Operation Kitona
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Operation Kitona
Operation Kitona was a Rwandan/Ugandan offensive that marked the beginning of the Second Congo War. Rwanda hoped to depose Laurent-Désiré Kabila and install a government more favorable to Rwanda's interests by quickly taking control of Kinshasa and the strategic western province of Bas-Congo (today Kongo Central). On August 4, 1998, joint Rwandan and Ugandan forces launched a surprise attack on Kitona airbase in Western Congo using hijacked civilian airliners. While initially successful in taking control of major ports and infrastructure, Zimbabwean and Angolan intervention prevented the Rwandans and Ugandans from taking control of Kinshasa. The invading forces were forced to withdraw to the jungles of Angola until they were evacuated by air to Rwanda in late 1998. Today the operation is studied for its daring initial aerial assault, as well as the intelligence failures on the Rwandan side. Prelude In the aftermath of the First Congo War, Rwanda, Uganda and Eastern Congoles ...
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Second Congo War
The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues. The war officially ended in July 2003, when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2002, violence has continued in many regions of the country, especially in the east. Hostilities have continued since the ongoing Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the Kivu and Ituri conflicts. Nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups became involved in the war. By 2008, the war and its aftermath had caused 5.4 million deaths, principally through disease and malnutrition, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II. Another 2 million were displaced from th ...
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Angolan Armed Forces
The Angolan Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas Angolanas) or FAA is the military of Angola. The FAA consist of the Angolan Army (), the Angolan Navy () and the National Air Force of Angola (). Reported total manpower in 2021 was about 107,000. The FAA is headed by the Chief of the General Staff António Egídio de Sousa Santos since 2018, who reports to the minister of National Defense, currently João Ernesto dos Santos. History Roots The FAA succeeded to the previous People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) following the abortive Bicesse Accord with the Armed Forces of the Liberation of Angola (FALA), armed wing of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). As part of the peace agreement, troops from both armies were to be demilitarized and then integrated. Integration was never completed as UNITA and FALA went back to war in 1992. Later, consequences for FALA personnel in Luanda were harsh with FAPLA veterans persecuting their erst ...
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Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airports. On December 5, 1960, the 727 was launched with 40 orders each from United Airlines and Eastern Air Lines. The first 727-100 rolled out November 27, 1962, first flew on February 9, 1963, and entered service with Eastern on February 1, 1964. The only trijet aircraft to be produced by Boeing, the 727 is powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofans below a T-tail, one on each side of the rear fuselage and a center one fed through an S-duct. It shares its six-abreast upper fuselage cross-section and cockpit with the 707. The long 727-100 typically carries 106 passengers in two classes over , or 129 in a single class. Launched in 1965, the stretched 727-200 flew in July 1967 and entered service with Northeast Airlines that Decem ...
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Goma International Airport
Goma International Airport is an airport serving Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. History Initially built with a paved 3000 m runway and a large terminal and apron, the airport has not recovered from the 2002 eruption of the volcano Nyiragongo, 14 km to the north. The airport couldn't handle any wide-bodied aircraft except for freight operations run by relief agencies and the United Nations. A stream of fluid lava 200 m by 1000 m wide flowed onto the runway and through the city center as far as the lake shore, covering over the northern 1000 m of the runway and isolating the terminal and apron which were only connected by taxiway to the northern end. The lava can easily be seen in satellite photographs, and aircraft can be seen using the 2000 m southern section of the runway which is clear of lava. A temporary apron was made at the side of the operational part of the runway. A Douglas DC-8 was left stranded on the te ...
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Sylvain Mbuki
Sylvain is the French form of Silvanus. It may refer to: People *Sylvain Archambault, Canadian director *Sylvain Bied (1965–2011), French footballer and manager *Sylvain Cappell (born 1946), American mathematician *Sylvain Chavanel (born 1979), French cyclist * Sylvain Chomet (born 1963), French animator *Sylvain Cossette (born 1963), Canadian pop vocalist *Sylvain Côté (born 1966), Canadian former ice hockey player *Sylvain Cros (born 1980), French freestyle swimmer *Sylvain Distin (born 1977), French footballer * Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (born 1986), British footballer *Sylvain Eugène Raynal (1867–1939), French army officer *Sylvain Estibal (born 1967), French journalist, writer, and film director *Sylvain Garel (born 1956), French politician and human-rights activist *Sylvain Grenier (born 1977), Canadian wrestler * Sylvain Guintoli (born 1982), French motorcycle racer *Sylvain Arend (1902–1992), Belgian astronomer * Sylvain Lefebvre (born 1967), former NHL player *Sylvain L ...
