Bang Bang Bang (2 page)

1998
August – Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda rise up against Kabila and advance on Kinshasa. Zimbabwe, Namibia send troops to repel them. Angolan troops also side with Kabila. The rebels take control of much of the east of DR Congo.

1999
– Rifts emerge between Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) rebels supported by Uganda and Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) rebels backed by Rwanda.

Lusaka Peace Accord Signed

1999
July – The six African countries involved in the war sign a ceasefire accord in Lusaka. The following month the MLC and RCD rebel groups sign the accord.

2000
– UN Security Council authorises a 5,500-strong UN force to monitor the ceasefire but fighting continues between rebels and government forces, and between Rwandan and Ugandan forces.

2001
January – President Laurent Kabila is shot dead by a bodyguard. Joseph Kabila succeeds his father.

2001
February – Kabila meets Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington. Rwanda, Uganda and the rebels agree to a UN pull-out plan. Uganda, Rwanda begin pulling troops back from the frontline.

2001
May – US refugee agency says the war has killed 2.5 million people, directly or indirectly, since August 1998. Later, a UN panel says the warring parties are deliberately
deliberately prolonging the conflict to plunder gold, diamonds, timber and coltan, used in the making of mobile phones.

2002
January – Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo devastates much of the city of Goma.

Search for Peace

2002
April – Peace talks in South Africa: Kinshasa signs a power-sharing deal with Ugandan-backed rebels, under which the MLC leader would be premier. Rwandan-backed RCD rebels reject the deal.

2002
July – Presidents of DR Congo and Rwanda sign a peace deal under which Rwanda will withdraw troops from the east and DR Congo will disarm and arrest Rwandan Hutu gunmen blamed for the killing of the Tutsi minority in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

2002
September – Presidents of DR Congo and Uganda sign peace accord under which Ugandan troops will leave DR Congo.

2002
September/October – Uganda, Rwanda say they have withdrawn most of their forces from the east. UN-sponsored power-sharing talks begin in South Africa.

2002
December – Peace deal signed in South Africa between Kinshasa government and main rebel groups. Under the deal rebels and opposition members are to be given portfolios in an interim government.

Interim Government

2003
April – President Kabila signs a transitional constitution, under which an interim government will rule pending elections.

2003
May – Last Ugandan troops leave eastern DR Congo.

2003
June – French soldiers arrive in Bunia, spearheading a UN-mandated rapid-reaction force.

2003
President Kabila names a transitional government to lead until elections in two years time. Leaders of main former rebel groups are sworn in as vice-presidents in July.

2003
August – Interim parliament inaugurated.

2004
March – Gunmen attack military bases in Kinshasa in an apparent coup attempt.

2004
June – Reported coup attempt by rebel guards is said to have been neutralised.

2004
December – Fighting in the east between the Congolese army and renegade soldiers from a former pro-Rwanda rebel group. Rwanda denies being behind the mutiny.

2005
March – UN peacekeepers say they have killed more then 50 militia members in an offensive, days after nine Bangladeshi soldiers serving with the UN are killed in the north-east.

New Constitution

2005
May – New constitution, with text agreed by former warring factions, is adopted by parliament.

2005
September – Uganda warns that its troops may re-enter DR Congo after a group of Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels enter via Sudan.

2005
November – A first wave of soldiers from the former Zairean army returns after almost eight years of exile in the neighbouring Republic of Congo.

2005
December – Voters back a new constitution, already approved by parliament, paving the way for elections in 2006.

International Court of Justice rules that Uganda must compensate DR Congo for rights abuses and the plundering of resources in the five years up to 2003.

2006
February – New constitution comes into force; new national flag is adopted.

2006
March – Warlord Thomas Lubanga becomes first war crimes suspect to face charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He is accused of forcing children into active combat.

2006
May – Thousands are displaced in the north-east as the army and UN peacekeepers step up their drive to disarm irregular forces ahead of the elections.

