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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 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 will be seen as an invasion by the internal community which the plan to put in place a rebellion that would serve as a cover. The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the liberation of Congo (AFDL) will be born with Rwanda's blessing and Laurent Desire Kabila will be its spokesperson.

By mid-1997, the ADFL 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.[12] Following failed peace talks held on board of the South African ship SAS Outeniqua, Mobutu fled into exile on 16 May.

The next day, from his base in Lubumbashi, Kabila declared victory and installed himself as 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.