The Deadliest Conflict You’ve Never Heard Of
Africa is frequently, and regrettably, overlooked and misunderstood by analysts. Despite a population of 1.5 billion in 2024 - more populous than any single country - the Norwegian Refugee Council details how the world’s ten most neglected crises are all in Africa, research and development from Africa is frequently overlooked and under-influential, and approximately five times as many people have been displaced in Sudan than in Palestine.
Congolese soldiers carry rifles while wearing natural camouflage. Source: The Egmont Institute
This trend is even more acute when we examine the Second Congo War - which killed nearly six million people in just ten years less than twenty years ago. In fact, this conflict was so brutal, it remains the deadliest conflict in the world since the Second World War - and most people have never heard of it.
Sadly, the Great War of Africa’s origins are no more peaceful than the war itself was. Emerging from the legacy of the Rwandan Genocide, Hutu refugees in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) formed extremist militias - which found themselves at odds against Congolese Tutsis backed by Rwanda.
If you’re already finding it confusing, I don’t blame you. To put it extremely briefly: Tutsis in Rwanda backed Tutsis in the eastern DRC to fight against Hutus that had fled from - and become violent against - them.
At the same time, Congolese dissatisfied with the corrupt leadership of President Mobutu formed rebel groups to have him overthrown. Mobutu, unpopular in Rwanda as well, quickly found himself fighting not only his own people - but the Rwandans as well, assisted by Mobutu’s chief opponent, Laurent Kabila. This became known as the First Congo War, and it not only included Uganda, Angola, and Burundi, but also concluded with Mobutu’s replacement by Kabila as president of the DRC.
An estimated 7 million people have been displaced by conflict in the eastern DRC. Source: AfricaNews
The relationship between Kabila and Rwanda, who supported him, was short-lived however. In 1998, Kabila found himself unhappy with the eastern DRC remaining unstable and, in a shocking turnaround, he ordered all foreign troops to leave the DRC. Only one year after the First Congo War ended, the Second Congo War began. The conflict truly flared when Rwanda and Uganda, as well as the rebels they backed, jointly invaded the DRC again - only to find themselves fighting Congolese, Angolan, Namibian, and Zimbabwean forces. The death toll of this conflict is staggering: the International Rescue Committee estimates that from 1998 - 2004, the period when the most serious fighting took place, almost 4 million people died in just six years.
What’s worse is that this issue has not gone away: tens of thousands of people continue to be directly affected, as recently as February of this year. Furthermore, Rwanda and Uganda continue to back rebels, such as the M23 resistance group, in the eastern DRC, and although diplomacy continues to be pursued, a lasting solution has yet to be found.
TAI Score: Degree 4. Regional stability must be monitored and pursued to guarantee that a catastrophe like the First and Second Congo Wars are not repeated. Even without a widespread outbreak of warfare, the cost of instability in the region is extremely high. This places strain on supply chains for raw materials and, far more importantly, puts human security at great risk. We must not allow Africa’s issues to continue going unnoticed, lest those of us in the West be caught by surprise.
