Fighting spreads again in the dismal wars of eastern Congo, and there are pictures of refugees again on the move.
We covered a bit of the background to at least some of the conflict in a post titled Gorilla Tourism and the Charcoal Trade on CS&W back in June. Johann Hari adds more in today's Independent.
Back in August, while gorilla trekking in the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda, we took an afternoon to do a several hour round trip up to visit Gisenyi, a town that shares a patch of beachfront on Lake Kivu with Goma, Congo. As you can see after the jump, Goma is really just an extension of the same urban sprawl, visible just up the beach.
Photo from EarthPhotos.com
This is Goma, Congo, as seen from Gisenyi. We drove into Gisenyi and right to the beach, to the Senera Hotel chain's property there. A huge contingent of clerics, NGO's and U.N. peacekeepers arrived just after we did and crowded us out of the restaurant. They ate and just as quickly disappeared, their motorcade slipping off, back across the border to Goma. Presumably they took lunch there at the Serena Hotel because it was nicer than anyplace across the border in Congo. And it is nice, as you can see here - and a bit surreal. A luxury beachfront hotel on Lake Kivu, within sight of the constantly arriving and departing U.N. aircraft over the border in Congo.
Photo from EarthPhotos.com
Here's Gisenyi town, a rabble of unplanned housing rising along the hillsides, and extending without any apparent demarcation right on into the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Photo from EarthPhotos.com
See more photos in and around Gisenyi in the Rwanda gallery on EarthPhotos.com, and also see the Mountain Gorillas gallery, from Parc National des Volcans on EarthPhotos.com.
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