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
4 - The Fall of the Mobutist State
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
Having analysed the role played by external actors in Chapter 2, it is important to now return to the unravelling of the war, by looking at the domestic players, the futile and ambiguous attempts at diplomatic management of the crisis, the ineptitude and indeed self-destruction of the Zairean political system, and the impact of the rebels' victory on the regional political situation.
THE PLAYERS
Laurent-Désiré Kabila and the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL)
The AFDL was officially founded in Lemera (South Kivu) on 18 October 1996, more than a month after the beginning of the ‘Banyamulenge rebellion’. The document detailing the founding of the AFDL was signed by representatives of four political movements: the Parti de la Révolution Populaire (PRP; represented by L.D. Kabila), the Conseil National de Résistance pour la Démocratie (CNRD; represented by Kisase Ngandu), the Mouvement Révolutionnaire pour la Libération du Zaïre (MRLZ; represented by Masasu Nindaga) and the Alliance Démocratique des Peuples (represented by Déo Bugera). The document did not say much, other than that the decision-making body was the Alliance's Council composed of representatives of the four organisations, that a Liaison Bureau was to be created and that Laurent Kabila was to act as the AFDL's spokesman. The statutes adopted in Goma on 4 January 1997 provided for the merger of the founding parties ‘into a large political movement aimed at assembling all the live forces of the Congolese nation’. The bodies were the Congress, the Council and the Executive Committee, which had fifteen members, among whom was the chairman, also in charge of the Department of Defence.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Great African WarCongo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996–2006, pp. 102 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009