Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The wars that frustrated the efforts of both Sally and Albert received little of the world's attention
and were later overshadowed by the September 11, 2001, attacks, the invasion of Afghanistan, and
the buildup to the Iraq War. With Rwanda's support, Laurent-Désiré Kabila captured Kinshasa in
May 1997, but while the country hungered for democracy and change, their new leader would prove
to be a relic of an old world order.
Not surprisingly, Kabila quickly suspended the activities of political parties, announcing that
he would rule by decree until the adoption of a new constitution. He declared that the transitional
period would last only two years, but most saw him as reenacting Mobutu's role: appointing his
cronies to draft a new constitution; arresting political opponents, journalists, NGO leaders, and hu-
man rights advocates; and having many of them beaten and whipped.
In
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
,
UN peacekeeper Jason Stearns questions Kabila's heavy-handed approach, asking, “Why did he
squander the initial goodwill with such squabbles?” He explains that though Kabila was viewed as
a liberator, his weak position caused him to lash out—that, having come to power in a rebellion
coordinated and funded by Rwanda and Uganda, he “felt like the majordomo in a house owned and
lived in by others.”
Despite their relief at being freed from Mobutu, many Congolese quickly began to see the
Rwandans as occupiers, Kinshasa's population chafing at the sight of foreign soldiers in its streets.
Kabila feared being perceived as a puppet, and to remain president, he turned against his allies. On
July 14, 1998, he replaced his Rwandan chief of staff, James Kabarebe, with a Congolese, and soon
thereafter ordered all foreign military to leave the country, immediately flying out his remaining
Rwandan military advisors.
Again, ethnic tensions in the Kivu Provinces flared. The very Congolese Tutsis who had fought
so hard to remove Mobutu now feared for their safety. When Kabila, needing a loyal army, began
funding the same Hutu military that had carried out the Rwandan genocide, the counterattack came
quickly. The Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD) formed and took the Kivus with
the support of Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. James Kabarebe hijacked three planes and flew them
full of shock troops to the DRC's Kitona Air Base, on the Atlantic coast. He cut off electricity to
Kinshasa and would have taken the capital had Kabila not convinced Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola,
Chad, Libya, and the Sudan to help him.
The conflict that ensued involved a large part of the continent. South Africa brokered peace talks
that failed, and the war quickly became about the Congo's mineral wealth, particularly as the glob-
al market for coltan was booming in lockstep with the popularity of handheld electronics. Rwanda
and Uganda sold the Congo's coltan to US and Chinese companies, and diamond, gold, and copper
smuggling were rampant. When Rwandan and Ugandan forces turned against each other in Kisan-
gani in June 2000, their crossfire killing 760 civilians, injuring nearly 1,700, as well as damaging
