And Kabila's backers in Rwanda and Uganda felt they could now wage war on the Hutu rebels with his blessing. One year later, Kabila changed his mind about the Hutus and refused to force them back into Rwanda. The Rwandans and Ugandans abruptly switched sides and began to support rebels seeking to overthrow Kabila. For his part, Kabila courted support from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, all of which had interests in using the vast nation of Congo for its own purposes. Angola wanted to fight the rebels from its own civil war who sheltered in Congo, and Zimbabwe was hoping to get rich off the mineral rights Kabila signed over.
Congo sits at the centre of Africa and is the third largest nation on the continent.
It has a vast wealth of minerals and plenty of land which can be used either for lucrative agriculture, mineral exploitation, or as has happened more recently, to shelter the rebels from other nations' wars. So many powerbrokers in the region want a hand in controlling Congo. Kabila's death would probably not end the civil war. The United Nations has long toyed with the idea of a peacekeeping mission there, but so far nothing has materialised.