Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- Introduction
- 1 A Region in Turmoil
- 2 The ‘War of Liberation’
- 3 Massacre of the Rwandan Refugees
- 4 The Fall of the Mobutist State
- 5 Congo: Waiting for Another War
- 6 Impasse in Rwanda and Burundi
- 7 ‘The First African World War’
- 8 Negotiating the Transition
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Sources on the killings of Rwandan refugees in early 1997
- Appendix 2 Chronology
- Appendix 3 List of abbreviations
- References
- Index
2 - The ‘War of Liberation’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Maps
- Introduction
- 1 A Region in Turmoil
- 2 The ‘War of Liberation’
- 3 Massacre of the Rwandan Refugees
- 4 The Fall of the Mobutist State
- 5 Congo: Waiting for Another War
- 6 Impasse in Rwanda and Burundi
- 7 ‘The First African World War’
- 8 Negotiating the Transition
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Sources on the killings of Rwandan refugees in early 1997
- Appendix 2 Chronology
- Appendix 3 List of abbreviations
- References
- Index
Summary
THE ‘BANYAMULENGE REBELLION’ AND THE RWANDAN OPERATION
Within the regional setting just described, Rwanda occupied a particular position. Although its civil war formally ended with the RPF's victory in July 1994, the flight of the defeated army, the militia and 1.5 million civilians to Zaire exported the conflict. As these insurgent forces were intent on resuming the war, the situation that developed just a few kilometres across its borders was Rwanda's affair, and a vital one at that.
Notice of a Rwandan intervention in the Kivu was given by the Kigali press close to the RPF. Under the title ‘A war which Zaire will wage against Rwanda will destroy the Mobutu regime’, Ukuri, No. 4 of May 1996, concluded that ‘Kigali hopes war will break out so that the refugees can be taken care of’. Amani, No. 8 of June, wrote that ‘if the present process of decay, characterised by incidents, raids, murders and massacres, continues, a war between Rwanda and Zaire is inevitable’. Rwanda Libération No. 17 of July announced ‘the response of the RPA and thus, the Great Lakes Region will witness the end of Mobutu’. The official weekly La Nouvelle Reléve No. 325 of 15 August carried three articles on the same theme and mentioned the problem of the Banyamulenge under the title ‘A genocide under incubation in Mulenge (Zaire)’.
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- Information
- The Great African WarCongo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996–2006, pp. 45 - 79Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009