Great African War (Triangles and Crosses)

Great African War
Soldiers in Eastern Zaire, 1988.
Date June 15th, 1979 – March 28th, 1992 (12 years, 9 months, 13 days) Place Central and Southern Africa Result Free League victory Brussels General Peace Accords Mobutu Sese Seko is ousted from power. Democratization of Angola. 1992–97 Kongo economic recession.
Belligerents
Free League Kongo Cuba Angola Zambezia Burundi Zimbabwe (1979–1986) FNC ANC (1979–1990) Military support: Ethiopia Soviet Union China (1979–1987) India (1979–1987)	Great Alliance Zaire South Africa (1979–1990) Rwanda Marchisia (1979–1986) Tanzania CNSA RENAMO volunteers Military support: Kenya Uganda United States (1979–1988) United Kingdom (1979–1983) France (1979–1984)

The Great African War ("Grande Guerra Africana" in Kongo; "Grote Afrikaanse Oorlog" in Zaire) was a regional war fought in the Central and Southern Africa between 1979 and 1992. The war is considered one of the bloodiest conflicts of the continent, with more than one million people dead, and six million people being displaced as a result of the conflict. The war was fought between the coalitions of the Free League (led by Kongo, Cuba, and Angola), and the Great Alliance (led by Zaire, South Africa, and Marchisia).

Generally, the war is considered to have begun on 15 June 1979 with the invasion of Zairean forces in the Kongolese province of Manidombe. At the time, Kongo and Zaire led a giant rivalry between both nations, and eventually, after the construction of a military base near the border with Zaire, it led to a political crisis between both countries. The PCT-led government of Kongo allied with almost every socialist group and Burundi in the group known as the Free League while Zaire and its allies formed the Great Alliance.