Congo gained its independence from Belgium
in 1960
but was soon plunged into a 5 year long war.
The Congo Crisis saw Belgium back
some breakaway states like Katanga in the south
and communist nations backed the Simba rebels.
Famously Che Guevara travelled to the Congo
and unsuccessfully fought alongside
Laurent-Désiré Kabila
but it was Mobutu, backed by the Americans
who took power in 1965.
He did initially improve the economy
and stabilize the country
and tried to create a sense of nationalism
by amongst other things:
hosting major sporting events
holding lavish ceremonies
and renaming the country Zaire.
but elements of resistance remained
despite his often brutal attempts to crush them.
Congolese students abroad formed anti-Mobutu groups
and Kibila for instance established a small Marxist state
in the mountainous borders of Burundi and Rwanda
which survived until the late '80s.
Plus the country was still divided among tribal lines
for instance, the Lunda people in the south
fought against the government during the Shaba conflict
in the 1970s
and all of this was made worse because
Mobutu put people of his own tribe
the Ngbandi
into positions of power
for instance his personal bodyguards were all Ngbandi.
And the country was plunged into debt
thanks to his economic mismanagement, corruption, and embezzlement
and when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991
the United States began to reduce their aide to Zaire
seeing no need to prop them up anymore.
However the cause of the war can be found in the east
where Tutsi immigrants from Rwanda
caused ethnic tensions.
Many had arrived before Congolese independence
and fought both for and against Mobutu
during the Congo Crisis
but they were soon joined by many more
who fled Rwanda
first when the Hutus took power
and then in the early '90s when the Hutus committed genocide.
and the formation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
and the arrival of even more immigrants
led to a well-armed fighting force within Zaire.
And even more Tutsis fled to Zaire when the Burundian Civil War erupted
when the Burundian president, Ndadaye, was assassinated
in late 1993
In Rwanda, the Tutsis, under Kagame, seized power in 1994
but this just encouraged
hundreds of thousands of Hutus to flee to neighboring countries
starting the Great Lakes refugee crisis.
Many of these Hutus were well-armed
and began fighting with the Tutsis in refugee camps
in Zaire
So Kagame and his ally, Museveni of Uganda
began sending aid to the Congolese Tutsis
hoping the start a rebellion against the Hutus.
The Tutsis then, fearing persecution from the Zaire government
formed the AFDL.
They were soon joined by Kabila
who after years away
returned to Zaire to help lead the new group
and encourage anti-Mobutu citizens to join
In 1996 the Tutsi militias and the AFDL
finally engaged with Zairean soldiers
starting the First Congo War
Zaire had a poor infrastructure
and Mobutu's forces were poorly organized
and had very little influence in the east
so the rebels were able to capture most of the border regions
by the end of the year.
They, however, halted their advance and destroyed
refugee camps that they believed housed
many of the Hutus who committed genocide in Rwanda.
Mobutu realizing that his own army couldn't recapture the east
hired mercenaries
most of which were veterans fom the Yugoslavian Wars
Kagame was now worried about a potential counter attack
but fortunately for him, Angola entered the war
against Mobutu.
President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola
joined the war because he was fighting
a civil war against UNITA
a political party which was in part funded by Mobutu.
Emboldened, Kagame decided to the rebels
advance on Kinshasa in early 1997
one army marched north through Kisangani
while another went south, taking Kindu by March.
The rebels met very little resistance on their advance
due to desertion and disorganization within the opposition forces
but they still committed a great deal of atrocities
the international community tried to broker a peace
but this was largely ignored by the rebels
plus by this point Mobutu had very little international support.
By the end of April Lubumbashi and Kananga
had fallen to the rebels
and in early May
the Angolans joined the rebels on their push on the capital.
So on the 16th of May, Mobutu fled just before Kabila's
forces entered Kinshasa.
Mobutu would die a couple months later in exile
while Kabila would try to unite the newly named
Democratic Republic of the Congo
and repair the very divided and impoverished nation
but he was largely seen as a puppet of Rwanda
and angered many ethnic groups by reducing their autonomy
and within a year the well-armed population
rose up against Kabila
and even more nations got involved in the more deadly
Second Congo War.