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Eastern Congo: Looks like heaven, feels like hell
Written by: Kate Thomas
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Photo by Nicolai Lidow
The government official spun around in his chair, kicked an empty beer bottle with his heel and stared out of the window. "North Kivu looks like heaven," he said. I agreed. A sunbird sang and we sat for a moment in silence, lost in the sunset. In the distance, cormorants and cuckoo hawks circled high above the glassy waters of Lake Kivu. As the sky blackened and a plume of red smoke spurted from Nyiragongo volcano, the official took a long drag on his cigarette. "It feels like hell, my girl," he said. He could have been talking about any one of a number of conflict zones: the white sands of Baghdad Island, Herat in Afghanistan or Darfur's mountainous Jebel Marra region, with its orchards, hot springs and long-drop waterfalls. But this was Goma, once the "tourist capital of Congo" and North Kivu's main town, perched on the northern shores of Lake Kivu, where jungle meets volcanic rock and gentle green hills. The tourists don't come anymore. Information centres are boarded up and the minister for tourism has turned his attention to journalists. "The future of our province is dark," said local resident Kennedy Ndayisenga, who once ran a successful tour company but now works as a fixer. "We don't know where we're going." Goma used to be known for its sunrises, mountain climbing and gorilla trekking. Now the city that has endured endless loss, destruction and volcanic eruptions against a perennial backdrop of conflict is in the grip of a forgotten emergency. Since August, more than 175,000 people have fled violence in North Kivu between government troops, insurgents loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, Rwandan Hutu rebels and jungle Mai Mai militia. Last week, the Congolese army used helicopter gunships, artillery and rocket launchers to retake the dairy farming town of Mushake - around 40 km (25 miles) from Goma - from rebels loyal to Nkunda. At least 35 soldiers, from both sides, were killed. At least 30 were injured. Mushake was quiet when I passed through two weeks ago. Houses were empty, restaurants and drinking holes boarded up. Most of the residents had fled and only the wives and families of Nkunda's soldiers remained. They stood around chatting in the square. One woman led me through the muddy streets to her home. We walked through a cloud of tiny baby-blue butterflies, past cattle grazing on the rolling plains, dotted with skinny eucalyptus trees and orange blossom. Now those streets are marked with blood, sweat and tears. War zones aren't supposed to be beautiful. And if they are, reporters probably aren't supposed to admit it. But in Mushake, like the rest of North Kivu, it serves only to heighten the desperate situation. The United Nations says tens of thousands of women and girls - some as young as a few months old - have been raped in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the past year alone. Deaths from hunger and preventable diseases are peaking. Villages empty as camps for internally displaced people swell. At Mugunga IDP camp, I knelt in the black earth to conduct interviews with people who had lost everything. When I looked up, the mountains were embroidered with the gold rays of early morning sunlight. In Goma, policemen carry rocket launchers almost as tall as them. In the countryside, children transport arms for rebels. Families shelter in schools and churches. Old men cry out for biscuits. Yes, North Kivu is bloody beautiful. The mountains are bruised and the volcano is bleeding. Streams of blood-red lava spill over its lip. The smoky flames look like a flare, a cry for help. This, as Joseph Conrad said, is one of the dark places of the world. With neither tourism nor adequate news coverage, it will probably remain that way.
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9 responses to “Eastern Congo: Looks like heaven, feels like hell”
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Kate Thomas worked on the foreign desks of two national British papers before heading to Africa as a stringer. After two years in post-conflict Liberia, she now roams a little more freely, documenting human stories in fragile parts of Africa and the world. Kate writes for major newspapers and magazines worldwide, collaborates with aid agencies and is also a travel writer for Bradt and Loney Planet.
11 Dec 2007 11:12:29 GMT
Nice peace. It is always nice to read such stories that remind us that there is good out there somewhere, if only we could stop all the bad things
11 Dec 2007 11:13:04 GMT
Yes, That's Goma. It's unfortunate! I was born and raised near that town of Goma but today I don't think I could go back. May be until Kabila accepts to make peace with Gen Nkunda. Hey Mrs Thomas, would ask for me those people (MONUC, FARDC and the Humanitarians) in North Kivu why these Tutsi in Masisi feel safer with the rebels than with the FARDC? May be Nkunda's grievances are legitimate. Just ask and you will know and may be you will tell the true story. Good luck. Claude
13 Dec 2007 16:11:13 GMT
Hi Kate, Thanks you for your courrage and willingness to cover the tragedy that is unfolding in North Kivu. I understand thtat the situation is very complex, but having a strong rebellion that want to force its way on the rest of the people and at time seem serious about using force to achieve its means does not make things easier. Nkunda is in fact isolating the Tutsi community, where there is a call for tension easing. The country made an important turn to a new democratic regime. It is sad to see that the Tutsi leader were not prepared to plan the democratic game. What is your point of view?
14 Dec 2007 09:48:46 GMT
Hi Tony, please be a little bit reasonable and considerate. tutsis are not the enemies of democracy but they are not friends of nonsense either. Unless you don't get what exactly democracy means in its real sense. Sakufi
14 Dec 2007 12:35:32 GMT
Kate, That's the world for you. Mankind has evolved thru' decades and decades of living in hell created by themselves. It's a shame that it's still happening today and will probably continue tommorrow. In the backdrop of it all there are even darker secrets. These range from quest for possession and control of precious and rare natural resources like diamonds in Congo, oil in Iraq, and poppy in Afghanistan. whoever buys the end product, fuels the conflict. They don't manufacture rocket launchers in Congo. True!
15 Dec 2007 12:37:56 GMT
Thanks Kate for your courage and for what you say about that heaven in hell.It is a shame for the world and for congolese themselves to see people suffering and dying as part of a normal life.It has been years now since that dirty war started in the eastern part of the DR Congo and the only thing the International community has been able to do is to TALK about people who are in the hell.Surely if WE as community plus something called MONUC are unable to stop this game,what is the point of those U in AU,UN? What's a shame!
15 Dec 2007 12:38:44 GMT
Nkunda's boys aren't averse to playing the democratic game - they just don't see the current situation in DRC as democratic. Sadly they feel the only way to gain bargaining power with the FARDC is to (re)take towns like Mushake. Are they playing fair? No. But are the FARDC? Probably not either. Whether their tactics will bear fruit remains to be seen...
Kate31 Dec 2007 11:41:12 GMT
I've been following this war quite closely for the past few months. The most tragic and inhumane aspect of it is that rape and sexual maiming of women and girls has become commonplace and the numbers are astounding. There is no better way to kill the soul of a community , to kill an entire culture, nor to produce hell on earth. I only wish the men doing this could fully experience the hell they have created. The only hope for the women and children is the help they receive at places like the Bukavu Hospital rape ward, the Panzi Women's Shelter, and NGOs in the area. If help is coming from their own government or the male-dominated leadership of their communities, I have not yet read of it. The perpetrators come from all factions, including UN troops, and their crimes are unspeakably sadistic. Those men are a shame to humanity.
Pray for the women and children of the Eastern Congo region.23 Jan 2008 09:54:19 GMT
Hey.Im from america, and I just found out about this, im 17 and ive seen alot of stuff. And i've seen the movie Blood Diamond last night. My entire heart goes out to all of Africa. My heart has dropped when I herd about the war. God help you all, and be blessed. Im going to try and help out ALL I can!!!!
if you have anything to say, my number is 1-859-384-4674