Congolese Prime Minister Sama Lukonde Kyenge ended a three-day visit to Goma on Monday, affected by a volcanic eruption on May 22. Eight million US dollars is needed, he said, to meet the urgent needs of the affected populations who had to evacuate Goma in a disaster. The Prime Minister has approved that these populations gradually return and promises that lessons will be learned … He answers questions from Patient Ligodi.
- Advertisement -
RFI: Why the Goma Volcanological Observatory (OVG) could not raise the warning before the outbreak on 22 May?
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge: First of all, because there were no warning signals that could indicate the need to ask for a warning in relation to the volcanic eruption. And this has also been confirmed by other observatories at the international level. But of course there was also an operational problem that we had to fix as soon as we arrived at the site with the government group.
Are you sure there was no warning sign?
Usually we have heaters. We have earthquakes that prevent. But this time we did not get them spontaneously. It is also true that OVG, once we arrived here in Goma, still made reports that they saw signs, but no sign that could allow a general warning.
And why did you ask 300000 people to evacuate without setting up a reception camp with food and appropriate care?
Because we, not only by the OVG but also by the observatories in the United States and Belgium, warned that there could be a lava flow at any time, we could not wait to set up the first camps to welcome and ask the population to evacuate. We chose to carry out a simultaneous operation, that is, to ask the population to evacuate, and together the government and the humanitarian workers met at the specified locations in order to be able to take action as quickly as possible. It was a matter of urgency, a matter of responsibility, a matter of people’s lives.
How much do you estimate the needs after the volcanic eruption?
We need it on several levels. The first level is the humanitarian level and we do it in coordination with humanitarians, in particular Ocha, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), WFP (World Food Program), UNICEF and so many others So, in coordination with them, we evaluated at government level an initial need of 16 billion Congolese francs, that is to say at least 8 million …
Of dollars …
Plus or minus $ 8 million. And this is to cover urgent food needs, it is to cover the need for drugs and it is without counting on the support of the humanitarian workers who are coming, especially with WFP and Unicef, and also those as I said ICRC. And other assessments must now be made for the reconstruction of more or less 3,000 families who have lost their protection. And on this we work with a civil engineer to get the latest evaluations. And we will continue this work until this crisis, which has begun, comes to an end.
Of the $ 8 million, how many have already been paid out?
About half of the government’s side. And we continue to receive support as well. I believe that the greatest need is not what we are doing now, but the greatest need will be in the redefinition of the urban planning of the city of Goma. And this is where we need to concentrate the most, because we need to prevent the future, we need to preserve life.
Where are we with the process of degassing Lake Kivu? Can we have deadlines??
Here we have come with the expert team in relation to the degassing of the lake. We have specific points, especially in Kabuno (the gorge northwest of the lake) where we must act as soon as possible, because the gases are not so deep on the surface. These are works that should be launched within two weeks of the interview. And we hope that for the future it means that we have gas a little deeper, that we can establish a schedule that can also allow its utilization.
You are also there for a mission, we say, in connection with security, so the siege. What causes more murders? Was the siege the most appropriate decision on these security issues in the two provinces of Ituri and North Kivu??
Yes, that was really the decision to make. First because it was requested upstream by the local people. As you know, it is an asymmetric war. But in the meantime, these groups, who are cornered, are taking refuge in certain corners where we have not yet carried out major operations. And that is exactly where these crimes are widespread. And we, we must make sure that we can maintain the work we do. We deeply regret and mourn the death, especially those we had on the night of 30 to 31 May in Boga. More specifically, we had 58 deaths. It was one of the biggest losses we have had in one day. We sent messages of compassion and condolences to all these families. And we will intensify our action there so that we can reduce the number of murders. And besides, we have to work hard from the point of view of our intelligence services every time to ensure that we can prevent this type of negative action.
.
