First Congo War

The First Congo War was fought from 1996 to 1997, when a rebellion led by Laurent-Desire Kabila and backed by Rwanda and Uganda swept across Zaire against the decades-long rule of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. The revolt was driven partly by the presence of Hutu militia and refugee camps in eastern Zaire tied to the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which Rwanda's new government wanted eliminated. Kabila's forces advanced with little effective resistance across the vast country and reached the capital Kinshasa in May 1997, at which point Mobutu fled into exile and Kabila took power, renaming the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo.