First Congo War - 1997

1997

There are two explanations for the restart of the rebel advance in 1997. The first and most probable, is that Angola had joined the anti-Mobutu coalition, giving it numbers and strength far superior to the FAZ and demanding that Mobutu be removed from power. Kagame presents another, possibly secondary, reason for the march on Kinshasa: that the employment of Serbian mercenaries in the battle for Walikale proved that "Mobutu intended to wage real war against Rwanda." According to this logic, Rwanda's initial concerns had been to manage the security threat in eastern Zaire but it was now forced to dispose of the hostile government in Kinshasa.

Throughout the rebel advance, there were attempts by the international community to negotiate a settlement. However, the AFDL did not take these negotiations seriously but instead partook so as to avoid international criticism for being unwilling to attempt a diplomatic solution while actually continuing its steady advance. The FAZ, which had been weak all along, was unable to mount any serious resistance to the strong AFDL and its foreign sponsors.

Throughout the month of April the AFDL made consistent progress down the river, and by May were on the outskirts of Kinshasa. On May 16, 1997, the multinational army headed by Kabila battled to secure Lubumbashi airport in the southeast of the country after peace talks broke down and Mobutu fled the country. Laurent-Désiré Kabila proclaimed himself president on September 7, 1997, the same day that Mobutu died in Morocco, and immediately ordered a violent crackdown to restore order. He then attempted to reorganize the nation as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).