Second Congo War

The Second Congo War was a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the deadliest conflict since World War II.

In the civil war, more than four million people died due to massacres, gang rapes, torture, diseasesand over 25 million people became refugees.

The civil war in the DR Congo started like a power struggle between the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, a dictatorship that led for 32 years since 1965, and Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel forces (First Congo War). After victory in May 1997, Kabila changed the country's name from Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was the name before 1970, and inaugurated as president. The civil war officially broke out in 1998 when anti-Kabila forces tried to overthrow his regime. Eight African nations had fought in the DR Congo's territory for five years, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Sudan and Zambia sided with Kabila's government while Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi sided with the rebel forces. Because of this, the civil war is occassionally called as "Africa's version of World War I", "Great War of Africa" or the "African World War". The conflict, which was entangled with power struggles between ethnic groups, foreign powers' interests over resources such as gold and diamonds and the intervention of foreign companies were officially ended in 2003 through the United Nations' mediation.

 References 

Category:1990s in Africa
Category:1990s events
Category:1990s conflicts
Category:History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:2000s conflicts