THE GREAT CONGO WAR EXPLAINED – Part 2
Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president admitted to supporting the rebel groups in order to secure his country. This was after Nelson Mandela the Zimbabwe president requested for peace talks to commence among all countries involved. In January 1999, a ceasefire agreement was made between Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Namibia during a summit held at Windhoek the capital of Namibia. However the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) was not invited and therefore they continued fighting.
During the same year on April 5, the RCD leader, Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, moved his base from Goma to Kisangani which was a Ugandan controlled area to lead a rebellious RCD group which was then called RCD-Kisangani. This group later identified as Forces of Renewal This led to increased levels of tensions in the group regarding the supremacy of Banyamulenge.
In addition to the agreement made in Windhoek, another agreement was made between Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Kabila on April 18 in Sirte, Libya which was mediated by Muammar al-Gaddafi. However, RCD and Rwanda refused to be part of the peace talks.
On May 16, in favour of Emile Llunga, Wamba the RCD leader was overthrown from his position of power. A week later the different factions of RCD disagreed over who would control Kisangani. They later met in June to plan a strategic attack against Kabila.
Despite the diplomatic efforts taken to stop the ongoing war, the Ituli conflict that resulted from the creation of the Ituri province in Uganda begun. This situation can best be described as a war within a war.
However, diplomatic efforts bore fruit because in July 1999, the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement was signed by the conflicting countries, that is, Uganda, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) followed suit and signed the agreement on August 1. RCD was reluctant but they later signed the agreement on August 31.
The terms of the agreement provi
