In the early 1990s, under pressure from the people and donors, President Mobutu was compelled to re-establish a multiparty system and convene a national conference. As the months went by, however, Mobutu managed to off-balance his opponents and remain in power through the use of violence and corruption, and by using tribal and regional antagonisms to his advantage. This strategy had particularly serious consequences for Zaire, including the destruction of key infrastructures, economic meltdown, the forced deportation of civilians in Katanga, ethnic violence in North Kivu and increased tribalism. Violations of human rights also became commonplace across the entire country.

In 1994, after months of institutional paralysis, supporters and opponents of President Mobutu eventually came to an agreement on the appointment by consensus of a prime minister and the establishment of a transition parliament. However, the agreement did not succeed in solving the political crisis, curbing the criminalisation of security forces or setting the country on the road towards elections. From July 1994 onwards, the influx of 1.2 million Rwandan Hutu refugees following the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda further destabilised the province of North Kivu and made the situation in South Kivu still more delicate. Due to the presence among the refugees of members of the former Forces armées rwandaises (later “ex-FAR”), as well as militias responsible for the genocide (the Interahamwe), and given the alliance that had existed for some years between the former Rwandan regime and President Mobutu, this humanitarian crisis quickly degenerated into a diplomatic and security crisis between Zaire and the new Rwandan authorities.

Faced with the use by the ex-FAR and the Interahamwe of refugee camps as a base from which to lead their incursions into Rwanda, in 1995 the new Rwandan authorities opted for a military solution to the crisis. With the aid of Uganda and Tutsis from North and South Kivu who had been denied Zairian citizenship by the transition parliament in Kinshasa, they organised a rebellion to counter the ex-FAR and Interahamwe and bring about a change of regime in Kinshasa.

During this period, the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law were concentrated for the most part in Katanga, North Kivu and in the city-province of Kinshasa.