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Second Congo War
Major war in Africa (1998–2003) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Second Congo War,[lower-alpha 1] also known as Africa's World War,[9] the Great War of Africa, or the Great African War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 2 August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. It began when Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila turned against his Rwandan and Ugandan allies who had helped him come to power.
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Second Congo War | |||||||
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Part of the Congo conflicts and the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide | |||||||
From top to bottom:
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Belligerents | |||||||
Note: Rwanda and Uganda fought a short war in June 2000 over Congolese territory. | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
Mai Mai: 20,000–30,000 militia Interahamwe: 20,000+ |
RCD-Goma: 40,000[1] Rwanda: 8,000+[2] Uganda: 13,000[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
2,000 Ugandans (Kisangani only)[4] 4,000 rebel casualties (Kinshasa only) | |||||||
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Eventually involving belligerents from across the African continent, the war officially ended on 18 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]