Army for the Liberation of Rwanda
| Army for the Liberation of Rwanda | |
|---|---|
|
Armée pour la Libération du Rwanda Participant in the First Congo War & the Second Congo War |
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| Active | 1997 – 30 September 2000 |
| Ideology | Hutu Power |
| Leaders | Paul Rwarakabije |
| Area of operations | DRC-Rwandan border |
| Strength | 12,000 - 22,000 in the DRC |
| Originated as | Members of the Interahamwe and the Rwandan Armed Forces |
| Became | Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda |
| Hutu militants |
|---|
| Rwandan Genocide (1994) |
| Impuzamugambi |
| Interahamwe |
| Rwandan Armed Forces |
| Refugee crisis |
| RDR (1995–1996) |
| 1st and 2nd Congo War |
| ALiR (1996–2001) |
| FDLR (2000–present) |
The Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (French: Armée pour la Libération du Rwanda, ALiR) was a rebel group largely composed of members of the Interahamwe and Armed Forces of Rwanda that carried out the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Operating mostly in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the border with Rwanda, it carried out attacks throughout the Second Congo War against forces aligned with Rwanda and Uganda. In 2000, the ALiR agreed to merge with the Hutu resistance movement based in Kinshasa into the new Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). ALiR was largely supplanted by the FDLR by 2001.
The killing during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide was largely carried out by the national army, the Armed Forces of Rwanda (FAR) and the paramilitary Interahamwe. Following the invasion of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) led by Paul Kagame, many FAR and Interahamwe fled across the border into Zaire. During the resulting Great Lakes refugee crisis, these two groups combined into the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR). The increased intensity of cross-border attacks by the ALIR led the Rwandan government to secretly arm the ethnically Tutsi Banyamulenge and organize the creation of a proxy rebel group, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila. The AFDL invaded Zaire in late 1996 in what became known as the First Congo War. The AFDL and their Rwandan and Ugandan allies forced the refugees back into Rwanda and scattering the RDR fighters to countries such as Zambia, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Burundi and Tanzania. The AFDL continued on to Kinshasa, overthrowing Mobutu Sese Seko and installing Kabila as president on 17 May 1997. Kabila then announced that the name of the country was being changed from Zaire to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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