Is Goma Cursed or Just Unfortunate?

            Some places on Earth are situated in the wrong area.  Either it lies in a geographically dangerous zone or it happens to be in the midst of political upheaval.  Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) fits both unfortunate categories.

Located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi, it lies in the Albertine rift, the western branch of the East African Rift system. Goma lies perhaps less than 11 miles south of the active Nyiragongo Volcano. In addition to recent volcanic eruptions, the people of Goma have been plagued by the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath.  It seems Goma residents constantly are presented by one crisis after another.

                The First Congo War (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war as well as an international military conflict that took place mostly in what was then known as Zaire (present-day DRC) with major spillovers into Sudan and Uganda. The conflict culminated in a foreign invasion that replaced then-Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko with the rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who took control of the government so quickly, it was unexpected by his Rwandan sponsors. Kabila's unstable government subsequently came into conflict with his allies, and this set the stage for what is known as the Second Congo War (1998–2003).

            The deconstruction of central government control in eastern Congo began during the first conflict and continues to this day.  Since then, infighting militias, warlords and rebel groups (some sympathetic to the government, others openly hostile) wield effective power the government does not have.  Several years ago, when I was managing hearings on the DRC for the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, we found more than two dozen militias operating in eastern Congo alone.

            As a staff person for the Chairman, then-Rep. Ed Royce, I wrote the resolution calling on the Bill Clinton Administration to cut ties with Mobutu.  The U.S. Government had long turned a blind eye to his rampant corruption and violations of human rights, but after the end of the Cold War, Zaire’s usefulness to the United States diminished to the point that further support of a dying Mobutu no longer made sense.

            Unfortunately for the people of Goma, they were caught in the midst of the internal and external conflicts in the region.  During one visit to Goma early 1998 when I worked in Congress, my colleagues and I met with the governor of North Kivu, and he had to end the meeting abruptly because of his need to meet with the Rwandan government just across the border to report on the ease of access Hutu rebels had in crossing the border into Rwanda.  We were told that the United Nations, which had set up refugee camps for people fleeing the Rwandan genocide had actually become bases from which Hutu extremists attacked the new government that ended the genocide and forced them into exile.

            Over the years, since, various militias and rebel groups have plundered Goma and the rest of that part of DRC, looting and destroying towns and villages and raping women and girls at an estimated rate of nearly 50 an hour.

In late 2012, the city was captured by rebels of the so-called March 23 Movement during the organization’s rebellion, but it was subsequently retaken by government forces.

As if such wanton human destruction weren’t enough of a disaster for the residents of Goma and the surrounding areas to deal with, Mother Nature also had Goma as its target.  In January 2002, Nyiragongo erupted, and a lava lake draining from its western flanks, destroyed the city center of Goma. At least 200,000 people were made homeless.

This past May 22, Nyiragongo erupted and sent torrents of lava through the next morning, claiming the lives of at least 11 people.  There were hundreds of subsequent earthquakes and temblors felt as far as Kigali, Rwanda, 65 miles away.  Weeks later, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, continues to assist thousands of people affected by the eruption of the Nyiragongo. Some 350,000 have been estimated to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

On May 27, local military governor General Constant Ndima issued an ominous statement about another potential eruption. “The data from seismic activity indicates the presence of magma beneath the urban area of Goma and beneath the Kivu lake,” he said. “Because of this data we cannot exclude another eruption on the earth or under the lake, this could arrive without any warning.”

            What makes his statement even more disturbing is that Lake Kivu is one of three lakes in Africa identified as having huge quantities of dissolved gas held at pressure in its depths. The other two, Cameroon’s Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos experienced limnic eruptions or “lake overturns”, which are catastrophic releases of suffocating carbon dioxide probably triggered by landslides. Lake Nyos's overturn in 1986 was particularly lethal, killing nearly two thousand people in the area around the lake. Kivu is 2,000 times bigger than Lake Nyos and also contains dissolved methane as an additional hazard – though concentration of carbon dioxide is much lower than in Lake Nyos. Nearly two million people, including the population of Goma, live in the vicinity of Lake Kivu and could be in danger from a limnic eruption triggered by one of the nearby volcanoes and the earthquakes associated with them.

It is to the credit of international agencies and donor nations that they have rushed in to help the people of Goma and the surrounding area.  One hopes, however, that they also look for ways to empower the residents to help in their own recovery.  I was recently contacted on Facebook by Peterson Kigonga Kabambe Samuel, who runs the Christian Center for the Development of Peasants in Rural Areas.  His organization has a small self-help jump-start proposal over a one-month period in August.

 This project is intended to help 670 disaster victims affected and targeted by the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in the territory of Masisi in North Kivu.  It aims to strengthen the capacities of residents to provide immediate financial means of food aid and construction  of shelters for the initial treatment of disasters targeted by the volcanic eruption.

 At a total cost of US$19,040, it is a very modest proposal, but the key thing is that it allows people in the Goma area to feel like they have a hand in their own recovery.  Anyone interested in further information on this project or providing assistance can contact Peterson at ccdpr12@gmail.com

In response to disasters, the international community can be quite good in providing needed medical care, shelter, food, water and other necessities, but the abundance of aid can create a recipient mentality in which victims look outside for help and rely less on themselves.  This is understandable in the short run, but in the long term, survival instincts must be encouraged.  No aid program is permanent, and even residents of Goma will have to hone their self-preservation skills at some point.

 When facing persistent disasters, one wonders why some places seem to have such horrendous fortune.  Several years ago, I took part in a Congressional delegation to the Philippines after a devastating hurricane.  We found that just that year alone, there were nearly two dozen other devastating weather disasters.  Some places seem cursed, and Goma is on that list.  We can continue to support disaster relief, but in the face of such repeated natural and man-made disasters, prayer is also required to help those who suffer so often.