1
In 1996, Rwanda and Uganda invaded Zaire and, alongside a small rebel group led by
Laurent Kabila, marched all the way to Kinshasa and overthrew the thirty-year-old government of
President Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila became the President of the now-renamed Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC); however, his relations with his external patrons quickly soured.
Within less than a year Rwanda and Uganda were again at war with the Congolese government, this
time fighting alongside different domestic insurgents. In 2001 fighting stopped, but alleged troop
movements by the Rwandan army into Eastern Congo in late 2004 suggested that, more than eight
years after fighting began, the underlying issues in the conflict were not completely resolved and a
return to full-scale war was possible.
At roughly the same time, the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring
Group (ECOMOG) dispatched a large force into Sierra Leone.
1
The ECOMOG forces overthrew
the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)-led government and restored and provided two years of
support to the previous government. Following the intervention, the RUF continued to fight but its
ability to wage war was severely diminished. In 1999, ECOMOG withdrew and in 2000 the conflict
ended.
2
At the time, both of these external interventions in civil conflict were praised by many
scholars and policymakers.
3
Some talked of an “African renaissance” or of “African solutions to
African problems.” However, years later it is clear that, while the ECOMOG intervention in Sierra
Leone was instrumental in resolving a very costly long-running civil war, the high degree of external
involvement in the Congo led to that conflict becoming the largest war since World War II.
1
ECOMOG intervened in Sierra Leone in February 1998.
2
The end of war in Sierra Leone was actually hastened by another external intervener. In May 2000, British troops
arrived in Sierra Leone to evacuate British nationals. The troops stayed and helped the government battle the RUF, one
factor leading the RUF to sign a ceasefire agreement in November 2000, officially ending the conflict.
3
The clearest example of this attitude was seen in an article entitled “Africa’s New Bloc” in the influential international
relations journal Foreign Affairs. In that article, Connell and Smyth (1998) claimed that leaders such as Ugandan President
Museveni and Rwandan Vice President Paul Kagame represented a new generation of African leaders opposed to the
kind of corrupt and dictatorial rule represented by Mobutu, and willing to take initiative to remove those leaders.
Convention