After moving into North and South Kivu in July 1994, the ex-FAR/Interahamwe used the refugee camps along the Rwanda and Burundi borders as bases and training camps. Using the decades-old strategic alliance with President Mobutu and the widespread corruption within the FAZ to their advantage, the ex-FAR bought back or recovered the military equipment confiscated on their arrival in Zaire and resumed war against the army of the Front patriotique rwandais, which was now the national army of Rwanda, the Armée patriotique rwandaise (APR).

In response to the mounting tension between Zaire and Rwanda, several countries suggested moving the refugee camps away from the border. Some also recommended that an international peacekeeping force be deployed and that negotiations be opened in the region. However, due to a lack of adequate funding, political willpower and a suitable strategy for separating combatants from refugees, the camps were not moved and the ex-FAR and Interahamwe units continued to rearm themselves with a view to recapturing Kigali by force. On account of the presence of many génocidaires among the ex-FAR, the growing diplomatic isolation of President Mobutu and the refusal of the new Rwandan authorities to open negotiations, no political settlement was reached and ex-FAR/Interahamwe attacks in Rwanda became more common, as did the incursions of the APR into the Zairian territory. From August 1996, Banyamulenge/Tutsi armed units and soldiers from the APR and the FAB infiltrated South Kivu. They attacked the FAZ and the ex-FAR/Interahamwe but also, and above all, the refugee camps, some of which served as bases for the ex-FAR/Interahamwe and for Burundian Hutu armed groups (CNDD-FDD and PALIPEHUTU-FNL).

The entire period was characterised by the relentless pursuit of Hutu refugees and the ex-FAR/Interahamwe by the AFDL/APR forces across the entire Congolese territory. The refugees, who were sometimes rounded up and used by the ex-FAR/Interahamwe as human shields during their flight, then began a long trek across the country from east to west towards Angola, the Central African Republic or the Republic of the Congo. During this journey, acts of violence against Zairian civilian populations were also reportedly soemthimes committed by refugees and the ex-FAR/Interahamwe, and there were many instances of looting.