Rebel forces revolt against President Laurent Kabila's government in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, starting the Second Congo War; 3,900,000 people are killed before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II. Accusations of Rwanda backing them up have been made with Rwanda denying it. (BBC)
Current events of August 5, 1998 (1998-08-05) (Wednesday)
Yangtze River Floods: In China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.