The toppling of a dictatorship: Zaire becomes Congo again

When the wandering Zaire is in the spotlight of the world press at the end of April 1997, Marijke Welvaert flies to Kinshasa on behalf of a Belgian school. Kabila's soldiers advance after a lightning offensive. The white community in which she ends up speculates, but there is no panic.

But when the last Mobutists flee, the tension rises. On BBC and CNN, Marijke Welvaert and her compatriots follow the rebels' triumphant entry into the capital, while they see them marching in the streets outside.

A year later, Marijke Welvaert leaves for Kinshasa again and in August the simmering war breaks out in full force. She witnesses the war on the front and the media war: the Western press against the national press. The Banyamulenge rebels, supported by Rwanda, fall into a trap in Kinshasa. In the three working-class neighbourhoods where they infiltrate, they are captured or killed by frenzied youths. The army chief of staff, Joseph Kabila, calls for reason and asks the population to refrain from all violence against the rebels... A wave of patriotism sweeps through Kinshasa.