The Rassemblement Démocratique pour le Rwanda (RDR) was an insurgent group operating in the eastern region of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) against the government of Rwanda from 1995 to 1996. It was composed almost entirely of members of the former Rwandan army (ex-FAR) and Interahamwe responsible for the 1994 Rwandan Genocide who had been forced to flee after the Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) invaded. The RDR's increasingly organized attacks into Rwanda led the RPA to invade eastern Zaire in October 1996 to end the threat, destroying the RDR and signaling the beginning of the First Congo War. The RDR was replaced by the Armée de Libération du Rwanda (ALiR). An insurgency is an armed rebellion by any irregular armed force that rises up against an established authority, government, or administration. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Interahamwe, meaning Those Who Stand Together in Kinyarwanda, was the largest of the militias formed by the Hutu ethnic majority of Rwanda and was responsible for many of the deaths in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The skulls of victims show gashes and signs of violence The Rwandan Genocide was the organized murder of up to one million Rwandans in 1994. ... The Tutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa: the other two being the Twa and the Hutu. ... The Rwandese Patriotic Front (sometimes referred to as the Rwandan Patriotic Front, abbreviated as RPF) is the current ruling political party of Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame. ... October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The First Congo War was a conflict from late 1996 to 1997 in which Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as Uganda and Rwanda. ...

Development of the RDR

Refugee camp in Zaire, 1994

Following the end of the Rwandan Genocide in October 1994, two million refugees fled out of Rwanda into neighboring countries, particularly Zaire and Tanzania. While most were people of Hutu ethnicity who feared retaliation by the Tutsis of the new government, they also included many of the leaders and organizers of the genocide who were intent on regaining control of the government. These survivors first engaged in banditry as they tried to find a way to survive. However, these uncoordinated acts of violence quickly developed into targeted assassinations of Tutsi survivors of the genocide and Hutu leaders willing to work with the new government of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front. Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide Original caption: Rwandan refugees making camp in Kimbumba. ... Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide Original caption: Rwandan refugees making camp in Kimbumba. ... The skulls of victims show gashes and signs of violence The Rwandan Genocide was the organized murder of up to one million Rwandans in 1994. ... October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Hutu is the name given to one of the three ethnic groups occupying Burundi and Rwanda. ... The Tutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa: the other two being the Twa and the Hutu. ... Politics of Rwanda Categories: Rwandese political parties | Politics stubs ...

The arms and organizational ability of the RDR soon resulted in its control of the vast refugee camps set up in Bukavu, Goma and Uvira in the Zairean states of North and South Kivu for the one million civilians who had fled across Rwanda's western border. This control was solidified as the RDR recreated the administrative structures they had used during the Rwandan Genocide. The RDR also received arms and other support from the Hutu rebel National Council for the Defense of Democracy, which under the leadership of Léonard Nyangoma was attempting to overthrow the Tutsi government of Burundi, as well as from Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko, who had in interest in destabilizing the hostile government of President Paul Kagame. Bukavu is a city on the southwestern shores of Lake Kivu and the capital of the Sud-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... Goma is a large city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. ... Nord-Kivu is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... Sud-Kivu is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... The National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (NCDD-FDD) is the most significant rebel group in Burundi. ... Mobutu Sésé Seko Nkuku wa za Banga (or Mobutu Sese Seko Koko Ngbendu Wa Za Banga; October 14, 1930 – September 7, 1997) was the President of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) from 1965 to 1997. ... Paul Kagame (born October 23, 1957) is the president of Rwanda, and was a founder of the Rwandese Patriotic Front and its military commander during the Rwandan Civil War and Rwandan Genocide. ...

The RDR was also able to capture and control the flow of international relief aid flowing to the refugee camps through the United Nations and other humanitarian aid organizations. The normal procedure in humanitarian emergencies is to funnel aid through the local, pre-existing administrative structures. In this case, all of these structures were controlled by the RDR. This forced aid organizations to deal with militants accused of genocide in order to give relief aid, such as basic food and medicine, to the many refugees living in desperate situations. The RDR also began to gather resources from the Hutu diaspora in Nairobi, Kenya and western countries. As the RDR grew in strength it began to begin training and arming Hutu refugees in camps in Tanzania in preparation for opening an eastern front against the Rwandan government. The rebels also benefited from the presence of many sympathetic Hutus who had remained within Rwanda. The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now made up of 191 states. ... The term diaspora (Greek διασπορά, a scattering or sowing of seeds) is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands, being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their dispersal and culture. ... Nairobi skyline Nairobi is the capital of Kenya. ...

