Second Congo War
- Period
- August 1998 – July 2003
- Sides
- Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi & rebels vs DR Congo & allies
- Battles
- 7
The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted when Congolese president Laurent-Désiré Kabila turned against his former allies from Rwanda and Uganda, who had helped him seize power. The conflict expanded as Kabila rallied a coalition of other countries to his defense. The war drew in nine African nations and approximately 25 armed groups, making it one of the largest wars in African history.
Sources: Wikipedia — Second Congo War · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 7
August 1998
Operation Kitona
Operation Kitona was a Rwandan/Ugandan offensive that marked the beginning of the Second Congo War. Rwanda hoped to depose Laurent-Désiré Kabila and install a government more favorable to Rwanda's interests by quickly taking control of Kinshasa and the strategic western province of Bas-Congo. On August 4, 1998, joint Rwandan and Ugandan forces launched a surprise attack on Kitona airbase in Western Congo using hijacked civilian airliners. While initially successful in taking control of major ports and infrastructure, Zimbabwean and Angolan intervention prevented the Rwandans and Ugandans from taking control of Kinshasa. The invading forces were forced to withdraw to the jungles of Angola until they were evacuated by air to Rwanda in late 1998.
June 2000
Six-Day War (2000)
The Six-Day War was a series of armed confrontations between Ugandan and Rwandan forces around the city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 5 to 10 June 2000. The war formed part of the wider Second Congo War (1998–2003).
January 2001
2001 Bunia clashes and massacre
The 2001 Bunia clashes and massacre was a sequence of interrelated attacks carried out on 19 January 2001 in and around Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, during a major intensification of Hema–Lendu conflict while the city was under the military control of the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF). The violence began with a dawn attack by Lendu-Ngiti fighters near Bunia Airport, aimed in part at destroying a Ugandan helicopter used in earlier operations. The attack resulted in the massacre of about 50 Hema civilians and the wounding of at least 20 more, before UPDF troops pushed back the attackers and killed an estimated 60 Lendu-Ngiti fighters.
May 2002
Kisangani massacre
The Kisangani massacre occurred from May 13–15, 2002 in the city of Kisangani, Tshopo. After suppressing a mutiny, the Rally for Congolese Democracy started extrajudicial killings, lootings, and rape in the city, killing as many as 183 people.
October 2002 – January 2003
Effacer le tableau
Effacer le tableau was a military operation carried out during the Second Congo War by the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo and Rally for Congolese Democracy-National between October 2002 and January 2003 against the government-aligned Rally for Congolese Democracy-Movement for Liberation. The goal of the operation was to capture the town of Mambasa, Ituri District, along with the areas to the south and southeast, ultimately aiming to seize the city of Beni in North Kivu.
February 2003
Bogoro massacre
The Bogoro massacre, which occurred on February 24, 2003, was an attack on the village of Bogoro in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Front for Patriotic Resistance of Ituri (FRPI). The attackers allegedly went on an "indiscriminate killing spree", killing at least 200 civilians, imprisoning survivors in a room filled with corpses, and sexually enslaving women and girls. Two rebel leaders, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, have been charged by the International Criminal Court with war crimes and crimes against humanity over their alleged role in planning the attack.
June 2003
Operation Artemis
Operation Artemis, formally European Union Force Democratic Republic of the Congo, was a short-term European Union-led UN-authorised military mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003, during the Ituri conflict. ARTEMIS is considered the first military operation led by the EU, the first autonomous EU operation, the first rapid response mission of the EU, first operation outside Europe, first operation applying the principle of the framework nation and first example of "relay operation", conducted in cooperation between the EU and the United Nations. The deployment of EUFOR troops quickly decreased the conflict's intensity. It marked the first autonomous EU military mission outside Europe and an important milestone in development of the European Security and Defence Policy.
Earlier and later events nearby
- 1935–1937Second Italo-Ethiopian War
- 1963Founding of the Organisation of African Unity
- 1994Rwandan genocide
- August 1998 – July 2003Second Congo WarThis page
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
Show 1 more
Other maps for this period
- Epidemics mapHIV/AIDS
- War mapsYugoslav Wars
- War mapsIraq War
- Inventions mapGoogle Search
- Epidemics map2002–2004 SARS outbreak
- Epidemics mapSeventh cholera pandemic