2nd Congo War

The 2nd Congo War, as stated in my earlier blog, was the result of Kabila betraying his backers in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi governments. His ex-backers started various (mostly Tutsi) rebel groups (which they eventually lost control over) such as the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC). The Kabilan regime in retaliation started sponsoring various rebel groups (mostly Hutu but with exceptions) that were against his rivals like Lords Resistance Army (LRA), CNDD-FDD (mentioned in my post about the Burundi Civil War), and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Also involved in the war were Mai-Mai militias, a VERY lose term for self defense tribal militias that fought for and against the Kabila regime. Like his rivals, Kabila lost control of his militias that he was supporting. The FDLR was a remnant group of exiled perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide. Several rebel groups (like the extreme case of RCD) suffered the curse of infighting and splintering. RCD had 9 splinter factions that war against each-over mercilessly (even splinter factions of splinter factions like RCD-Kisangia- Liberation Movement (RCD-K-ML) being the splinter faction of a RCD splinter faction RCD-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML)). RCD-K-ML even allied itself with the Kabilian government. The war eventually became mind-numbingly complex and militsided with factions switching their allegiances as often as teenage girls change their clothes, with "friends" fighting each-over as much as their enemies. Laurent Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards (the bodyguard was a child solider), with his son Joseph taking power in the government. The war "ended" (violent insurgencies still continue to this day, with groups like the FDLR, ADF, M23, several Mai Mai groups still waring against the government) with a peace treaty in a luxury hotel called the Sun City Hotel in South Africa in 1998.