On one aspect of the lake, lovers glide on canoes, pals journey jet-skis and households pose for photos within the hazy sundown. On the opposite aspect, lower than two miles away, lifeless our bodies washed ashore whereas ammunition and discarded weapons littered the water.
The shore of Lake Kivu in Rwanda presents leisure and leisure. Throughout the border within the Democratic Republic of Congo, the identical lake displayed devastation and distress after an armed group referred to as M23 captured the lakeside metropolis of Goma final month. Almost 3,000 folks had been killed within the January offensive, based on the United Nations.
“It’s peaceable right here, not like over there,” mentioned Exauce Shalako, a 20-year-old man from Goma who was lounging on the shore of Lake Kivu in Rwanda one afternoon this month. Mr. Shalako, who mentioned he had misplaced a pal within the preventing, had crossed into Rwanda for a day on the seaside. “We have to unwind, to have a change of scene,” he mentioned.
However whereas Rwanda seems peaceable at house, it’s fueling struggle throughout the border. Hundreds of Rwandan troops have invaded japanese Congo alongside fighters from M23, which is below Rwanda’s management, based on the US and United Nations specialists. Rwanda denies backing the rebels.
To cross from Goma to its sister metropolis Gisenyi in Rwanda takes simply minutes by land, however the two locations really feel worlds aside. In Gisenyi, a city of fifty,000, restaurant homeowners adorn their beachfront properties with colourful decorations because the scent of roasted rooster fills the air. In Goma, a metropolis of two million, the stench of dying and the sounds of sirens wafted over the streets for days.
The neighboring nations share a painful historical past however have little in frequent lately.
Rwanda is seen as a mannequin of growth throughout Africa. A rustic practically 90 occasions smaller than Congo, it sponsors high European soccer groups and is understood for its high-end resorts, the place prosperous vacationers keep throughout expeditions to marvel at gorillas. Being right here may give an impression of political stability and affluence, however many say beneath that veneer lies widespread surveillance, repression and unequal growth.
Congo, regardless of its dizzying pure sources, stays suffering from instability. Its japanese area is house to one of many world’s largest displacement crises, courting again to the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide 30 years in the past.
“The residing requirements are so totally different,” mentioned Théoneste Bitangimana, a Rwandan actual property agent and pastor who lives in Gisenyi and works on each side of the border. “In Congo the wealthy get richer and the federal government doesn’t care. In Rwanda we’re continually making an attempt to enhance the way in which we dwell.”
The Congolese have a special manner of describing the wealth hole between the 2 nations: exploitation.
United Nations specialists discovered that 150 tons of coltan — from which key minerals utilized in smartphone manufacturing are extracted — was smuggled out of Congo and into Rwanda by M23 final yr.
“We’re being looted for others to get wealthy,” mentioned Didier Kambale, a pastor in Goma strolling on a debris-littered road this month. “Why are they coming right here?” he requested about Rwandan troops. “Do Congolese wage struggle overseas?”
Although Rwanda’s chief has mentioned that the struggle in japanese Congo is a Congolese drawback, the M23 offensive on Goma introduced it one step nearer to Rwanda.
In its try and defend Goma, the Congolese military launched shells and bombs throughout the border in January, puncturing Rwandan houses and tearing roofs open. Sixteen folks had been killed and 160 injured in Rwanda. Hundreds of individuals fleeing Goma discovered refuge in Rwanda.
Shattered glass and wooden nonetheless littered the flooring as rain fell into Mr. Bitangimana’s house this month. A shell had hit the roof of the true property agent’s brick and cement home.
“We’re praying for the 2 nations, as a result of we have to dwell in concord,” he mentioned.
In Gisenyi, kids in school now discuss of the struggle between Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, and his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi.
“I don’t decide a aspect, it’s too difficult,” mentioned Ariella, a 10-year-old residing in Rwanda with a Congolese father and a Rwandan mom. Sitting at her house yards away from the border, Ariella mentioned she performed lifeless in her mattress for hours one morning through the M23 offensive, fearing troopers would possibly “come to kill us.” The preventing paused shortly after.
Regardless of the 2 totally different worlds on both sides of Lake Kivu’s shores, the seaside in Gisenyi can also be the place folks from Rwanda and Congo collect in peace. Mr. Shalako, the 20-year-old, mentioned he crossed the border to inform his Rwandan pals that he was protected.
“Politicians need to make us consider that we’re enemies, however we’re brothers,” he mentioned.
In her lounge, Ariella stopped her math homework to debate the struggle. She mentioned she was longing to go to her aunt who lives in Goma on her upcoming trip, and “do all types of foolish issues over there.”
Sitting in her Spider-Man pajamas, Ariella requested a query concerning the presidents from each nations that left a silence within the room: “Why can’t they only make peace?”
