| The government official spun around in his | | | | around 40 km (25 miles) from Goma - from |
| chair, kicked an empty beer bottle with his | | | | rebels loyal to Nkunda. At least 35 soldiers, |
| heel and stared out of the window. "North | | | | from both sides, were killed. At least 30 |
| Kivu looks like heaven," he said. | | | | were injured. |
| | | | |
| I agreed. A sunbird sang and we sat for a | | | | Mushake was quiet when I passed through two |
| moment in silence, lost in the sunset. In the | | | | weeks ago. Houses were empty, restaurants and |
| distance, cormorants and cuckoo hawks circled | | | | drinking holes boarded up. Most of the |
| high above the glassy waters of Lake Kivu. | | | | residents had fled and only the wives and |
| | | | families of Nkunda's soldiers remained. They |
| As the sky blackened and a plume of red smoke | | | | stood around chatting in the square. One |
| spurted from Nyiragongo volcano, the official | | | | woman led me through the muddy streets to her |
| took a long drag on his cigarette. "It feels | | | | home. We walked through a cloud of tiny |
| like hell, my girl," he said. | | | | baby-blue butterflies, past cattle grazing on |
| | | | the rolling plains, dotted with skinny |
| He could have been talking about any one of a | | | | eucalyptus trees and orange blossom. Now |
| number of conflict zones: the white sands of | | | | those streets are marked with blood, sweat |
| Baghdad Island, Herat in Afghanistan or | | | | and tears. |
| Darfur's mountainous Jebel Marra region, with | | | | |
| its orchards, hot springs and long-drop | | | | War zones aren't supposed to be beautiful. |
| waterfalls. | | | | And if they are, reporters probably aren't |
| | | | supposed to admit it. But in Mushake, like |
| But this was Goma, once the "tourist capital | | | | the rest of North Kivu, it serves only to |
| of Congo" and North Kivu's main town, perched | | | | heighten the desperate situation. |
| on the northern shores of Lake Kivu, where | | | | |
| jungle meets volcanic rock and gentle green | | | | The United Nations says tens of thousands of |
| hills. | | | | women and girls - some as young as a few |
| | | | months old - have been raped in the provinces |
| The tourists don't come anymore. Information | | | | of North and South Kivu in the past year |
| centres are boarded up and the minister for | | | | alone. Deaths from hunger and preventable |
| tourism has turned his attention to | | | | diseases are peaking. Villages empty as camps |
| journalists. | | | | for internally displaced people swell. |
| | | | |
| "The future of our province is dark," said | | | | At Mugunga IDP camp, I knelt in the black |
| local resident Kennedy Ndayisenga, who once | | | | earth to conduct interviews with people who |
| ran a successful tour company but now works | | | | had lost everything. When I looked up, the |
| as a fixer. "We don't know where we're | | | | mountains were embroidered with the gold rays |
| going." | | | | of early morning sunlight. |
| | | | |
| Goma used to be known for its sunrises, | | | | In Goma, policemen carry rocket launchers |
| mountain climbing and gorilla trekking. Now | | | | almost as tall as them. In the countryside, |
| the city that has endured endless loss, | | | | children transport arms for rebels. Families |
| destruction and volcanic eruptions against a | | | | shelter in schools and churches. Old men cry |
| perennial backdrop of conflict is in the grip | | | | out for biscuits. |
| of a forgotten emergency. | | | | |
| | | | Yes, North Kivu is bloody beautiful. The |
| Since August, more than 175,000 people have | | | | mountains are bruised and the volcano is |
| fled violence in North Kivu between | | | | bleeding. Streams of blood-red lava spill |
| government troops, insurgents loyal to | | | | over its lip. The smoky flames look like a |
| renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, | | | | flare, a cry for help. |
| Rwandan Hutu rebels and jungle Mai Mai | | | | |
| militia. | | | | This, as Joseph Conrad said, is one of the |
| | | | dark places of the world. |
| Last week, the Congolese army used helicopter | | | | |
| gunships, artillery and rocket launchers to | | | | With neither tourism nor adequate news |
| retake the dairy farming town of Mushake - | | | | coverage, it will probably remain that way. |