The Rwandan president has been accused of backing Gen Laurent Nkunda's army, writes Mory Cunningham
TODAY IN Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the sun shines, the streets are calm and everyone is talking about Obama's victory.
There are no signs that an army led by an ex-Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) soldier has surrounded and threatened to take Goma, an easterly city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) less than four hours' drive away.
As a result of the conflict in Goma, the eyes of the world have been diverted once again to the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
Last weekend international foreign ministers, including those of Britain and France, gathered in Kigali to start talks in a diplomatic effort to solve escalating problems on Rwanda's borders with the DRC. UN, EU and international diplomatic involvement in peace talks are at an unprecedented level for what to date has essentially been a bush war.
Conflicts in Goma are yet another reminder of the guilt felt by western powers over their inaction during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Goma city sits on Lake Kivu, right on the southern Rwandan border, a mere three and a half hours' drive from Kigali. It also happens to be the capital of a region of vast mineral wealth, including gold, tin, and a huge portion of the world's columbite-tantalite (known as coltan), a metal used in the manufacture of every mobile phone.
Gen Laurent Nkunda, now leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), surrounds Goma with his notoriously fearsome army. Congolese president Joseph Kabila has accused Kagame of backing Nkunda.
It is rumoured that rich mineral resources from areas controlled by the CNDP are being fed directly back to Rwandan territories. Paul Kagame has officially denied all links, saying that these conflicts are Congolese. He will, however, participate in peace talks in an effort to prevent an escalation of already drastic events. Whether this conflict is ethnic or a battle for resources, driven by rebels or governments, is as yet unclear.
Crossing the border yesterday from Rwanda into Goma, the difference in a mere 100 yards was remarkable. From Rwanda's peaceful side, UN tanks could be seen patrolling Congolese territory. Thousands of internally displaced people are being housed in makeshift camps in schools, mosques and churches. Care International emergency co-ordinator John La Pointe says: "The situation is extremely volatile. People are moving in both directions through the humanitarian corridor."
There is an eerily quiet sense about the city, whose normal population is approximately 250,000, but the tension is palpable. At one of Care's refugee camps in the centre of Goma, up to 1,000 seek shelter, food and clean water.
Patrick, a pastor, showed us around. He is one of the most recent arrivals having fled on foot from CNDP-occupied territory. Outside the camps, business traders watch UN tanks pass in the dozens, and the Congolese army that left has recently re-emerged. There is an absolute consensus that something is going to happen. We returned to the sleepy streets of Gisenyi, the Rwandan border town, shortly before dark.
The horrific Rwandan genocide, led by Hutu extremists against the minority Tutsi group, ended when the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, liberated the country. Many Hutus from the Interahamwe militia fled to neighbouring DRC and fighting has continued across the border ever since.
Nkunda, a former psychology student, has led one of the most organised forces through eastern Congo since 2004, controlling areas north of Lake Kivu since 2007. His stated aim is to stamp out the militia force known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Nkunda believes the FDLR is planning on carrying out a new genocide against Congo's Tutsis, who form a 3 per cent minority population in eastern Congo. The fact that Goma and eastern Congo are a rich part of the world to control cannot be ignored.
Both Nkunda's rebels and renegade Congolese soldiers have been accused of killings, looting and rape. Humanitarian aid agencies are calling the situation "catastrophic".
Back in Kigali, however, there is little evidence of this neighbouring struggle.
Rwanda officially does not support Nkunda's mission in the DRC. At an international level, Kagame stands to loose too much through association with the CNDP's advances. Kagame's current aims for Rwanda are visionary and the changes he has achieved for the nation since 1994 are astounding. Rwanda has gone from a country ravaged by war to a leading African nation in less than 14 years. With little resources within the country, one of Kagame's aims is to make Rwanda the information and communications technology capital of Africa. This will require heavy foreign private investment, which relies greatly on Rwanda remaining a stable country.
International aid to Rwanda since the 1994 genocide has been at a massive level. Donor support from Britain alone is committed at £46 million (€57 million) a year for the next 10 years. If Kagame is backing Nkunda, he stands to place himself in a sticky international position. That said, if the Rwandan government had links to the control of a vast mineral resource, it would not have to rely so much on outside international financial support.
Reports of killings from both sides are continuing and it is currently rumoured in Goma that the Congolese army has recruited Angolan mercenaries to increase its military capacity.
If this becomes a reality, then the situation in Goma could become far worse.