Congo's many-sided war began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda invaded to back rebels fighting to topple the government in Kinshasa.
Congolese rebels pictured north in November 2008. Rwanda's Tutsi government started to back rival militias, fighting both the Hutu militias and all sides were accused of using the cover of the war to loot the country's riches. A child soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998.