The Congo War Explained (and why it’s escalating)

The resurgence of violence in the Eastern DRC is the latest in a series of conflicts that has made it one of the longest humanitarian crisis in the world. So in this video, we shine a light on this conflict and why the world should pay more attention.

Our mission is to explain news and politics in an impartial, efficient, and accessible way, balancing import and interest while fostering independent thought.

TLDR is a completely independent & privately owned media company that's not afraid to tackle the issues we think are most important. The channel is run by a small group of young people, with us hoping to pass on our enthusiasm for politics to other young people. We are primarily fan sourced with most of our funding coming from donations and ad revenue. No shady corporations, no one telling us what to say. We can't wait to grow further and help more people get informed. Help support us by subscribing, engaging and sharing. Thanks!

//////////////////////

[KingAsterfy]

War's in Africa get very little global attention. The Ethiopian Tigray war was the deadliest war this century with over 600k deaths but most people don't even know about it

[MrGatie]

Well done for being one of the only channels that highlights what’s is happening in the world

[kiambotebbonikay]

Well done TLDR for highlighting this crisis

[gideonmele]

The Tigray war, tensions in the Horn, the west African insurgencies, and the mess in northern Mozambique: global media tend to gloss over or ignore African matters no matter how big they get

[exploshaun]

Learned about the Rwanda genocide at school. Makes sense that the dominoes still effect things today.

[renemanegu]

Thanks for your support. WE are suffering in Congo 😢

[diegomaradona]

15 million people have died in Congo DRC conflict and nobody speaks about it

[ahorrell]

What is the bloodiest war since WW2? Vietnam? Korea? Ukraine? Nope, it's the Second Congo War - AKA the World War of Africa. And it was only one chapter in a series of interconnected conflicts. Almost nobody knows about this, and it drives me crazy.

Thank you so much for covering this

[KP-kgky]

Here is what happened: There was a genocide in Rwanda, and people who did that genocide fled to Congo. There, they were armed by the French's somewhat rogue government members (see Lt. Col. Guillaume Ancel's testimony) and Mobutu the Congolese dictator. Kagame invaded the Congo to chase Mobutu and hunt down these genocide criminals in 1996 and since that day, there has been wars and proxy wars between Rwanda and the Congo. To this day, in Rwanda there are 1.4+ million confirmed dead from the genocide (numbers who are buried in genocide memorial sites) and there is at least 12 million dead in the Congo in these wars. A further 1 million Rwandans are presumed dead in Congolese forests as they fled with the exiled government. In total, that is around 30 to 50% of the 1994 Rwandan population and 15% of the Congolese population of that era. About the 1 million Rwandans who died fleeing, basically the exiled government told them "if you go back, Kagame will finish you" and those who even dreamed of returning to Rwanda were killed on the spot by these fleeing bureaucrats. Many refugees died in the forests due to a very bad life and lack of resources, etc.

They will go on until there is no more FDLR in the Congo because this FDLR is classified as a terrorist group and it was the armed wing of the exiled government responsible for the millions dead in the Rwandan genocide.


Everything else like the minerals, everyone in the region buys minerals from smugglers who steal them. The minerals come as a side effect of the actual bigger war which is Rwanda's unending desire to root out all of FDLR and the Congolese government which has elements that support and others that despise this group (so alliances change based on who has the most favor from the presidency). Normally a few years ago, Rwanda was doing joint operations with Congo against FDLR, they even killed its then commander Gen Mudacumura. Something happened which we don't know and the cooperation stopped and now it's war with FDLR's CRAP (Commando de Recherche et d'Action en Profondeur) fighting for the Congolese army. This unit is one of FDLR's most elite and it is the only proven Long range reconnaisance Patrol unit in the theater (so all those precision drone strikes against M23 that killed colonels and majors in meetings, it is these guys who probably do the field recon and directing of these strikes).


This will probably end in some sort of reconciliation as it always does, then war again, then reconciliation, then war, it is a never ending cycle.

[Kbarbie]

Another reason why it gets less attention ( and honestly probably the main reason why) is because this war has been going on for decades and decades some 27 years. It started 1996ish which for a lot people feels like a forever war.

[espoespo]

My grandpa, talking about the conflict in the Congo, said nobody cares a bunch of you know what dying. It made me so sad, then again he was probably speaking the truth.

[SunRiseNightFall]

Thank you for sharing this information about my country brother. 🙏🙌🙌👏👏🇨🇩🇨🇩🐆🐆

[KolydoscopeMusic]

Thank you TLDR for covering this topic — as a Congolese-American, it breaks my heart knowing that Congo (and specifically eastern Congo in Goma) have been experiencing these crises since before I was born. This also needs to be highlighted given the fact that Congo’s minerals and natural resources are utilized all over the world and should be a reminder to stand in solidarity with those who are globally.

[iangatere]

Thanks for shining your spotlight on this vexing crisis in a largely balanced & informed way.

[willowtdog]

Thanks for bringing more awareness to this one. It definitely doesn’t get nearly enough.

[ketch_up]

thanks for posting, the best content I've seen about Congo. Period.

[alexanderclaylavin]

Videos like this are why the TLDR crew are the best on the scene

[doxologist]

This was a phenomenon segment. Especially that closing message. Thank you so much for your reporting

[christerry]

Thank you for informing people of other conflicts in the world. Sadly, social media and the news dictate what stories are worthy of coverage.

[gidi]

7:09 there's already drama over this here in South Africa, South Africans don't want our soldiers deployed over there, rather at our border to protect it, and now there's 2 soldiers dead and 3 injured from mortar shelling.