Abstract
On 2 August 1998, barely fourteen months after the conclusion of the war initiated by the anti-Mobutu coalition, the emergence of a new armed movement heralded the beginning of a second war of liberation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this time against the regime of Laurent Kabila. The conflict arose out of differences between the founder members of the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaire (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo—ADFL), the coalition that installed Kabila at the head of Congo in May 1997. Military victory against Mobutu’s army offered only temporary healing to the dissension that plagued the movement from its inception. Kabila’s decision in July 1998 to dismiss the Rwandan contingent of the Forces Armées Congolaises (Congolese Armed Forces—FAC) thus served as a catalyst to a crisis that was already underway.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Familes: Stories from Rwanda (New York: Picador, 1998), 242–353.
Osita Afoaku, “The Politics of Democratic Transition in Congo (Zaire). Implications of the Kabila ‘Revolution,’” The Journal of Conflict Studies 19, no 2 (1999): 72–92; René Lemarchand, “The Fire in the Great Lakes,” Current History 98, no. 628 (May 1999): 195–201.
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheen, “An Agenda for Peace in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region. More Pan-Africansim Is the Answer, Not Less,” in The I998 Rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Association of Concerned Africanists, Special Bulletin, nos. 53–54. October 1998, 66–67.
Herbert Weiss, “War and Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Current African Issues, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, No. 22 (2000), 7 [Monograph.]
Ellen Ray, “U.S. Military and Corporate Recolonization of Congo,” Covert Action, no. 69 (spring–summer 2000), 7.
On political reform in Zaire before the advent of the ADFL rebellion, see Thomas Turner, “Zaire: Flying High above the Toads: Mobutu and Stalemated Democracy” in John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, eds., Political Reform in Francophone Africa (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997), 246–61.
Jacques Depelchin, “Crisis in the Congo;” for a comprehensive critique of Kabila’s policies, see “The 1998 Rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Association of Concerned Africanists.
Weiss, “War and Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 3–4; also see Weiss’s chapter, “Zaire, Collapsed State, Surviving State, Future Policy” in I. William Zartman, ed., Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder, CO. Lynne Rienner, 1995), 157–170.
Etienne Tshisekedi, Union for Democratic and Social Progress (UDPS), Memorandum of the Democratic Opposition Forces, in The 1998 Rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Association of Concerned Africanists, 30–34.
Musveni and Kageme are among the so-called “new generation” of African leaders who have been applauded for their discipline and commitment to progress even as they are being criticized for not doing enough in regard to democracy and human rights. See, for instance, Keith Richburg, “Africa’s New Leaders: Reasons for Worry,” Current History (November 1997): 29. For a less pessimistic perspective on the domestic policies of these leaders, see Marina Ottawa’s critique of these regimes in “Africa’s ‘New Leaders’: African Solution or African Problem?” Current History 97 no. 619 (May 1998): 209–213.
Weiss, “War and Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 9–10; for primary sources detailing the unfolding of events in the Congo between 2 August and 26 August 1998, see the following: “Congo Summit Ends Amid Increased Fighting,” CNN.com, 8 August 1998; “Rebels Reportedly Cut Electrical Power to Kinshasa,” CNN.com, 13 August 1998; “Evacuations Begin from Congo as Fighting Rages On,” CNN.com, 15 August 1998; “Kabila Searches for Support as Congo Rebels Consolidate,” CNN.com, 17 August 1998; “Angola Enters Congo War,” CNN.com, 22 August 1998.
Jean-Pierre Ondekane quoted in “Kabila Searches for Support as Congo Rebels Consolidate Control.”
Wamba dia Wamba cited in Campbell, “Notes on the Pace of the Struggle for a New Mode of Politics in the Congo,” in The 1998 Rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Association of Concerned Africanists, 48; For detailed discussion on Wamba’s concept of new mode of politics, see Wamba dia Wamba and Mahmood Mandani, eds., In Search of a New Mode of Politics in Africa (London: James Curry Ltd., 1994).
Weiss, “War and Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” 18.
Mahmood Mandani, “Why Foreign Invaders Can’t Help Congo,” Electronic Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2 November 1998.
Campbell, “Notes on the Pace of the Struggle for a New Mode of Politics in the Congo,” in The 1998 Rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Association of Concerned Africanists, 54–57.
Rwanda initially denied military involvement in the second war; see “Congo Launches Counterattack, Says Rebels Retreating,” CNN.com, 10 August 1998; in addition to its longstanding security concerns, Kigali claimed the Kabila regime was responsible for lynching Tutsi and Rwandan women and children; see “Rebels, Government Troops Claim Battle Gains in Congo.”
Jon Jeter, “Congolese People Grieve Little Over Slain President,” Washington Post Foreign Service, 20 January 2001, A21.
Ibid.
Carl Vick, “Congolese Leaders Offer Rationale for Presidential Choice,” Washington Post Foreign Service, 21 January 200I, A29.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2002 John F. Clark
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Afoaku, O. (2002). Congo’s Rebels. In: Clark, J.F. (eds) The African Stakes of the Congo War. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982445_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982445_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38802-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-8244-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)