Africa’s World War 1.

Civil war, a term most countries are familiar with, most recently in Africa the country of Ethiopia was on the brink of a full fledged war in the Tigray region. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) ran an election that didn’t sit well with the government of Abiy Ahmed who suspended the elections citing the pandemic as a reason. This is just one of the many stories of conflicts in Africa although, it did not blow out to a recognized conflict like the Biafran War, Ivory coast civil war or Rwanda civil war. All the civil wars in Africa don’t come close to the “African World war” that took place in Zaire present day DR Congo. Africa’s World War otherwise known as the Congo First and Second Civil war.
Before we go into the war lets get a little background about the Congo. In 1960 the people of Congo took the first step to gain independence from Belgium. An election was held and 50 political parties participated in the election. A vast majority of the parties wanted Congo to be a federation but the party that won a vast majority of the vote led by Patrice Lumumba wanted a unitary state. The idea of a unitary state didn’t auger well with the party from the region of Katanga led by Moisse Tshombe. Lumumba picked Josef Kasavubu as president while he would be the prime minister. This new gained independence didn’t bring stability to Congo because there were still aggrieved political players in the country and Belgium still meddled in the new nation’s politics. The conflicts led to rebel group formation all over the country especially South Kasai. This led to an intervention in the country by the United Nations (UN). As a result of the nature of the intervention the government of Lumumba launched an assault on the region of South Kasai with the aid of the Soviet Union. The Government of Lumumba was later overthrown by Mobutu Sese seko with the aid of the United States of America through the CIA. Please don’t get lost! This was just a short background story. Let’s continue.
The first Congo War that led to the ousting of Sese Seko started in 1997. The rebels in this war was Laurient Kabila (a man who fought beside Che Gueverra) and his rebel force called “Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire” (phew! Long right? Why wouldn’t you just pick a simple name?). He was backed by Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. I know the question running through your mind “what is their business with the Congo?” I felt the same way, but relax we are going to see later on the part 2 of the story that Angola, Sudan, Namibia, Chad, France and Zimbabwe all got involved in the conflict. Just keep calm get your sketch pad ready for the continuation next week, where we explain each countries level of involvement and why they got involved.