Free Elections

2006
July – Presidential and parliamentary polls are held – the first free elections in four decades. With no clear winner in the presidential vote, incumbent leader Joseph Kabila and opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba prepare to contest a run-off poll on 29 October. Forces loyal to the two candidates clash in the capital.

2006
November – Joseph Kabila is declared winner of October's run-off presidential election. The poll has the general approval of international monitors.

2006
December – Forces of renegade General Laurent Nkunda and the UN-backed army clash in North Kivu province, prompting some 50,000 people to flee. The UN Security Council expresses concern about the fighting.

2007
March – Government troops and forces loyal to opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba clash in Kinshasa.

2007
April – DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi relaunch the regional economic bloc Great lakes Countries Economic Community, known under its French acronym CEPGL.

2007
April – Jean-Pierre Bemba leaves for Portugal, ending a three-week political stalemate in Kinshasa, during which he sheltered in the South African embassy.

2007
May – The UN investigates allegations of gold and arms trafficking by UN peacekeepers in Ituri region.

2007
June – War could break out again in the east, warns the Archbishop of Bukavu, Monsignor Francois-Xavier Maroy.

2007
June – Radio Okapi broadcaster Serge Maheshe is shot dead in Bukavu, the third journalist killed in the country since 2005.

2007
Augus – Uganda and DR Congo agree to try defuse a border dispute.

2007
– Aid agencies report a big
increase in refugees fleeing instability in North Kivu which is blamed on dissident general Nkunda.

2007
September – Major outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

2008
January – The government and rebel militia, including renegade Gen Nkunda, sign a peace pact aimed at ending years of conflict in the east.

Renewed Clashes

2008
April – Army troops clash with Rwandan Hutu militias with whom they were formerly allied in eastern Congo, leaving thousands of people displaced.

2008
Augus – Heavy clashes erupt in the east of the country between army troops and fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.

2008
October – Rebel forces capture major army base of Rumangabo; the Congolese government accuses Rwanda of backing General Nkunda, a claim Rwanda denies.

2008
Thousands of people, including Congolese troops, flee as clashes in eastern DR Congo intensify. Chaos grips the provincial capital Goma as rebel forces advance. UN peacekeepers engage the rebels in an attempt to support Congolese troops.

2008
November – Campaign by Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda to consolidate control over east prompts new wave of refugees.

2008
UN Security Council approves temporary increase of troops to bolster the strained UN peacekeeping effort.

2008
December – Uganda, South Sudan and DRCongo launch joint assault on Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army bases in north-east DR Congo. Hundreds of civilians are killed in backlash attacks.

2009
January – Launch of joint DR Congo-Rwandan military operation against Tutsi rebels led by Laurent Nkunda. Campaign lasts five weeks. Nkunda is displaced by Bosco Ntaganda and arrested in Rwanda.

2009
February – Médecins San Frontières accuses UN peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians from LRA rebels.

2009
April – Hutu militia re-emerge after end of joint DR Congo-Rwanda campaign in east, prompting thousands to flee.

2009
May – Kabila approves law giving amnesty to armed groups as part of deal meant to end fighting in east.

2009
June – International Criminal Court orders ex-vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba to stand trial on charges of war crimes for his troops' actions in Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003.

Series of mutinies by soldiers in the east complaining they haven't been paid.

2009
July – Swiss court rules that frozen assets of ex-president Mobutu Sese Seko be returned to his family.

2009
August – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Goma, promises $17 million aid for victims of sexual violence.

Head of MONUC Alan Doss declares five months of joint army-UN operations against Rwandan rebels – “Kimia 2” – to have been “largely positive”.

2009
September – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay suspects

October–November 2008 violence in
North Kivu may amount to war crimes committed by both the army and CNDP militia.

