Second Congo War

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Second Congo War
Part of the Congo conflicts and the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide
From top to bottom: Rape victims who have been successfully reintegrated into their communities assemble in a “peace hut” near Walungu, South Kivu Congolese soldier adjusting automatic weapon, 2001
Date 2 August 1998 – 18 July 2003 (4 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days) Location Democratic Republic of the Congo Result Military stalemate Sun City Agreement Creation of a unified, multi-party government in Congo, with Joseph Kabila as president Pretoria Accord; Rwandan withdrawal from Congo in exchange for commitment towards the disarmament of Hutu militias. The Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is established, deployment of MONUC. End of the Angolan Civil War. Continuation of the Ituri conflict. Start of the Kivu conflict.
Belligerents
Pro-government:  DR Congo  Angola  Chad  Libya  Namibia  Zimbabwe  Sudan (alleged) Anti-Ugandan forces: LRA ADF UNRF II FNI Anti-Rwandan militias: FDLR ALiR Interahamwe RDR Mai-Mai Other Hutu-aligned forces Anti-Burundi militias: CNDD-FDD FROLINA	Rwandan-aligned militias: RCD RCD-Goma Banyamulenge Ugandan-aligned militias: MLC Forces for Renewal UPC Other Tutsi-aligned forces Anti-Angolan forces: UNITA Foreign state actors:  Uganda  Rwanda  Burundi Note: Rwanda and Uganda fought a short war in June 2000 over Congolese territory.
Commanders and leaders
Laurent-Désiré Kabila X (1997–2001) Joseph Kabila (2001–2003) Sam Nujoma Dimo Hamaambo Martin Shalli Robert Mugabe Emmerson Mnangagwa Constantine Chiwenga Perrance Shiri José Eduardo dos Santos João de Matos Idriss Déby	MLC Jean-Pierre Bemba RCD Ernest Wamba dia Wamba Laurent Nkunda Jonas Savimbi António Dembo Yoweri Museveni Paul Kagame Pierre Buyoya
Strength
Mai Mai: 20,000–30,000 militia Interahamwe: 20,000+	RCD-Goma: 40,000[1] MLC: 20,000[1] RCD-ML: 8,000[1] Rwanda: 8,000+[2] Uganda: 13,000[3]
Casualties and losses
	2,000 Ugandans (Kisangani only)[4] 4,000 rebel casualties (Kinshasa only)
5.4 million+ excess deaths (1998–2008)[5][6] 350,000+ violent deaths (1998–2001)[7][8]

The Second Congo War,^[a] also known as Africa's World War^[9] or the Great War of Africa or the Great African War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues.

Eventually involving belligerents from across the African continent, the war officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east.^[10] Hostilities have continued since in the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. Nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups became involved in the war.^[11]

In 2008, the International Rescue Committee estimated that the war and its aftermath had caused 5.4 million deaths, principally through disease and malnutrition,^[12] making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II,^[13] though this number has come under scrutiny, with some researchers saying that many of the deaths would have occurred without the conflict.^[14] Another 2 million were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries.^[10] Conflict minerals were a major source of funding for the war, and for subsequent fighting.^[15][16]

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