Like the eight-year civil war (in what was then known as Zaire) that nominally ended in 2002, the current fighting involves many different local groups: not only the Congolese government forces, which oppose the insurgents loyal to the Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, but also the Rwandan Hutu rebels who were responsible for the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990’s and a jungle force known as the “Mai-Mai” militias. “It is a basket of crabs,” one Congolese friend told me.
和在2002年名义上结束的八年内战（当时刚果仍然叫扎伊尔）一样，当前的战争涉及许多不同的当地群体：不仅有反对忠于图西族劳伦·坤达（Laurent Nkunda）将军的武装分子的刚果政府军队，而且还有对20世纪90年代的卢旺达种族屠杀负有责任的卢旺达胡图族叛军，以及以“马伊－马伊”民兵知名的丛林军队。“局面一片混乱，”一位刚果朋友告诉我。