I NT RO DUCTIO N DRC CONFLICT The 1994 Rwandan genocide sparked a new era of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when two million Hutu refugees fled into the eastern region of the country.(5) The Interahamwe Hutu military quickly dominated the Congolese refugee camps and began attacking Rwandan Tutsis.(5) In anticipation of an Interahamwe Hutu invasion, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan government supplied weapons to the Tutsi people of Eastern DRC. In an attempt to control Eastern DRC and to combat the Hutu militia, a Congolese rebel group led by LaurentDésiré Kabila joined forces with Rwandan and Ugandan troops in late 1996.(3) After establishing a foothold in the East, Kabila’s military marched to Kinshasa and, in May 1997 seized control of the country.(5) Kabila’s rise to power and the fighting that accompanied it would later become known as the “First Congo War”. In an attempt to reorganize the nation in July 1998, President Kabila ousted the Rwandan troops who had helped put him into office and ordered all Rwandan and Ugandan forces out of DRC. Kabila’s actions precipitated a joint invasion by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi in what became known as the “Second Congo War”.(4) This war, fought from 1998 to 2003 was dubbed “Africa’s World War” because it involved eight African nations(4). Conflict continued subsequent to the official end of the war, resulting in an estimated 5.4 million deaths between 1998 and 2007(1) making it the deadliest conflict since World War II. Millions of people were displaced from their homes and many were forced to seek asylum in neighboring countries. Ethnic violence between Hutus and Tutsis was responsible for many of the deaths, although this is a gross oversimplification. There were many competing interests and varying agendas, usually surrounding the struggle to gain control over DRC’s rich reserves of diamonds, gold and coltan. City of Bukavu overlooking Lake Kivu, South Kivu Province John Paul Doguin, ©2007 4