standing in front of the presidential palace as a memorial of the 5 June 1997 events. On 5 June 1997, anticipating a Sassou-led
coup, Lissouba ordered the Cocoye militia to detain Sassou and forcibly disarm the Cobra militia, thus initiating a second civil war. Fighting soon engulfed the whole city, with the Cobra, Cocoye and Ninja militias each controlling areas within the capital. The government recruited Ukrainian mercenaries to fly attack helicopters, later mobilizing them in a bombing campaign of Cobra-controlled areas. Both sides actively shelled densely populated areas, causing a high civilian death toll. Combatants engaged in numerous instances of extortion and harassment of the civilian population, selecting their targets on the basis of ethnicity. On 17 June 1997, French soldiers and a number of
US Marine Corps troops present in the capital conducted a joint operation, evacuating 6,000 foreign citizens through the
Brazzaville Airport as warring parties agreed to a three-day ceasefire in the area. On 29 September 1997, shells have fallen in several districts of Kinshasa left twenty-one dead. For forty-eight hours, the army of Kinshasa responded by firing at Brazzaville "more than a hundred shells", according to residents of the Congolese capital. They indicated that Kabila's artillery fired both on the North, under the control of General Sassou N'Guesso, and on the South, in the hands of supporters of President Lissouba. "They even bombarded the presidential palace" said a source, who confirmed that "this is where several shots came from on Monday." The outbreak of the Congolese civil war coincided with the ongoing
internal conflict in Angola. During the presidency of
Pascal Lissouba, Congo provided active support to the anti-government
UNITA guerrillas, who in turn supplied Congo with diamonds.
Angola seized the opportunity to destroy UNITA's last supply line by entering the conflict on Sassou-Nguesso's side.
France also supported the Cobra militia by offering armaments, aiming to secure its interests in the country's oil industry. The conflict was also influenced by the aftermaths of the
First Congo War and of the
Rwandan genocide. A large number of
Rwandan refugees who fled the DRC (formerly Zaire) in May 1997 after the fall of Mobutu, took part in the conflict—approximately 600 Rwandans Hutus joined militias formed by Sassou, with others fighting against him. Allegations regarding the involvement of
Cuba on the side of the Cobras have been made, with others accusing UNITA of aiding the Ninja militia. Forced out of Brazzaville, Cocoye and Ninja fighters regrouped, initiating clashes in the northern cities of
Impfondo,
Ouesso and
Owando as well as Pointe-Noire. In April 1998 Cocoye insurgents captured the
Moukoukoulou Hydroelectric Dam located in the
Bouenza department, killing several employees and cutting off the electric supply to Pointe-Noire for several weeks. On 29 August 1998 Ninja guerrillas killed the police commissioner of
Mindouli. On 26 September 1998 Ninja rebels assassinated the deputy prefect of Goma Tse Tse. On 9 October 1998 Ninja rebels set fire to the police station and prefecture offices of
Kinkala. The Ntsiloulou militia was formed in the
Pool department in 1998, with the ethnic Lari forming the backbone of the group. It allied itself with the Ninja militia, launching attacks against government troops and their civilian supporters. == Helicopter affair ==