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By the peaceful shore of Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Rwanda, this month. Rwanda-Congo dispatch
One Lake, Two Worlds: Jet-Skis in Rwanda. Bodies Ashore in Congo.
The Rwandan shore of Lake Kivu offers leisure and relaxation. Across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same lake was recently the site of devastation and misery after a rebel offensive.
By the peaceful shore of Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Rwanda, this month. Credit…
By Elian Peltier
Photographs by Guerchom Ndebo
Elian Peltier and Guerchom Ndebo reported from both Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gisenyi, Rwanda.
Feb. 19, 2025 On one side of the lake, lovers glide on canoes, friends ride jet-skis and families pose for pictures in the hazy sunset. On the other side, less than two miles away, dead bodies washed ashore while ammunition and discarded weapons littered the water.
The shore of Lake Kivu in Rwanda offers leisure and relaxation. Across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same lake displayed devastation and misery after an armed group called M23 captured the lakeside city of Goma last month. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the January offensive, according to the United Nations.
“It is peaceful here, unlike over there,” said Exauce Shalako, a 20-year-old man from Goma who was lounging on the shore of Lake Kivu in Rwanda one afternoon this month. Mr. Shalako, who said he had lost a friend in the fighting, had crossed into Rwanda for a day at the beach. “We need to unwind, to have a change of scene,” he said.
But while Rwanda appears peaceful at home, it is fueling war across the border. Thousands of Rwandan troops have invaded eastern Congo alongside fighters from M23, which is under Rwanda’s control, according to the United States and United Nations experts. Rwanda denies backing the rebels.
Map locates Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gisenyi in Rwanda.
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC
OF CONGO
Goma
RWANDA
Gisenyi
15 MILES
300 MILES
SOUTH SUDAN
UGANDA
Goma
Rwanda
Democratic
Republic
of Congo
BURUNDI
Kinshasa
TANZANIA
AFRICA
ZAMBIA
ANGOLA
Detail area
To cross from Goma to its sister city Gisenyi in Rwanda takes just minutes by land, but the two places feel worlds apart. In Gisenyi, a town of 50,000, restaurant owners adorn their beachfront properties with colorful decorations as the smell of roasted chicken fills the air. In Goma, a city of two million, the stench of death and the sounds of sirens wafted over the streets for days.
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