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History repeats itself, again, in latest fighting in Congo

NAIROBI, Kenya — History is repeating itself yet again in eastern Congo. Rebels supported by Rwanda are on the march. Civilians are fleeing. And higher powers appear to be taking sides.

Congo and Rwanda have been at this stage before. First in 1996, then in 1998. Also in 2004 and 2008. The first two conflicts had their roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, but now the fighting is mostly over mineral wealth — including minerals used in the world’s smart phones and laptops....

Rwanda’s 1996 and 1998 incursions into Congo were driven by Rwanda’s troubled ethnic past. Rwanda justified the invasions on the basis that its security was being threatened by a rebel group called the FDLR, a group of ethnic Hutus. Extremist Hutus killed more than 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the country’s 1994 genocide. But the FDLR today is nowhere near as powerful as it once was, and the Hutu threat is not such a concern to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi....

Read entire article at WaPo