And then there are the minerals, Congo’s seemingly limitless supply of them - gold, diamonds, zinc, nickel, cassiterite, copper, cobalt and coltan, old-school and modern gems. The soil here is some of the most fertile on the planet. The instant you cross, you’re hit by a riot of dazzling colors, loud music, drunken border policemen, and women hoisting just about every imaginable kind of fruit and vegetable onto their heads. The drive to the border takes you past one denuded hillside after another, unmistakable proof that this packed little country is definitely not a land of plenty.Īnd then on the other side of the bridge is Congo. It all adds up to a small miracle, especially remarkable because of Rwanda’s recent genocide, its overpopulation and its notable lack of resources. On the Rwandan side, immigration officers at a freshly painted cubicle-like border post peck away at computers, the smartly dressed worker bees of a regime that has made enormous strides fighting poverty, corruption and AIDS. Walking across it is like taking a journey across two Africas, in the span of about 100 yards. There is a rusty old bridge over a narrow finger of Lake Kivu, which separates Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |