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A number of foreign actors became directly involved in the exploitation of natural resources. The chaos and power vacuum brought about by the 1996 rebellion led to an opportunistic scramble for the DRC's resources. Everyone wanted a piece of the cake. Rebel groups and armies from neighbouring countries all helped themselves, some (such as Zimbabwe) with the blessing of the Congolese authorities, others (such as Rwanda or Uganda) by occupying territory by force or through proxy rebel groups, committing grave human rights abuses in the process

Companies and individual traders who were prepared to trade in natural resources produced in these conditions, or to trade with groups with notoriously bad human rights records, can also be considered to have contributed to, or even enabled, these human rights abuses. In some cases, they were directly implicated.

Province Orientale Province Orientale held even greater promise in terms of natural resources. With its diamond fields, gold mines, vast expanses of forests with valuable timber and barely explored oil reserves, Province Orientale was, in some ways, the biggest prize.