 Much of the origins of the recent conflict in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo stems from the turmoil following the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 , which then led to the Great Lakes refugee crisis . Within the largest refugee camps , beginning in Goma in Nord @-@ Kivu , were Rwandan Hutu fighters , who were eventually organised into the Rassemblement Démocratique pour le Rwanda , who launched repeated attacks into Rwanda . Rwanda eventually backed Laurent @-@ Désiré Kabila and his quickly organised Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo in invading Zaire , aiming to stop the attacks on Rwanda in the process of toppling Mobutu 's government . When the militias rebelled , backed by Rwanda , the FAZ , weakened as is noted above , proved incapable of mastering the situation and preventing the overthrow of Mobutu in 1997 . 
