and Interahamwe, Hutu militia groups that had committed the Genocide against the Tutsi and were engaged in cross-border attacks on Rwanda, destroy the refugee camps that the militia groups and Hutu civilians were living in, and overthrow Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko. As chief military strategist in Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), Kabarebe helped engineer the capture of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 17, 1997, and the defeat of Mobutu Sese Seko. At the end of this mission, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Congolese Army by Kabila. However, relations between Rwanda and Kabila soon deteriorated in circumstances that would eventually lead to the Second Congo War. Fearing a coup d'état, around 27 July 1998, Kabila dismissed Kabarebe from his post. Kabila then appointed General Célestin Kifwa, a Congolese who had previously served in Angola. Second Congo War In his time as chief of staff, the 10th division, stationed in eastern Congo, began adding more Banyamulenge, Banyarwanda and ex-FAR troops who tended to oppose Kabila. Following his dismissal as Chief of Staff in July 1998, Kabarebe and Ugandan and Congolese allies began planning an attack on western Congo, intended to quickly topple the Kabila regime. On August 4, he led an airborne assault on Kitona Air Field airlifting with him around 3,000 RPA and UPDF soldiers. His troops advanced quickly, taking major ports and infrastructure in eastern Congo in a matter of days. In their march the coalition is alleged to have raped and murdered civilians and pillaged banks. In an effort to take Kinshasa the coalition cutoff the power to the city causing according to the UN "the death of an unknown number of civilians, particularly children and hospital patients." By August 22 he had reached Kinshasa, but Zimbabwean, Namibian, and Angolan intervention prevented his troops from taking and deposing Kabila. He was forced to withdraw to Angola until final evacuation in December 1998. During the retreat of the coalition forces, the Angolan Armed Forces are alleged to have carried out similar atrocities as the coalition did on its march towards Kinshasa. Rwandan Defence Forces In October 2002, president Paul Kagame appointed James Kabarebe to the position of Chief of Defence Staff of the Rwandan Defence Forces (formerly Rwandan Patriotic Army). Accusations Kabarebe is one of ten Rwandan officials accused in 2006