1994
April 6: A plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down over Kigali.
The Hutu-dominated military (FAR) and Hutu militia began a genocidal campaign against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
April 7: Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a major offensive against Kigali.
July 4: The RPF captured Kigali.
July 19: RPF forces reached the border with Zaire (present-day DRC), forcing the Hutu army and militia out of Rwanda into the eastern DRC.
ALIR was founded in Hutu refugee camps in the DR Congo.
1995
ALIR began infiltrating fighters into Rwanda to conduct operations against the Tutsi-led government.
1996
The RPF crossed into Zaire to break up the Hutu camps and repatriate the refugees.
1999
March 1: ALIR allegedly killed eight foreign tourists, including two Americans, who had been abducted from the Bwindi National Park in Uganda.
2001
ALIR changed its name to Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
May: The FDLR launched its first major incursion into Rwanda since 1998.
July: The Rwandan government announced that it had killed 1,500 FDLR fighters since that May and said it captured Col. Peter Habimana, a leader of the FDLR, in northwest Rwanda.
2002
September: Rwanda reported that it had withdrawn its more than 20,000 troops occupying the eastern part of the DRC.
August: FDLR leader Gen. Augustin Bizimungu was detained at a demobilization camp for UNITA rebels in Angola. Bizimungu was commander of the Rwandan military during the 1994 genocide.
2003
The United Nations assisted in repatriation of 1,500 former FDLR combatants from the Congo to Rwanda.
November: FDLR commander Paul Rwarakabije surrendered with 103 other rebels. Rwarakabije was later integrated into the Rwandan army at the rank of major general.
2004
The Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD-Goma) reportedly launched operations against the FDLR.
December: Rwandan army units crossed into the Congo to assist RCD-Goma in its fight against the FDLR, according to the United Nations.
2005
March 31: FDLR leader Ignace Murwanashyaka declared that the rebels were prepared to renounce armed conflict and peacefully return to Rwanda. Some hardline members did not support the move.
June: Deputy military commander Jeribaal Amani seized control of the FDLR military wing.
June: Congolese President Joseph Kabila ordered all foreign militia in the DRC to be disarmed.
Attacks and arson by suspected FDLR members against civilians, law enforcement and military personnel continued in the DRC throughout the year.
2006
April: Murwanashyaka was arrested in Germany while traveling on a Ugandan passport. Questions arose over how the FDLR leader obtained the Ugandan passport. Other major figures in the Rwandan genocide and the FDLR were also believed to have obtained Ugandan passports.
October 31: President Bush announced a freeze on the assets of Murwanashyaka, along with the assets of several other FDLR political officials.
2007
March: Uganda handed over to Rwanda eight captured FDLR militants. Joint intelligence meetings between Uganda and Rwanda reportedly assisted in the capture of the militants.
April: U.N. peacekeepers and the DRC army launched an offensive to drive the FDLR out of the unstable eastern region of the DRC.
July: The United Nations, according to wire-service accounts, continued to investigate allegations that the FDLR was involved in gold-trafficking with U.N. peacekeepers. The gold was said to have been exchanged for food, weapons and intelligence on Rwanda. The FDLR denied the reports.
July 1: FDLR raiders reportedly looted 40 houses in Mutanda, and set fire to the localities of Bwuma and Kiwazi.
July 10: As a result of several attacks by FDLR rebels, the Congolese national police abandoned its position in Kisharu. A few days earlier, soldiers from the Congolese army abandoned their position in the Kisharu and Mirambi area, leaving the local residents with no protection. The soldiers returned to Kisharu on July 12.
July 22: Three FDLR/Rasta elements attacked the village of Nyabishaka, looted several houses and also abducted two women. The attack caused panic among the local population who were aware of a May 2008 massacre in Kanyola perpetrated by the FDLR/Rasta in which 17 villagers were killed. The Rasta are a small group of former Rwandan Hutu militiamen who operate as bandits.
July 27: Rebels believed to be FDLR combatants attacked Bulwe and abducted four women. The army, with the support of MONUC’s South Kivu Brigade, found two of the women. One was dead, the other was seriously wounded.
Aug 11: The Tutsi-dominated Congolese army halted its efforts to drive the FDLR out of the DRC due to international concerns about exacerbating ethnic tensions with ethnic Hutus.
September 19: Eight rebels allegedly associated with FDLR attacked and pillaged the village of Kakenge. Another FDLR group also attacked and pillaged two villages in the territory of Mwenga. The assailants reportedly abducted eight villagers.
November 1: Three civilians in South-Kivu were allegedly abducted and a local clinic was looted during an attack carried out by the FDLR in the village of Kabushwa/Katana.
December 20: Four women were allegedly executed by FDLR terrorists in the village of Kisharo. The militants said the victims had “eaten” the girlfriend of an FDLR combatant.
2008
January 14: Members of the Rwandan rebel group National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) reportedly arrested a man in Jomba for collaborating with the FDLR. Earlier in the month, two civilians were killed and four others injured during an ambush set by FDLR militia.
January 23: The Congolese government and 22 armed groups concluded a peace agreement calling for an immediate cease-fire, removing forces from frontline positions, and observing human rights. After the peace agreement was signed, the Congolese government established a program to coordinate peace efforts in eastern Congo.The FDLR refused to participate in the agreement.
March 13: The U.N. Security Council called on the combatants to disarm without further delay and without prior conditions. The council said authorities and MONUC would handle the process of disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, resettlement and reintegration. The Security Council also called on the FDLR to stop recruiting and using children, to free all the child soldiers and stop gender-based violence.
March 27: FDLR combatants allegedly killed three residents of Kabuga in Rutshuru territory whom they had accused of poisoning their commander and practicing witchcraft. Other reports received by the U.N. suggested that the local population stoned the victims to death and then burned their bodies. Earlier in the month a group of FDLR combatants arbitrarily executed three civilians in the village of Tchanishasha in South Kivu.
July 7: Park rangers confiscated illegally produced charcoal from local villagers in the Bukima sector in Congo, sparking the local FDLR to abduct the rangers. Thise kidnapped were released a short time later.
July 17: International observers concluded that the peace accord of January 2008 had largely failed. U.N. officials documented 200 cease-fire violations by various armed groups including the FDLR.
October 10: The U.N. peacekeeping mission to Congo confirmed reports that the Congolese army collaborated with the FDLR in the eastern Congo.
December 4: Officials in Congo and Rwanda agreed to joint military operations designed to disband the FDLR.