Goma
Goma City & Lakeside Lake Kivu, Congo DRC
Goma Location in the Congo
Coordinates: 1°41′S 29°14′E / 1.683°S 29.233°E / -1.683; 29.233
Country	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Province	Nord-Kivu
Government
• Mayor	Polydor Windi Kwawmrwha
Area
• Total	75.72 km2 (29.24 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	377,112
• Density	5,000/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
Time zone	DRC2 (UTC+2)
National language	Swahili

Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift system. Goma lies only 13 to 18 km due south of the crater of the active Nyiragongo Volcano. The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the volcano and the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, which in turn fuelled the First and Second Congo Wars. The aftermath of these events was still having effects on the city and its surroundings in 2010.

Goma is capital of North Kivu province, ethnically and geographically similar to South Kivu (capital Bukavu); the two provinces are known as "the Kivus".

Effects of the Rwandan Genocide[link]

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Goma at the centre of the refugee crisis[link]

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was perpetrated by the Hutu-dominated provisional Rwandan government on the Tutsi population and Hutu moderates. In response the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), formed by Tutsi refugees in Uganda, which already controlled large areas of northern Rwanda following its 1990 invasion and the ongoing Civil War, overthrew the Hutu government in Kigali and forced it to relocate to the border town of Gisenyi. As the RPF captured ground, thousands of Hutu refugees fled before it, many ending up in Gisenyi. Then, from July 13 to July 14, 1994, 10,000–12,000 refugees per hour crossed the border into Goma as the Great Lakes refugee crisis took shape. The massive influx created a severe humanitarian crisis, as there was an acute lack of shelter, food and water. Shortly after the arrival of nearly one million refugees, a deadly cholera outbreak claimed thousands of lives in the Hutu refugee camps around Goma.

Goma in the First Congo War[link]

Hutu militias and members of the Hutu provisional government were among the refugees, and they set up operations from the camps around Goma attacking ethnic Tutsis in the Kivus and Rwandan government forces at the border. For political reasons the Kinshasa government of the then Zaire led by Joseph Mobutu did not prevent the attacks, and so the Rwandan government and its Ugandan allies threw their support behind the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire, a rebel movement led by Laurent Kabila against Mobutu. Rwandan forces stormed the camps at Goma, resulting in thousands of additional deaths, and with their help and that of Uganda, Kabila went on to overthrow Mobutu's regime in the First Congo War, which ended in 1997.

Goma in the Second Congo War[link]

Within a year Kabila had quarrelled with his former allies, and in 1998 the Rwandan government backed a Goma-based rebel movement against Kabila, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, sometimes called RCD-Goma) made of Banyamulenge people, related to the Tutsis. They captured Bukavu and other towns, and the Second Congo War began. The Goma refugee camps, in which the Hutu had created a militia called the FDLR (Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda), were again attacked by Rwandan government forces and the RCD.

The Second Congo War was unprecedented in Africa for the loss of civilian life in massacres and atrocities. By 2003 the Banyamulenge had become tired of the war and friction emerged between them and Rwanda. In 2002 and 2003 a fragile negotiated peace emerged between the many sides involved in the war.

Conflict since the end of the war[link]

There have been numerous outbreaks of violence since 2003. The Hutu FDLR remains in the forests and mountains north and west of Goma, carrying out attacks on the Rwandan border and on the Banyamulenge. The Congolese defence forces are unable or unwilling to stop them, and as a consequence Rwanda continues to support Banymulenge rebels such as the RCD and General Nkunda, and to carry out incursions into North Kivu in pursuit of the FDLR.^[1]

In September 2007 large-scale fighting threatened to break out again as the 8,000-strong militia of General Nkunda, based around Rutshuru, broke away from integration with the Congolese army and began attacking them in the town of Masisi north-west of Goma. MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) began airlifting Congolese troops into Goma and transferring them by helicopter from Goma International Airport to Masisi.^[1]

On October 27, 2008, fighting broke out in the city between the Congolese army, supported by MONUC, and Nkunda's CNDP rebels. 200,000 refugees had fled the town.^[2]

Politics[link]

Goma is represented in the National Assembly by six deputies:

• Désiré Konde (ARC)
• Jason Luneno (UNC)
• Butondo Muhindo (MSR)
• Naasson Kubya (COFEDEC)
• Elvis Mutiri (ADR)
• Dieudonné Kambale (UDECF)

Volcanic activity around Goma[link]

The Great Rift Valley is being pulled apart, leading to earthquakes and the formation of volcanoes in the area.

