, resentment against the Tutsi — now seen by people all over the Congo as foreigners — grew rapidly and the Congolese Tutsi saw that their goal of being recognized as Congolese was further from being reached than ever before because they were now identified with the Rwandans. Again as they sensed rejection by the Congolese public they drew closer to the Rwandans who increasingly seemed the only people willing and able to protect them. But that did not mean that there was complete harmony between them, and events in August 1998 — to be discussed later — ultimately created a rift between many Bayamulenge and the Rwandan Tutsi.
   
   Kabila, whose personal predilections in this matter can only be speculated about, found himself pulled in two directions. On the one hand the Congolese public quite widely resented the Rwandan/Tutsi presence and wanted Kabila to free himself from their control or influence. On the other hand, the Congolese Tutsi wanted Kabila to reward them for having played a large part in putting him in power, i.e. firm assurances that they would be recognized as Congolese citizens. It is doubtful that during much of the period under discussion Kabila had the power to rid himself of Rwandan/ Tutsi influence; on the other hand, despite some soothing words, Kabila never acted decisively to assure the Congolese Tutsi of their citizenship rights. Thus, Kabila could not be certain of the Tutsi soldiers’ loyalty, whether they were integrated in the new FAC or in Rwandan units.
   
   
4. The “Kadogos”: As indicated earlier, of all the armed units or more correctly simply soldiers, the young men Kabila had recruited on the path to Kinshasa were perhaps the most reliable in terms of loyalty to him. They also constituted a problem since they were untrained and undisciplined and tended to lord it over the civilian population who resented these virtual children having the power of life or death over them. Indeed, the return of some sort of law and order — the single most appreciated change brought about by the new regime — depended on getting the “Kadogos” off the streets. Some of them were apparently employed in the “re-education” camps for former FAZ soldiers, but this too turned out to be costly in terms of resentment by mature soldiers at having to obey these young men. Kabila developed plans to mobilize youth in a National Youth Service and one may presume that many of the young Kadogos were intended to form part of this enterprise. The National Youth Service was supposed to encompass 140,000 young men who were to be trained in the Kamina military base. Were these youth loyal to Kabila? Probably yes. Were they reliable and a real asset? Probably not.
   
   
5. The non-Congolese armed forces: In addition to these Congolese forces there were Rwandan Tutsi units as well as some Ugandan and Angolan forces and instructors invited to train the new army coming from a variety of African states. The Rwandans, especially, held important positions in the FAC and as Kabila purged some of his ADFL co-founders, their position, even if briefly, became more powerful. In the end, until a few days before the Second Congo War began, a Rwandan officer, James Kabarehe filled the position of interim Chief of Staff of the FAC. Kabila’s son — in his twenties — was second in command.

Violent Conflict in the Kivus
During the period in question, the FAC was quite obviously preoccupied with making itself into a coherent, unified, and capable military force. But it also faced a military challenge. In the Kivus and along the Ugandan border two real threats coming from guerrilla organizations continued to exist. First, on the Kivu-Rwanda border there still were Hutu ex-FAR/ Interahamwe bands and further north various Ugandan insurrectionist forces were again using the DRC as a base from which to attack Uganda. Second, a Congolese challenge to both the Rwandan presence in the Kivu and to the Kabila regime — the Mai Mai — had gained importance and local support. Mai Mai was a term generically employed to describe different Kivu groups which had armed themselves and were essentially dedicated to expelling non-Kivu forces and people from what they considered to be their territory. They were now essentially dedicated to expelling the Rwandans and the FAC which was at this time closely allied to the Rwandans. Indeed, the FAC and the Rwandan army organized joint operations against the Mai Mai.

This problem had two consequences which were to have a major impact in the period immediately following. First, the primary goal of both Rwanda and Uganda in organizing the 1996 invasion and support for the ADFL had not been met — the borders were not secure from incursions coming from the DRC. Second, not only did Rwandan and Ugandan military units operate on both sides of the border, but the best FAC units were sent to the east (this was the later famous 10th Brigade led by a former FAZ officer, Commander Ondekane). Indeed, it would appear that James Kabarehe had overall responsibility for this operation, both as Congolese Chief of Staff and as a Rwandan officer.

