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Vol 43 No 2

Published 25th January 2002


Congo-Kinshasa

Under the volcano

Even the latest catastrophe in Goma isn't pushing the combatants into negotiations

The mile-wide river of lava spewing from Mount Nyiragonga last week devastated the rebel capital of Goma but hasn't changed the combatants' entrenched positions in the war. President Joseph Kabila tried to score points by offering to send a rescue mission to Goma headed by Foreign Minister Léonard She Okitundu and Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo. But Adolphe Onusomba, leader of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie, which has its headquarters in Goma, rebuffed his offer and told him to funnel any help through the United Nations. Kinshasa officials have been locked out of Goma for over three years and the RCD isn't popular with the locals it rules, either.

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