ABSTRACT
Classical colonialism, in which countries from Europe officially ruled territories in Africa, gave way to neo-colonialism in which control and exploitation were through leaders on behalf of the master states. The continuing warfare in the Great Lakes region can be explained in terms of rivalry over who should own and control extensive resources and for what purpose. The nature of that control has varied with time and the prevailing ideological conditions. It has often meant the use of militias as proxies, the most prominent in recent times being the interahamwe in Rwanda and the Mayi Mayi in Kivu, Eastern Congo. They were not the first militias; the tradition goes back to the beginning of classical colonialism. Whatever the nature of external control, the people of the region were caught in the fighting mostly as victims, occasionally as soldiers for particular regimes, and as militia.
