Formation of The ADFL
On 7 October 1996, the vice-governor based in the Kivu town of Bukavu proclaimed that the Banyamulenge were no longer welcome and would have to leave the country. In response, the Banyamulenge began an uprising against the local government. However, what was initially characterized as a tribal war quickly turned into something more. With support from the Rwandan government, the Banyamulenge managed to fend off an attack by the Zairean army. The rising tension between Rwanda and Zaire then led to an exchange of mortar fire over Lake Kivu between the two nations' armed forces. This violence involving the Banyamulenge in September-October 1996 is seen as the beginning of the First Congo War.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, a former Marxist rebel who had spent most of the previous decade selling gold in Tanzania, appeared as head of his old rebel group, the Party of the Peoples' Revolution, which had been defunct. In a remarkably short period of time, Kabila found himself head of the new AFDL, which also included the National Council of Resistance for Democracy (CNRD) led by André Kissasse Ngandu, the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MRLZ) led by Anselme Masusu Nindaga, and the Democratic Alliance of the People (ADP), led by Déogratias Bugera, often known as 'Douglas'. On 18 October, a North Kivu Tutsi, Déogratias Bugera, became the first general-secretary of the organization.
There has been much speculation about foreign involvement in facilitating the creation of the ADFL. Most of it swirls around Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, both of whom knew Kabila very well. (Kabila had been introduced to Kagame and Museveni by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, president of Tanzania. After an initial period of denial, since 1997 both Rwanda and Uganda have openly acknowledged the role they played in the formation of the AFDL and its military success. Uganda and Rwanda quickly threw the weight of their support behind the AFDL and sent forces across the Zairean border. Burundi, Angola, the rebels of southern Sudan, and the security forces of the province of Katanga, all of which had long standing grievances with the Mobutu government, especially his sponsoring of foreign rebel groups to destabilize neighboring countries, also proved to be important backers of the ADFL.
Read more about this topic: Alliance Of Democratic Forces For The Liberation Of Congo
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