2009
November – Germany arrests two alleged FDLR leaders on suspicion of war crimes in eastern DR Congo.

2009
December – UN extends mandate of MONUC for shortened five months, as a step to full withdrawal by mid-2010.

2010
May – Government steps up pressure for UN peacekeepers to quit before elections in 2011. UN's top humanitarian official John Holmes warns against premature departure.

2010
June – Prominent human rights advocate Floribert Chebeya found dead a day after being summoned to meet the chief of police.

Celebrations mark 50 years of independence.

2010
July – $8 billion debt relief deal approved by World Bank and IMF.

New electoral commission launched to prepare for 2011 elections.

2010
July–August – Mass rapes reported in North Kivu province. UN envoy Margot Wallstrom blames both rebels and army.

2010
June–August – Operation Rwenzori against Ugandan ADFNALU rebels prompts 90,000 to flee in North Kivu province.

2010
October – UN report into killing of Hutus in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 says they may constitute “crimes of genocide”. It implicates Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Angola.

2010
November – UN agencies report widespread rapes during mass expulsion of illigal migrants from Angola to DRCongo.

UN report accuses networks within army of promoting violence in east to profit from mining, smuggling and poaching.

Ex-DR Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba goes on trial at International Criminal Court accused of letting his troops rape and kill in Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003.

Paris Club of creditor countries scrap half of DR Congo's debt.

2011
January – Constitution changed, which some say boost President Kabila's election chances.

2011
February – Court sentences Lt-Col Kibibi Mutware to 20 years in jail in a mass rape case in eastern Congo. This is the first conviction of a commanding officer for rape in eastern DR Congo.

19 killed in coup bid against president, police say.

2011
May – Rwandan Hutu rebel Ignace Murwanashyaka goes on trial in Germany for alleged crimes against humanity in DR Congo.

For Anneke, Miriam, Max.

Acknowledgements

My grateful thanks to:

Dominic Cooke, Mel Kenyon, Ruth Little, Rachel Taylor, Nic Wass, Graham Cowley, John Blackmore, Patrick Sandford, Miriam Nabarro, Gerard Feehily, Paul Hickey, Giles Cooper, Lucy Briars, Babou Ceesay, Aoife McMahon, Mickey Sumner, Mia Soteriou, Mel Corker, Brian O'Connell, Nigel and Hilary Stafford-Clark, Claudia Seymore, Zoe Marriage, Ann McFerran, Anneke Van Woudenberg, Tom Porteous, Daniel Nelson, Gaby Smith, Aisling Swaine, David Thacker, Philip Wilson, Ian Gilly, Amy Ball, Lotte Hines, Veronique Aubert, Scilla Ellworthy, Victoria Brittain, Mike Dixon, Olivia Blanchard, Anna Wilkins, Mohamed Osman, Marcus Bleasdale, Susanna Bennett, Lucy Ashken, Vickiesha Chabra, Chris Jameson, Jon Bradfield, Panda Cox, Chantelle Staynings, Chris Campbell, Kamau Wa Ndung'u, Steve Crawshaw, Emily McLoughlin, Des Kennedy.

And as ever – to Max Stafford-Clark – more than a legend in his own lunchtime.

S.F.
July 2011

French translation by Miriam Nabarro
Swahili translation by Charles Mampasu

Note on the Text

A forward slash
( / )
in the text indicates the point at which the next speaker interrupts.

Characters

In order of appearance

SADHBH
, Irish, twenty-nine

MATHILDE
, French, twenties

SOLDIER
, Congolese, twenties

STEPHEN
, English, late thirties

BIBI
, American, late thirties

CHILD SOLDIER

WOMAN WITH SICK BABY

MAMA CAROLINA

AMALA
, nine

FEMALE SOLDIER

COLONEL MBURAME
, twenties

RONAN
, thirty

VIN
, twenty-three

INNOCENT

SCREAMING CHILD

MICHAEL
, thirties

Doubling:

Sadhbh
(
pronounced ‘Sigh-ve'
)