By March 1996, the RDR had begun carrying out raids against the Rwandese provinces of Cyangugu, Ruhengeri and Gisenyi. The RPF government response was heavy-handed, prompting even more resistance from the Tutsis. At the same time, the RDR was beginning to carry out ethnic cleansings of the Banyamulenge, kin to the Tutsis living in Zaire, and native Zairean Tutsi living near Masisi. There was widespread forced recruitment into armed groups from both the Rwandese refugee population and Zairean Hutu near Rutshuru and intensive military training throughout the Kivus. By early 1996, the RDR forces numbered 50,000-70,000 soldiers divided into two commands, with headquarters in Mugunga, North Kivu and Bukavu, South Kivu, that were commanded by experienced ex-FAR generals such as Augustin Bizimungu and Gratien Kabiligi. For alternative meanings, see March (disambiguation). ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Cyangugu or Ciangugu is a prefecture and town in southwestern Rwanda close to the border of Democratic Republic of Congo and close to the shores of Lake Kivu. ... Ruhengeri is a market town in north western Rwanda, lying near Lake Bulera and the Volcans National Park. ... Gisenyi is a lake resort, lying on Lake Kivu in Rwanda. ... The term ethnic cleansing refers to various policies of forcibly removing people of another ethnic group. ... The Banyamulenge are a group of ethnic Tutsis living in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). ... Nord-Kivu is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... Sud-Kivu is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ... General Augustin Bizimungu Augustin Bizimungu is a former general in the Rwandan army. ...

The Rwandan attack

The Rwandan government of Paul Kagame had vociferously protested the presence of Hutu militants within refugee camps of easter Zaire since the end of the Rwandan Genocide. However, the various humanitarian aid agencies declared that their responsibility was to help those in need, not to disarm armed forces. The Mobutu government was actively helping the rebels. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found itself unable to implement a proposed solution to move the refugee camps, and the militants, farther into Zaire. Mobutu did not want the security threat to move away from the border, the population of Kivu that was hosting the refugees thought that moving the refugees farther into the country would prolong their stay, and the residents of Maniema, which was the proposed target of relocation, did not want the refugees at all. The outside international community, despite many recriminations about the lack of action during the Rwandan Genocide, lacked the will to intervene in what was obviously a highly unstable situation. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established December 14, 1950) protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Maniema is a province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. ...

In response to the attacks of the RDR and Kivutian Hutu extremists against the Banyamulenge and Tutsi of Masisi, the RPF began to supply arms and training to these kin groups within Zaire. Nevertheless, Rwanda was faced with two basic choices: wait for the RDR to attack or preempt such an attack. Following an attack on Banyamulenge villages in October 1996, Rwanda carried out the second option, marking the beginning of the First Congo War. A massive RPF offensive across the Zairean border had three objectives: 1) destroy the RDR command structure, 2) repatriate the refugees who formed the resource base of the RDR, and 3) remove the hostile Mobutu government. Rwanda organized four Zairean rebel groups into the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire (AFDL) led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila to assist in their goals. October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The First Congo War was a conflict from late 1996 to 1997 in which Zairean President Mobutu Sésé Seko was overthrown by rebel forces backed by foreign powers such as Uganda and Rwanda. ... The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL) was a coalition of Congolese dissidents, disgruntled minority groups and nations that toppled President Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Laurent Kabila to power in the First Congo War (1996-1998). ... Note: if you came to this web page after seeing it in a SPAM email, please be advised that (a) we have nothing to do with that spam and (b) the person who sent you the message is a criminal who is trying to steal your money. ...

The attack on the refugee camps, for which Rwanda was heavily criticized, led to the destruction of the RDR command structures and the forced repatriation of 600,000 refugees in the Kivus, as well of a further 400,000 refugees in Tanzania, in December 1996. Unknown hundreds of thousands of refugees died either from the violence or from exposure and hunger after fleeing into the forests of the region. In May 1997, the AFDL and their Rwandan and Ugandan backers swept into the capital of Kigali and Mobutu fled into exile. Kabila declared himself president and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), ending the First Congo War. December is the twelfth and last month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... This article is about the month of May. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ... Kigali, population 330,000 (1997), is the capital city of Rwanda and its largest city, lying in the centre of the nation. ...

However, it proved to be a temporary respite. RDR fighters scattered to neighboring countries such as Zambia, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Burundi and Tanzania. After a few months of relative peace, these Hutu fighters were reformed into a new insurgency group, the Alliance for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALiR), that began to start operating in the eastern DRC again in early 1997. 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ...

External links

• Disarmament in the Congo: Jump-Starting DDRRR to Prevent Further War (http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?action=login&ref_id=1633), International Crisis Group, 14 December 2000, pp. 4-6