The RCD was formed with extensive financial, military and organizational support from Uganda and Rwanda after they grew dissatisfied with the Kabila government in the newly renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The core of the RCD was composed of former AFDL members, including many Banyamulenge who already tended to ally themselves with Rwanda against the anti-Tutsi forces in the region.
[2] Nevertheless, the forces of the Kabila government managed to halt the RCD advance with the assistance of outside states such as Angola, Chad and Zimbabwe, marking the onset of a full-scale regional conflict.
[citation needed] Rwanda had nearly complete control of the organization, while the RCD continued to increase taxation with no noticeable improvement in infrastructure or basic services.
At the same time, the character of the RCD changed as former supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko and dissidents from outside the country began to join.
Things came to a head when the two RCDs and their patrons met in battle in Kisangani, the capital of Orientale Province, where the Ugandan army was defeated.
Wamba retreated to Bunia, where he faced widespread discontent and revolt within his own organization as the Ituri conflict began.
Mbusa Nyamwisi rejected Wamba's leadership and took control of northern North Kivu and Ituri with the support of some Ugandan generals.
Despite attempts to win the hearts and minds of the Kivutians, the continued human rights abuses and bureaucratic ineptitude ruined these efforts.
When the Kalemie and Kongolo brigades left for ‘brassage’, the RCD structures were abandoned and all the Katangese territories fell under the command of the regional headquarters in Lubumbashi.