Free Republic

BUKAVU, Congo — Rwanda-backed rebels have "occupied" a second major city in mineral-rich eastern Congo, Congo's government said Sunday, as M23 rebels positioned themselves at the governor's office in Bukavu and pledged to clean up after the "old regime." Associated Press journalists witnessed scores of residents cheering on the rebels after they entered Bukavu following a dayslong march from Goma, a city of 2 million people they seized last month. The rebels saw little resistance from government forces against the unprecedented expansion of their reach after their years of fighting. Congo's government vowed to restore order in Bukavu, a city...

More than 100 female prisoners were raped and then burned alive during a jailbreak in the Congolese city of Goma, according to the UN. Hundreds of prisoners broke out of Munzenze prison last Monday, after fighters from the M23 rebel group began to take over the city. Between 165 and 167 women were assaulted by male inmates during the jailbreak, an internal UN document seen by the BBC says. The report states that most of the women were killed after the inmates set fire to the prison. The BBC has not been able to verify the reports. SNIP

The tantalum within your device weighs less than half of the average garden pea but is essential for the efficient functioning of a smartphone, and almost all other sophisticated electronic devices. The unique properties of this rare, blue-grey, lustrous metal – including being able to hold a high charge compared to its size, while operating in a range of temperatures - make it an ideal material for tiny capacitors, which temporarily store energy. It is also mined in Rwanda, Brazil and Nigeria but at least 40% - and maybe more – of the element's global supply comes from DR Congo...

It has been a humiliating week for nearly 300 Romanian mercenaries recruited to fight on the side of the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their surrender following a rebel assault on the eastern city of Goma has also shattered the dreams of those who signed up for the job to earn big money. The BBC has seen contracts that show that these hired soldiers were being paid around $5,000 (£4,000) a month, while regular military recruits get around $100, or sometimes go unpaid. The Romanians were contracted to help the army fight the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who say...

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Dead bodies lay in the streets, gunfire rang out and hospitals were overwhelmed in east Congo's largest city Goma where M23 rebels backed by Rwanda faced pockets of resistance on Tuesday from army and pro-government militias. A day after the rebels marched into the lakeside city, protesters in the capital attacked a U.N. compound and embassies including those of Rwanda, France and the United States, expressing anger at what they said was foreign interference.

Days after a deadly eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in Democratic Republic of Congo, the threat of another eruption forced the evacuation of much of the city of Goma. But that ended up in a traffic chaos… Tens of thousands of residents tried to escape the major city in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, after authorities issued an evacuation order warning that Mount Nyiragongo could erupt again. People jammed highways, crowded boats and set off on foot to flee this major African city on Thursday, seeking an escape from the rumbling threat of Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s...

The eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo volcano in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo seems to have subsided late Saturday, according to the Goma Volcano Observatory, which monitors the volcano. Still, authorities have activated an evacuation plan for the nearby city of Goma. The volcano's last major eruption in 2002 killed 250 people and displaced thousands. Volcanologist Honore Chiraba from the Goma Volcano Observatory told CNN there are two fractures in the volcano. Chiraba is following the volcanic activity closely with the governor of North Kivu, the province where the city of Goma is located. A post on the verified...

Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo started erupting at around 17:15 UTC on May 22, 2021, producing high lava fountains and lava flows that forced nearby residents to evacuate in panic. According to local media reports, many residents of the nearby city of Goma (population 670 000) grabbed their belongings and evacuated toward neighboring Rwanda. Red glow filled the sky above the city, sending panicked residents fleeing, Reuters reported. Volcanologist Dario Tedesco said Goma does not appear to be at risk because lava is flowing east in the direction of the Rwandan border. According to Reuters, Tedesco earlier...

A case of Ebola was confirmed in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Sunday, for the first time since the outbreak began nearly a year ago. The country's Ministry of Health said in a series of tweets that a sick pastor arrived in the city from Butembo by bus Sunday. The virus first struck Butembo, a city of more than a 100,000 people, last September. The risk of the disease spreading in Goma is low, the ministry said, because the patient was quickly isolated and transferred to an Ebola treatment center. The ministry said the bus driver and the 18...

GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — At least 14 civilians were killed on Saturday in a six-hour attack by rebels on the town of Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials told Reuters, warning the unrest may hamper efforts to quash an Ebola epidemic in the area. The latest outbreak of the deadly disease has been focused in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which have been a tinder box of armed rebellion and ethnic killing since two civil wars in the late 1990s. Militants believed to belong to the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group active in...

19 July 2011 Last updated at 00:07 ET Help A scientist tries to get a lava sample from Mount Nyiragongo in Africa's Great Rift Valley, but gets too close to the boiling lake. Dr Dario Tedesco, from the University of Naples, one of the world's leading authorities on the volcano, tries to alert the scientist whose life is at risk. Mount Nyiragongo is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Scientists want to take lava samples from volcanoes because it can give vital clues about what is happening deep inside the planet.

Fears Rise as Congo Volcano Spews Big Dust Cloud Sat Jul 27,11:18 AM ET By Themistocle Hakizimana GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - A Congolese city half razed by a volcano just six months ago was threatened again on Saturday as a nearby rumbling mountain spewed a massive wall of dust and ash for a second straight day. Experts said they were worried by a towering three-km (two-mile) plume of dust and ash thrown up by Nyiragongo, a dark cone-shaped mountain looming over Goma, home to 500,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, many of them displaced by war, on the...

UN finally agrees to feed Goma's starving people James Astill in Goma Wednesday January 23, 2002 The Guardian The United Nations finally announced plans to feed the destitute people of Goma yesterday, almost a week after a river of molten lava swept through the town from the erupting Mount Nyiragongo. Declaring the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern capital safe - three days after virtually all its 350,000 residents returned - UN officials said food would be handed out today. But the continuing danger of earthquakes was highlighted when the World Food Programme's headquarters at Gisenyi, a mile from Goma, was ...

Monday January 21 4:05 AM ET 50 Killed in Congo Gas Station Blast Photos AP Photo Slideshows AP Photo Volcano Erupts in Congo Audio/Video Lava Flows From Volcano in Congo (AP)   By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer GOMA, Congo (AP) - Lava flows from a volcanic eruption ignited a gas station, killing about 50 people who were trying to siphon fuel from the elevated tanks, witnesses said. A massive fireball erupted at 8:30 a.m., leaving a huge black cloud over Goma more than 11/2 hours later. The Congolese were at the station trying to steal gas and diesel fuel ...

NYIRAGONGO Democratic Republic of the Congo 1.52°S, 29.25°E; summit elev. 3,469 m; All times are local (= UTC + 2 hours) 18 January Update The following information is based on preliminary reports from various government and news agencies that were received during the ongoing crisis. An eruption began at Nyiragongo on 17 January and, according to news reports, as of 18 January lava flows had destroyed parts of 14 villages and 45 people had been killed. Some reports state that the eruption began at 0500 local time. Other reports state that probably around mid-day, fissures N of the Goma Airport ...

A private jet owned by a North Texas company has been impounded for the past 2 1/2 weeks and its passengers and crew detained by the Congolese government in central Africa, where officials say it was used to smuggle gold from rebel territories in the nation's eastern provinces. The plane was leased by Southlake Aviation, based in suburban Dallas-Fort Worth, to a subsidiary of CAMAC International, The Dallas Morning News reported in its Sunday editions. CAMAC company is owned by Kase Lawal, a Nigerian-born Houston oil tycoon an appointee of President Barack Obama to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy...

The eruption of a volcano in Virunga National Park near Goma is seen at night. Volcano fanatics will have to pay $300...The eruption of a volcano in Virunga National Park near Goma is seen at night. Almost three weeks after a fissure opened amidst dense flat forest, the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park has seen an increasing number of tourists seeking to be guided on treks to witness the Nyamulagira volcano spewing geysers of lava into the night.

GOMA, Congo – Thousands of protesters attacked the United Nations' eastern Congo headquarters on Monday, expressing anger that a U.N. peacekeeping force has been unable to protect them from a rebel attack that has forced tens of thousands to flee. Protesters lobbied stones and rocks over the wall surrounding the U.N. offices in the provincial capital of Goma. U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said cars were being damaged and windows were being shattered.

Stromboli OnLine is one of my favorite sites, with suberb volcano photography. They recently posted a new "Nyiragongo Expedition" feature. Below are three pictures sampled from the site. Go there for more. Nyiragongo at night from Goma View from the crater rim at twilight Active Nyiragongo lava lake