As soon as troops from Zimbabwe and Angola joined in the war in the Congo on August 24 and 25, Tanzania withdrew its 600 ­strong military training mission. Tanzania made it clear that it did not want to be involved in widening the conflict. The soldiers were evacuated by South African planes. Rebel forces had been planning to attack them according to a report in the Dar es Salaam Guardian.

Large numbers of refugees from the Congo civil war have been arriving in Kigoma.

The head of the rebel movement, officially Chairman of the political wing of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, is Ernest Wamba Dia Wamba who, until a few months ago, was a history professor at Dar es Salaam University. He went into exile during the Mobuto years.