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Cease Fire – 1997

The Hutu refugees in Zaire started to regroup in refugee camps immediately after the start of 1994. In March 1997, the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) and the armed wing of the Party for the Liberation of Rwanda (PALIR) declared their desire to overthrow the regime. Rebels infiltrated from Congo and initiated attacks in Rwanda. The government responded with disproportionate force, attacking civilians and relocating tens of thousands in an expulsion campaign. The reported number deaths resulting from the conflict was as high as 767 in 1997. The ALIR consisted two parts; the ALIR I was mainly based in the South Kivu and Maniema Provinces while ALIR II fought alongside the government army in conflicts in the DRC. ALIR I and II became part of a new political-military organization, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), in September 2000. In the conflict, the DRC helped the DFLR and the Rwandan government to provide support to the rebels in the DRC.¹

1. “UCDP Conflict Encyclopedia,” Uppsala Conflict Data Program – Uppsala University Department of Peace and Conflict Research, accessed September 3, 2012, www.ucdp.uu.se/database.