The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt patchily as part of the peace process which followed the end of the Second Congo War in July 2003.
Laurent-DésiréKabila usually known as Laurent Kabila,was a Congolese rebel and politician who served as the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassination in 2001.
The Second Congo War,also known as Africa's World War,the Great War of Africa,or the Great African War,began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 2 August 1998,little more than a year after the First Congo War,and involved some of the same issues. It began when Congolese president Laurent-DésiréKabila turned against his Rwandan and Ugandan allies who had helped him come to power.
The Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo was tasked with moving from the state riven by the Second Congo War (1998–2003) to a government based upon a constitution agreed on by consensus. In 2001,President Laurent Kabila was assassinated,and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of state.
Vital Kamerhe Lwa Kanyiginyi Nkingi is a Congolese politician,currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Economy and the leader of the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) party. He served as the President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2006 to 2009. After resigning from that office,he went into the opposition and founded the UNC. He ran in the 2011 presidential election. He supported Félix Tshisekedi as a coalition partner in the 2018 presidential election,and became chief of staff when Tshisekedi took office.
Congolese history in the 2000s has primarily revolved around the Second Congo War (1998–2003) and the empowerment of a transitional government.
The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including neighboring Ituri province,there are more than 120 different armed groups active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently,some of the most active rebel groups include the Allied Democratic Forces,the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo,the March 23 Movement,and many local Mai Mai militias. In addition to rebel groups and the governmental FARDC troops,a number of national and international organizations have intervened militarily in the conflict,including the United Nations force known as MONUSCO,and an East African Community regional force.
Denis Kalume Numbi is a general and a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He was part of the Antoine Gizenga government as Minister of State for the Interior,Decentralization and Security. He was replaced in this position on 26 October 2008 by Celestin Mbuyu Kabango when the government headed by Adolphe Muzito was formed.
Bosco Ntaganda is a convicted war criminal and the former military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP),an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is a former member of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and allegedly a former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC),the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots.
The National Congress for the Defence of the People is a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict,an armed conflict against the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2009,the CNDP split and Nkunda was arrested by the Rwanda government. The remaining CNDP splinter faction,led by Bosco Ntaganda,was planned to be integrated into the national army.
Laurent Nkunda is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is the former warlord operating in the province of North-Kivu,sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the Tutsi-dominated government of neighbouring Rwanda. Nkunda,who is himself a Congolese Tutsi,commanded the former DRC troops of the 81st and 83rd Brigades of the DRC Army. He speaks English,French,Swahili,Kinyarwanda,Lingala and Kinande. On January 22,2009,he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.
Floribert Chebeya Bahizire was a leading Congolese human rights activist in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,hailed by the United Nations as "a champion of human rights". His death led to calls for an investigation from more than 50 organisations,including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch,many countries and several senior UN officials,including Ban Ki-moon,Navi Pillay,Alan Doss and Philip Alston.
Army General Gabriel Amisi Kumba was Chief of Staff of the Forces Terrestres,the army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Amisi was a former Forces armees Zairoises (FAZ) officer who was recruited into the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) in 1996. During the Second Congo War,Amisi was assistant chief of staff for logistics of the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD-G). This position was the origin of his nickname,as T-4 was the abbreviation for his position. He was implicated by Human Rights Watch in the execution of soldier Joe Lona Bifuko and in the torture of prisoners in the ANC military intelligence detention centre in Goma in 2001.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma was a faction of the Congolese Rally for Democracy,a rebel movement based in Goma,Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War (1998–2003). After the war,some members of the group continued sporadic fighting in North Kivu. The movement also entered mainstream politics,participating in democratic elections with little success.
The Land Forces,also called the Congolese Army,are the land warfare component and the largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
Charles Bisengimana Rukira is the former Commissioner General of the Congolese National Police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Operation Kitona was a Rwandan/Ugandan offensive that marked the beginning of the Second Congo War. Rwanda hoped to depose Laurent-DésiréKabila and install a government more favorable to Rwanda's interests by quickly taking control of Kinshasa and the strategic western province of Bas-Congo. On August 4,1998,joint Rwandan and Ugandan forces launched a surprise attack on Kitona airbase in Western Congo using hijacked civilian airliners. While initially successful in taking control of major ports and infrastructure,Zimbabwean and Angolan intervention prevented the Rwandans and Ugandans from taking control of Kinshasa. The invading forces were forced to withdraw to the jungles of Angola until they were evacuated by air to Rwanda in late 1998.
Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala is a Democratic Republic of Congo journalist working for the pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique,correspondent for the British press agency Reuters and since 2017 at Actualite.cd.
The Voice of the Voiceless for Human Rights (VSV),more commonly known as the Voice of the Voiceless is one of the oldest Congolese human rights NGOs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although operating mainly in Kinshasa,its close collaboration with associations from other Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular through the National Network of Human Rights NGOs (RENADHOC),allows it to be represented in the main cities of the country.
Order of the National Heroes Kabila-Lumumba is the highest order of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is awarded to Congolese nationals and foreigners who have rendered merits and loyal services to the nation. The order was instituted in 2002 as a replacement for the National Order of the Leopard. It is named after President Laurent-DésiréKabila and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba,both of whom were assassinated while in office.
Democratic Republic of the Congo 
Congolese Air Force