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Goma
Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift system. Goma lies only south of the active Nyiragongo Volcano. The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the volcano and the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which in turn fuelled the First and Second Congo Wars. The aftermath of these events was still having effects on the city and its surroundings in 2010. The city was captured by rebels of the March 23 Movement during the M23 rebellion in late 2012, but it has since been retaken by government forces. Goma is the home of the annual Amani Festival which celebrates peace and in 2020 it attracted an audience of 36,000. History The city developed from 1910 when Belgium established an administrative center there. 1994 refugee crisis The Rwandan genocid ...
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Inga Dams
The Inga Dams are two hydroelectric dams connected to one of the largest waterfalls in the world, Inga Falls. They are located in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo and 140 miles southwest of Kinshasa. Inga Falls on the Congo River is a group of rapids (or cataracts) downstream of the Livingstone Falls and the Pool Malebo. The Congo falls ~ within this set of cataracts. The mean annual flow rate of the Congo River at Inga Falls is ~. Given this flow rate and the 96-metre fall, the Inga Falls alone has a potential to generate ~ of mechanical energy and nearly as much electrical energy. Inga Falls is currently the site of two large hydro power plants and is being considered for a much larger hydro power generating station known as Grand Inga. The Grand Inga project, if completed, would be the largest hydro-electric power generating facility in the world. The current project scope calls for the use of a flow rate ~26,400 cubic metres per second at a net head of ~150 ...
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Kitona Air Base
Kitona Air Base is a military airport located near Kitona in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Up until 2007, it was commanded by Major General Rigobert Massamba Musungu of the DR Congolese Air Force.U.S. Embassy Kinshasa, 07KINSHASA671 Major Reshuffle of Military and Police Leadership, Friday 15 June 2007 (UNCLAS/FOUO) Facilities The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has one runway designed 05/23 with a paved surface measuring . See also * Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Congolese Air Force (french: Force Aérienne Congolaise, or FAC) is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). From 1971 to 1997, it was known as the Zairian Air Force (, or FAZA). Hi ... References External links * {{authority control Airports in Kongo Central Province Military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
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Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel force which invaded Rwanda in 1990 and was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which ended the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's ''de facto'' leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the "Vice President" post was abolished. Born to a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda, his family fled to Uganda when he was two years old would be where he spend the rest of his childhood during the Rwandan Revolution which ended centuries of Tutsi political dominance. In the 1980s, Kagame fought in Yoweri Museveni's rebel army, becoming a senior Ugandan army officer after Museveni's military victories carried him t ...
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Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths. In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed mostly of Tutsi refugees, invaded northern Rwanda from their base in Uganda, initiating the Rwandan Civil War. Over the course of the next three years, neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage. In an effort to bring the war to a peaceful end, the Rwandan government led by Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana signed the Arusha Accords (Rwanda), Arusha Accords with the RPF on 4 August 1993. The catalyst became assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, Habyarimana's assassination on 6 April 1994, creating a power vacuum and ending peace accords. Gen ...
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Uganda People's Defence Force
The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), previously known as the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. From 2007 to 2011, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the UPDF had a total strength of 40,000–45,000 and consisted of land forces and an air wing. Recruitment to the forces is done annually. After Uganda achieved independence in October 1962, British officers retained most high-level military commands. Ugandans in the rank and file claimed this policy blocked promotions and kept their salaries disproportionately low. These complaints eventually destabilized the armed forces, already weakened by ethnic divisions. Each post-independence regime expanded the size of the army, usually by recruiting from among people of one region or ethnic group, and each government employed military force to subdue political unrest. History The origins of the Ugandan armed forces can be traced to 1902, when the Uganda Battalion of the King's African R ...
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Rwandan Patriotic Front
The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winning the Rwandan Civil War in 1994. Since 1994, the party has ruled Rwanda using tactics which have been characterised as authoritarian. Elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud. History Rwandese Alliance for National Unity Following the overthrow of Idi Amin in 1979, the Tutsi refugee intelligentsia in Uganda set up the region's first political refugee organization, the Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU), to discuss a possible return to Rwanda. Though primarily a forum for intellectual discussion, it became militant after Milton Obote's election of 1980 resulted in many Tutsi refugees joining Yoweri Museveni in fighting the Ugan ...
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