Political and Civil Society Forces
As has been indicated earlier, Kabila rejected the notion of sharing power in an institutional or formal fashion with political parties which had developed during the last years of the Mobutu regime. A few of the parties challenged the order forbidding party activities by organizing protests and continuing to hold meetings. However, this was met with stern governmental reactions. Leaders such as FONUS’s Olenghankoy and UDPS’s Tshisekedi were imprisoned or sent into internal exile. It is interesting to note that Mobutu’s MPR was humbled by the defeat, exile, and death of its leader and did not manifest itself in any dramatic way during this period.

The regime was also clearly disturbed by the size, diversity, and influence which the large number of civil society NGO’s had achieved. With some foreign financial support, they attempted in various ways to assert themselves and organized a conference in June 1997 at which delegates raised a large number of socially, but also politically, pertinent questions. The mood at this conference was not, by and large, supportive of the regime. As a result the participants were told that they had to subscribe to the priorities established by the new government. Subsequently, the regime went to some lengths in order to coopt and control the NGO’s. It established an elaborate plan to hold provincial civil society meetings at which, however, government officials would also participate. The resolutions from these meetings would form the basis for a grand national meeting. But the resolutions emanating from the different provincial meetings did not meet the regime’s expectations; indeed, they were once again critical of the authoritarian governance methods which had been adopted. As with the experiment in local elections which was not continued, the national meeting was canceled shortly before it was supposed to take place.

Given the background of Kabila and some of his closest collaborators, one would have expected a great effort at making the ADFL into an important instrument not only for control but also for mass mobilization. Indeed, in the early days of the regime the ADFL was defined as being above the state, but soon it became evident that Kabila did not intend to make the party — perhaps because even at the leadership level it was really more an alliance than a disciplined movement — an important ruling instrument. This became increasingly clear as highly placed ADFL leaders were purged, imprisoned, and side-lined. And, to jump ahead chronologically, it should be noted that several of them became the leadership nucleus of the anti-Kabila rebellion in Goma in August 1998.

The Kabila Regime and Foreign Affairs

Relations with African States
The victory of the ADFL and its leader Kabila in May 1997 was politically and emotionally a watershed event for Africa. There were, by this time, a large number of Presidents who had old scores to settle with Mobutu and therefore welcomed the demise of his regime, but in addition others saw themselves as a new generation which would give a more genuinely African character to the continent’s interstate relations. From their perspective the old, Cold War-linked, and corrupt leaders had to go, and Mobutu was not only the most important representative of this group, he was its symbol.

Two months after the capture of Kinshasa much of Africa came to celebrate and congratulate Kabila. The joint communiqué which was signed on July 20, 1997 is extraordinary both for the degree of support it gives the new, self-appointed president of the re-named Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also for who signed it: Chiluba of Zambia; Nujoma of Namibia; Zenawi of Ethiopia; Afewerki of Eritrea; Museveni of Uganda; Patasse of CAR; Didangi of Gabon; Chissano of Mozambique; Bizimungu of Rwanda; and Mugabe of Zimbabwe, also at the time President of the OAU. Surprisingly, no Angolan signatory was present; whether this was significant or not is an unanswered question.

But this support soon weakened. Less than a year later, in May 1998 at the anniversary of the ADFL victory, Rwanda refused to participate. In the same month, Museveni was attacked by one of Kabila’s ministers; and, most important, a DRC organized summit meeting had to be canceled because both Rwanda and Uganda and other invitees refused to participate. A month later, in June, Rwanda was charging the Kabila regime with something like a “capital” offense — it claimed that Interahamwe were being recruited by the Kabila regime and trained at the Kamina military base.

Given the support which Angola gave Kabila immediately after the new rebellion and invasion in August 1998, it is important to note that Angola also showed signs of being dissatisfied with the way Kabila was conducting the DRC’s government and its policies. It was reported that the Angolan government had expected Kabila to develop a more pluralistic government (this was also the expectation of Uganda), and it was dissatisfied with the role given some of its protegés among the Congolese exiles who had lived in Angola. Angola also wanted military control over the area in the Congo which bordered UNITA dominated areas in Angola. This was, of course, something which both Rwanda and Uganda, in effect, had attained. Kabila refused the Angolan request.

