Leveraging its role as a Cold war strategic proxy, the Mobutu regime sought to play an
ambitious regional role in Africa, by supporting and propping up regional allies. The regime
supported the political struggle of Savimbi in Angola or the Habyarima regime in Rwanda,
for example. Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the Mobutu regime was had lost an
ally and was faced with an adversary in Kigali. By 1996, tensions in Rwanda spilled over into
Zaïre.