[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 3 (Friday, January 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  GOMA

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to bring my colleagues' 
attention to the desperate situation of the people of Goma in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo. A natural disaster recently added to 
the man-made tragedies that have already had a profound effect on the 
population in and around Goma. Basic human decency demands that the 
United States and the international community take prompt action to 
provide relief to the Congolese people, and to help them in their 
efforts to rebuild their communities.
  On January 17, Mount Nyiragongo, which is situated in the eastern 
part of the country near Lake Kivu, erupted and eventually produced 
several different paths of lava, including one that ran directly 
through Goma, destroying one-fifth to one-third of the city and 
displacing over 200,000 people. Some 62,500 people's homes were 
destroyed, and reports indicate that hundreds of thousands have lost 
their jobs, their places of work utterly destroyed. It appears that 
scores lost their lives. For days, the displaced suffered without 
assistance, desperately searching for food, water, and shelter.
  Witnesses to the misery of the Rwandan refugees who fled the 1994 
genocide, many were unwilling to become refugees themselves, and 
rapidly returned to the devastated city.
  The international community has now been able to mobilize help. As of 
yesterday, the water system in Goma had resumed limited operations, but 
there are still parts of the city with no access to clean water, 
forcing families to drink from contaminated sources and increasing the 
risk of a cholera outbreak. Today, U.S. relief assistance has reached 
the people of Goma, and I commend the Administration for working to get 
blankets, water, emergency food aid, and temporary emergency shelter 
materials to the communities in need.
  I want to stress that life has been precarious for the people of this 
region for far too long. They have been among the millions of Congolese 
suffering from the all too often overlooked humanitarian crisis that 
has gripped much of central Africa.
  The Congolese people suffered unspeakably during the colonial era. 
Then they endured the repression and astonishing corruption of the 
Mobutu regime. Next came the civil war that still leaves the country 
divided. Throughout these political trials, the most basic 
infrastructure of the country has crumbled, year by year, the victim of 
neglect, of corruption, and of conflict. Not only are the Congolese 
people still denied basic political rights--no matter which force 
controls the section of the country in which they live--but many also 
do not have access to even rudimentary health care. Several credible 
surveys and reports indicate that malnutrition levels have reached 
appalling levels.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, I am committed to 
holding a hearing to focus attention on the DRC in the months ahead. My 
colleagues will surely recognize that a vast country gripped by 
deprivation and fear provides opportunities for some of the worst 
international actors. Surely they will see that the situation in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo creates a zone of instability at the 
heart of the continent--a direct challenge to our global efforts to 
stand on the side of both order and justice. Surely we will all realize 
that both our interests and our morals demand that we help the people 
of Goma not just to survive their immediate ordeal, but to rebuild 
their communities. We must work to support the inter-Congolese dialogue 
that aims to bring peace and a democratic political solution to the 
country, and we must demand all signatories to the Lusaka Accords 
respect the fundamental human rights of the Congolese people. We must 
work with the international community to provide desperately needed 
development assistance to the people who have long been denied 
meaningful control over the course of their own country's destiny.
  The disaster in Goma has finally drawn international attention to the 
plight of the Congolese. We cannot avert our eyes now that the lava has 
stopped its terrible advance.

                          ____________________