Then what?

In 1998, Kabila asked Rwandan and Ugandan military forces to leave the country as it was creating tensions and making him look weak. This left the Congolese Tutsis vulnerable, and they formed a well-armed rebel group, the RCD (Rally for Congolese Democracy), backed by Rwandan and Ugandan forces who, having just left the Congo, now invaded to support them. Uganda also set up another rebel group, the MLC (Movement for the Liberation of the Congo), which operated in the north of the country. The Rwandan government claimed it was intervening to prevent a genocide against the Tutsis that Kabila was organising; however, it is equally possible that territorial aspirations in eastern Congo were a motivating factor. In response, President Kabila enlisted the help of Hutu extremists to expel the occupying forces, as well as military support from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia (and later Chad, Sudan and Libya). The resulting ‘Great War of Africa’ was fought partly over the Congo’s natural and mineral resources, many of which were plundered by neighbouring countries such as Uganda. The war had no outright victor and ended officially when a transitional government was installed in 2003. In 2006 Joseph Kabila (son of Laurent-D?sir?, who was assassinated in 2001) was declared president in a democratic election, although his government was ineffective in the lawless east, where the fighting continued and has never really stopped. A UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, was set up in 2000 and is still firmly embedded in the Congo. It is the most expensive UN mission in history, but its 17,000 personnel are limited in their ability to control and contain the situation.