Friday, November 14, 2008

Getting to the CDNP Controlled Area


First of all the land in the Congo is beautiful. Getting to this beautiful land is across miles and miles of unpaved road. It is full of holes, giant volcanic rocks and what else but thick mud. Not too many things scare me but driving up those one way mountain roads inches from a thousand foot drop practically scared the pants off of me. The driver seemed to be in an uncanny hurry which I would only understand when we tried to cross the front line coming back.

We ended up in the CDNP controlled territory. This is area that is completely controlled by Laurent Nkunda's troops.
I'm always surprised at these type of troops when I see they have the latest model uniform and are well equipped in guns and numbers.
This introduction has urged me to seek out Nkunda himself. Maybe tomorrow? His soldiers, the Congolese soldiers seems anyone with a uniform has orders to not allow their picture to be taken. Honestly I am grateful to go out with aid groups but at the same time they are scared that I am going to take a picture and get them in trouble.
It's a difficult balance. I think they are more sacred than need be but they are scared. When we came back towards Goma the CDNP army had increased dramatically and the Congolese army had also grown since the morning. The front line had now been blockaded with a barrier of logs. We in the vehicle anticipated the options as the Congolose young soldier approached our car. What we didn't expect was his question. He looked at all 4 of us and asked, "Do you have the Bishop in your car". We were allowed back into the Goma with the correct answer.

1 comment:

Kevin Keelan said...

Amazing! our prayers are with you.
Blessings, Kevin

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