2002 Eruption of Nyiragongo[link]

Computer image of Nyiragongo volcano generated from satellite photographs, showing the Goma-Gisenyi conurbation on the lake shore in the foreground. In the background, left, is the Nyamuragira volcano.

In January 2002, Nyiragongo erupted, sending a stream of lava 200 metres (219 yd) to one kilometre (1,100 yd) wide and up to two metres (6½ ft) deep through the center of the city as far as the lake shore. Agencies monitoring the volcano were able to give a warning and most of the population of Goma evacuated to Gisenyi. The lava destroyed 40% of the city (more than 4,500 houses and buildings). There were some fatalities caused by the lava and by emissions of carbon dioxide, which causes asphyxiation. The lava also covered over the northern 1 km of the 3-kilometre (10,000 ft) runway of Goma International Airport, isolating the terminal and apron which were at that end.^[3] The lava can easily be seen in satellite photographs,^[4] and aircraft can be seen using the 2-km (6,500-ft) southern section of the runway which is clear of lava.

In 2005, volcanic activity again threatened the city.

Currently the scientists at Goma are monitoring Nyiragongo.

The threat posed by Lake Kivu[link]

Lake Kivu is one of three lakes in Africa identified as having huge quantities of dissolved gas held at pressure in its depths. Two of the others, Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos, experienced a limnic eruption or 'lake overturn', a catastrophic release of suffocating carbon dioxide probably triggered by landslides. Lake Nyos overturn 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.^[5] 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.^[6]

Climate[link]

Other features of Goma[link]

• The city centre is only 1 km (0.6 mi) from the Rwandan border and 3.5 km (2.2 mi) from the centre of Gisenyi.
• After being closed to international travel since the 2002 eruption of the volcano, the Goma International Airport now accepts commercial charter flights and also a passenger line travels from Nairobi to Goma.
• Goma has four or five lakeside wharves totaling about 130 m, the longest being about 80 m.
• Virunga National Park, home to endangered mountain gorillas, lies north of the city.
• National Road No. 2 connected Goma to Bukavu and Kisangani but at August 2007 had not been reopened after the damage caused by the wars and lack of maintenance.
• Goma was once known for its nightlife, but this is no longer the case due to the conflict.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Goma

• Lake Kivu
• Bukavu
• North Kivu
• South Kivu

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tom Casadevall of the United States Geological Survey; "The 1994 Rwandan Refugee Crisis: Cultural Awareness in Managing Natural Disasters" (1h28m streaming video). Lecture given at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on vulcanology around Goma
• Jordhus-Lier, David: Life and Death in the Great Lakes Region. The NIBR International Blog, 15.02.2010.

v t e North Kivu Province Cities and communes Goma (capital) Communes: Goma, Karisimbi Beni Communes: Beni, Bungulu, Ruwenzori, Muhekera Butembo Communes: Bulengera, Kimemi, Mususa, Vutamba Territories Beni · Lubero · Masisi · Nyiragongo · Rutshuru · Walikale

Coordinates: 1°41′S 29°14′E / 1.683°S 29.233°E / -1.683; 29.233

Joseph Kabila
President of the Congo-Kinshasa
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 January 2001 Acting: 17 January 2001 – 26 January 2001
Prime Minister	Antoine Gizenga Adolphe Muzito Louis Alphonse Koyagialo (Acting) Augustin Matata Ponyo
Preceded by	Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Personal details
Born	(1971-06-04) 4 June 1971 (age 41) Fizi, Congo-Léopoldville (now Congo-Kinshasa)
Political party	People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy
Spouse(s)	Olive Lembe di Sita
Alma mater	Makerere University People's Liberation Army National Defense University

Joseph Kabila Kabange (known commonly as Joseph Kabila, born June 4, 1971) is a Congolese politician who has been President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2001. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. He was elected as President in 2006. In 2011, he was re-elected for a second term.

