The Second Congo War emerged after a series of conflicts in the Great Lakes region in Africa. The aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda and civil war in Burundi had resulted in a large-scale refugee crisis. Armed groups were conducting raids into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which ignited a series of ethnic conflicts amongst other factions in the east of the country between many armed groups and militia. The unstable political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) further contributed to the conflict and as many as eight African countries became involved in what was known as "Africa's World War".