Editing Laurent-Désiré Kabila (section)

== First Congo War ==
{{main|First Congo War}}
As Rwandan Hutu refugees fled to Congo (then [[Zaire]]) after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, refugee camps along the Zaire-Rwanda border became [[Great Lakes refugee crisis|militarized with Hutu militia vowing to retake power in Rwanda]]. The Kigali regime considered these militias as a security threat and was seeking a way to dismantle those refugee camps. After Kigali had expressed its security concerns to Kinshasa, requesting that refugee camps get moved further inside the country, and Kinshasa ignored these concerns, Kigali believed that only military option could solve the issue. However, a military operation inside Zaire was likely be seen by the international community as an [[First Congo War#:~:text=The conflict culminated in a,rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila.&text=The situation finally escalated when,found refuge in the country.|invasion]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Lokongo |first1=Antoine |date=September 2000 |title=The suffering of Congo |magazine=New African |issn=0140-833X |url=https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=086db21c-cbe3-4424-8372-8050f2e512a3%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=3520628&db=aph |url-access=subscription |issue=388 |page=20 |access-date=13 December 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227190422/https://weblogin.asu.edu/cas/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fezproxy-config.lib.asu.edu%2Fauth#AN=3520628&db=aph |url-status=live }}</ref> A plan was put in place to foment a [[Banyamulenge]] rebellion that would serve as a cover.{{sfn|Reyntjens|2009|page=106}} The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) was then born when Rwanda brought together four Congolese political exiles,{{sfn|Reyntjens|2009|page=107}} with Kabila as its spokesperson and one of the co-founders, on 18 October 1996. Furthermore, on 4 January 1997 an agreement to merge the four founding political parties into a single movement for "assembling all the live forces of the Congolese nation," was adopted. Kabila was made the leader of the AFDL as the chairman of its executive committee.{{sfn|Reyntjens|2009|pages=102—103}}

As a native of Katanga, he was used to give the AFDL more of a national character instead of being a Tutsi movement.{{sfn|Reyntjens|2009|page=107}} By mid-1997, the AFDL had almost completely overrun the country and the remains of Mobutu's army. Only the country's decrepit infrastructure slowed Kabila's forces down; in many areas, the only means of transit were irregularly used dirt paths.<ref name=Dickovick>{{cite book |title=The World Today Series: Africa 2012 |last=Dickovick |first=J. Tyler |year=2008 |publisher=Stryker-Post Publications |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=978-1-61048-881-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/africa20120000dick }}</ref> Following failed peace talks held on board of the South African ship [[SAS Outeniqua|SAS ''Outeniqua'']], Mobutu fled into exile on 16 May.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The next day, from his base in [[Lubumbashi]], Kabila declared victory and installed himself as [[List of Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|president]]. Kabila suspended the Constitution and changed the name of the country from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo—the country's official name from 1964 to 1971. He made his grand entrance into Kinshasa on 20 May and was sworn in on 31 May, officially commencing his tenure as president.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}