Biography[link]

Early life and education[link]

Joseph Kabila Kabange was born on June 4, 1971 at Hewabora, a small village in the Fizi territory of the South Kivu province, in Eastern Congo. He is the son of long time rebel, former AFDL leader and president of the Congo Laurent-Désiré Kabila and Sifa Mahanya.

Guerrilla and army years[link]

Following high school, Joseph Kabila followed a military curriculum in Tanzania, then at Makerere University in Uganda. In October 1996, Laurent-Désiré Kabila launched the campaign in Zaire to oust the Mobutu regime. Joseph became the commander of the infamous army of "kadogos" (child soldiers) and played a key role in major battles on the road to Kinshasa. The liberation army received logistical and military support from regional armies from Rwanda, Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe. Following the AFDL's victory, and Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rise to the presidency, Joseph Kabila went on to get further training at the PLA National Defense University, in Beijing, China.

When he returned from China, Kabila was awarded the rank of Major-General, and appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1998. He was later, in 2000, appointed Chief of Staff of the Land Forces, a position he held until the elder President Kabila's assassination in January 2001.^[1] As chief of staff, he was one of the main military leaders in charge of Government troops during the time of the Second Congo War (1998–2003).

Presidency[link]

Joseph Kabila rose to the Presidency on 26 January 2001 after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, becoming the world's first head of government born in the 1970s. He remained the world's youngest head of government until Roosevelt Skerrit became Prime Minister of Dominica in January 2004.^[2]

At age 30, he was considered young and inexperienced. He subsequently attempted to end the ongoing civil war by negotiating peace agreements with rebel groups who were backed by Rwanda and Uganda, the same regional armies who brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel group to power 3 years before. The 2002 peace agreement signed at the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in Sun City, South Africa, which nominally ended the Second Congo War, maintained Joseph Kabila as President and head of state of the Congo. An interim administration was set up under him, including the leaders of the country's two main rebel groups as vice-presidents (two other vice-presidents were representatives of the civilian opposition and government supporters respectively).

Kabila in 2002, with Thabo Mbeki, George W. Bush, and Paul Kagame

On March 28, 2003, an apparent coup attempt or mutiny around the capital Kinshasa, allegedly on the part of members of the former guard of former president Mobutu Sese Seko (who had been ousted by Kabila's father in 1997 and died in the same year), failed.^[3] On June 11, 2004, coup plotters led by Major Eric Lenge allegedly attempted to take power and announced on state radio that the transitional government was suspended, but were defeated by loyalist troops.^[4][5]

In December 2005, a partial referendum approved a new constitution, and a presidential election was held on July 30, 2006 (having been delayed from an earlier date in June).^[6] The new constitution lowered the minimum age of presidential candidates from 35 to 30; Kabila turned 35 shortly before the election. In March 2006, he registered as a candidate.^[7] Although Kabila registered as an independent, he is the "initiator" of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), which chose him as their candidate to the election. Although the new constitution stipulates that a debate be held between the two remaining candidates for the presidency, no debates took place and this was declared by many as unconstitutional.

According to widely disputed provisional results announced on August 20, Kabila won 45% of the vote; his main opponent, vice-president and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, won 20%. The irregularities surrounding the elections results prompted ^[8] a run-off vote between Kabila and Bemba which was held on October 29. On November 15, the electoral commission announced the official results and Kabila was declared the winner, with 58.05% of the vote.^[9] These results were confirmed by the Supreme Court on November 27, 2006, and Kabila was inaugurated on December 6, 2006 as the country's newly elected President.^[10] He named Antoine Gizenga, who placed third in the first round of the presidential election (and then backed Kabila in the second round) as prime minister on December 30.^[11]

