Army for the Liberation of Rwanda

The Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) is a guerrilla force that is leading an insurgency against the government of Rwanda, largely from bases in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The conflict between the ALIR and the government of Rwanda is related to deep divisions among the ethnic groups of Rwandan society, for centuries before the colonial period—and for many years after—between the minority Tutsi and the majority Hutu. In the early 1990s, a Tutsi-led rebel army began attacking Rwanda from neighboring Uganda; by early 1994 the rebel forces had taken large parts of the countryside and were approaching the capital. The Hutu-controlled government then initiated a massive genocide against Rwandan Tutsi and any Hutus believed to be collaborating with them. An estimated 500,000 people were killed. By late summer, the Tutsi rebels had conquered the government forces and stopped the ...