Despite the different paths which Angola, Rwanda and Uganda were about to follow, they did, in one respect, face a common dilemma: The goal of eliminating the bases of insurgency movements against their governments located in the DRC had not been met. At one time or another, they all seemed to have blamed Kabila for this. But one may wonder whether, after being in power for one year, Kabila had the military and organizational strength to do much about these movements. Indeed, in the east, the Rwandans and the Ugandans were themselves active on both sides of the border attempting to deal with this problem, but with limited success. If they could not succeed, how could Kabila? Thus, to explain their growing antagonism toward Kabila one must pose the question whether the suspicion — publicly expressed as an established fact — that Kabila was working with insurgency movements such as the Interahamwe was not the most important cause of the divorce. In this context, Kabila’s friendly relations with the Sudan government were also a provocation for Uganda. The Sudan was known to be supplying anti-Museveni movements both in Uganda and those based in the DRC.

In sum, during the first year of Kabila’s presidency, the foreign states which had been most instrumental in putting him in power were frustrated and antagonized by his actions. That does not, of course, mean that all of Africa became antagonistic. There was continuing support from Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Nujoma in Namibia and also from Libya and Sudan.

Relations with the UN and the West
The relations of the Kabila regime with the UN and with Western states was largely dominated by the issue of the UN investigation of the Hutu massacres during the anti-Mobutu forces’ march to Kinshasa. In a variety of ways, Kabila thwarted every attempt to successfully undertake such an investigation and this resulted in a rapid change of attitude — from one which placed great hope in and anticipated support for his regime to one of estrangement and virtual abandonment. On this issue there was a great divide between Congolese opinion and much of the rest of the world. The Congolese viewed the Hutu massacres as a foreign affair between Rwandans (Tutsi and Hutu) and they did not understand why they were being blamed for these events. Increasingly, it became clear that these massacres had been perpetrated, at least in large measure, by the Rwandan troops engaged in the march toward Kinshasa. Why then did Kabila thwart the investigation? The question becomes even more puzzling after Kagame as early as July 1997 in effect claimed that the victory over Mobutu was the result of Rwandan military action. In other words, the fiction that Mobutu’s defeat was solely the result of a Congolese revolutionary war was laid to rest.

One can suggest several reasons for Kabila’s opposition to the investigation:

1. The fear that the Rwandans would act against him personally if he allowed the investigation to go forward. This is the explanation suggested by people close to Kabila especially after the second Congo War started.
   
   
2. A distrust and antagonism toward the UN and apprehension that the UN’s presence in the DRC would result in a loss of sovereignty.
   
   
3. Having claimed the leadership of the anti-Mobutu campaign, it would have humiliated Kabila to admit that he had no control over “his” troops or that the victory had little to do with his revolutionary mobilization since it was essentially one achieved by foreign troops.

Whatever the reasons for the obstructionism, it was extremely costly for the DRC. Most projected foreign financial aid — and it was substantial — was linked to allowing the investigation into the massacres to go forward and, as a result of the repeated obstacles placed in the path of its successful execution, the DRC was denied much needed funds.

Relations with the Rest of the World
The above described arenas — African states, the UN, the West — are clearly those which have the power to influence any African country the most. Initially, the Kabila regime had the tacit support of all of them, but within a year that support had diminished dramatically. Probably because of this development, Kabila sought support from other sources and in this he was moderately successful. He established cordial relations with China, Cuba, and North Korea. There were two elements in these relationships: first, they constituted the re-establishment of ties with the countries and the political philosophies which had animated the Congolese mid-1960’s revolutionaries, of whom Kabila was a remaining, relatively unchanged, representative. Second, these states were not unwilling to support a leader who had become a thorn in the side of the West and especially the U.S. In addition, China was to become an important partner in barter arrangements which would supply the DRC with arms and money.