Eastern Congo: Looks Like Heaven, Feels Like Hell

The government official spun around in his chair, kickedleast 35 soldiers, from both sides, were killed. At least
an empty beer bottle with his heel and stared out of30 were injured.
the window. "North Kivu looks like heaven," he said.Mushake was quiet when I passed through two
I agreed. A sunbird sang and we sat for a moment inweeks ago. Houses were empty, restaurants and
silence, lost in the sunset. In the distance, cormorantsdrinking holes boarded up. Most of the residents had
and cuckoo hawks circled high above the glassyfled and only the wives and families of Nkunda's
waters of Lake Kivu.soldiers remained. They stood around chatting in the
As the sky blackened and a plume of red smokesquare. One woman led me through the muddy
spurted from Nyiragongo volcano, the official took astreets to her home. We walked through a cloud of
long drag on his cigarette. "It feels like hell, my girl," hetiny baby-blue butterflies, past cattle grazing on the
said.rolling plains, dotted with skinny eucalyptus trees and
He could have been talking about any one of aorange blossom. Now those streets are marked with
number of conflict zones: the white sands of Baghdadblood, sweat and tears.
Island, Herat in Afghanistan or Darfur's mountainousWar zones aren't supposed to be beautiful. And if they
Jebel Marra region, with its orchards, hot springs andare, reporters probably aren't supposed to admit it. But
long-drop waterfalls.in Mushake, like the rest of North Kivu, it serves only to
But this was Goma, once the "tourist capital of Congo"heighten the desperate situation.
and North Kivu's main town, perched on the northernThe United Nations says tens of thousands of women
shores of Lake Kivu, where jungle meets volcanicand girls - some as young as a few months old - have
rock and gentle green hills.been raped in the provinces of North and South Kivu in
The tourists don't come anymore. Information centresthe past year alone. Deaths from hunger and
are boarded up and the minister for tourism has turnedpreventable diseases are peaking. Villages empty as
his attention to journalists.camps for internally displaced people swell.
"The future of our province is dark," said local residentAt Mugunga IDP camp, I knelt in the black earth to
Kennedy Ndayisenga, who once ran a successful tourconduct interviews with people who had lost
company but now works as a fixer. "We don't knoweverything. When I looked up, the mountains were
where we're going."embroidered with the gold rays of early morning
Goma used to be known for its sunrises, mountainsunlight.
climbing and gorilla trekking. Now the city that hasIn Goma, policemen carry rocket launchers almost as
endured endless loss, destruction and volcanictall as them. In the countryside, children transport arms
eruptions against a perennial backdrop of conflict is infor rebels. Families shelter in schools and churches. Old
the grip of a forgotten emergency.men cry out for biscuits.
Since August, more than 175,000 people have fledYes, North Kivu is bloody beautiful. The mountains are
violence in North Kivu between government troops,bruised and the volcano is bleeding. Streams of
insurgents loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurentblood-red lava spill over its lip. The smoky flames look
Nkunda, Rwandan Hutu rebels and jungle Mai Mai militia.like a flare, a cry for help.
Last week, the Congolese army used helicopterThis, as Joseph Conrad said, is one of the dark places
gunships, artillery and rocket launchers to retake theof the world.
dairy farming town of Mushake - around 40 km (25With neither tourism nor adequate news coverage, it
miles) from Goma - from rebels loyal to Nkunda. Atwill probably remain that way.