In December 2011, Kabila was re-elected for a second term as president. After the results were announced on 9 December, there was violent unrest in Kinshasa and Mbuji-Mayi, where official tallies showed that a strong majority had voted for the opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi.^[12] Official observers from the Carter Center reported that returns from almost 2,000 polling stations in areas where support for Tshisekedi was strong had been lost and not included in the official results. They described the election as lacking credibility.^[13] On 20 December, Kabila was sworn in for a second term, promising to invest in infrastructure and public services. However, Tshisekedi maintained that the result of the election was illegitimate and said that he intended also to "swear himself in" as president.^[14]

In January 2012, Catholic Bishops in DR Congo also condemned the elections, complaining of "treachery, lies and terror", and calling on the election commission to correct "serious errors".^[15]

Views[link]

In 2006, Kabila responded to evidence of widespread sex crimes committed by the Congolese military by describing the acts as "simply unforgivable". He pointed out that 300 soldiers had been convicted of sex crimes, although he added that this was not enough.^[16]

Wedding[link]

On June 1, 2006, after many wedding rumors were fueled by many in top positions in the country, the head of the Presidential Household, Ambassador Theodore Mugalu officially announced the wedding of the President to Olive Lembe di Sita. The wedding ceremonies took place on June 17, 2006.^[17] Kabila and his spouse have a daughter, born in 2001, named Sifa after Kabila's mother.

As President Kabila is Anglican, and Ms Lembe di Sita is Catholic, the wedding ceremonies were ecumenical, and were therefore officiated by both the Catholic Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Frederic Etsou Bamungwabi, and Pierre Marini Bodho – Presiding Bishop of the Church of Christ in Congo, the umbrella church for most denominations in the Congo, known within the country simply as "The Protestant Church".

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Joseph Kabila on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Joseph Kabila, The Untold Story
• Rape in the DRC
• BBC Country Profile
• Official website of the President of the DRC
• Joseph Kabila 2011 campaign site
• Democratic Republic of the Congo - Permanent Mission to the United Nations
• DR Congo presidential candidates face off in second round Jane's Intelligence Watch Report, 22 August 2006
• For Congo’s Leader, Middling Reviews by Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, April 4, 2009

v t e Candidates in the 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo presidential election Jean Andeka Adam Bombolé Joseph Kabila François Nicéphore Kakese Vital Kamerhe Oscar Kashala Léon Kengo Antipas Mbusa Nzanga Mobutu Josué Alex Mukendi Étienne Tshisekedi

v t e Candidates in the 2006 Democratic Republic of the Congo presidential election Jean-Pierre Bemba Antoine Gizenga Joseph Kabila Nzanga Mobutu Oscar Kashala Azarias Ruberwa Pierre Pay-Pay wa Syakasighe Vincent de Paul Lunda-Bululu Joseph Olenghankoy Mukundji Pierre Anatole Matusila Malungenine Kongo Antipas Mbusa Bernard Emmanuel Kabatu Suila Eugène Diomi Ndongala Banyingela Kasonga Jean Marinaque Alou Bonioma Kalokola Gérard Kamanda wa Kamanda Norbert Likulia Bolongo Roger Lumbala Guy-Patrice Lumumba Christophe Mboso N'Kodia Pwanga Alafuele Mbuyi Kalala Hassan Thassinda Uba Thassinda Florentin Mokonda Bonza Timothée Moleka Nzulama Justine Mpoyo Kasa-Vubu Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba Paul Joseph Mukungubila Mutombo Osée Muyima Ndjoko Arthur Z'ahidi Ngoma Jacob Niemba Souga Marie-Thérèse Nlandu Mpolo Nene Wivine N'Landu Kavidi Cathérine Marthe Nzuzi wa Mbombo

v t e President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (list) Republic of the Congo (1960–1971) Joseph Kasa-Vubu • Antoine Gizenga (rebel) Republic of Zaire (1971–1997) Joseph Mobutu/Mobutu Sese Seko Democratic Republic of the Congo (1997–present) Laurent-Désiré Kabila • Joseph Kabila