MOLTEN lava from east DRC’s Mount Nyamuragira, which erupted February 6, is helping Rwandan troops in the area to dislodge Hutu extremist militias. Kigali has long justified its support of rebels in the DRC with the need to counter the threat posed by extremist groups such as the Interahamwe which helped carry out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The volcano’s eruption has forced many Interahamwe fighters from their camps at the base of Nyamuragira, which lies in North Kivu, a province held by rebels and their Rwandan backers. Since 1994, the Interahamwe and soldiers of Rwanda’s former army, who also took part in the genocide, have used this area, part of a natural park, as a rear-guard base for raids into Rwanda. More recently, rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, together with Rwandan troops, have taken control of the area. – AFP
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