Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Monday expressed sympathy for the
people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) struggling to
survive after a volcano erupted.
In
a message to his DRC counterpart, Josef Kabila, Jiang said he was
shocked to learn that last Wednesday's eruption of the Nyiragongo
volcano in the eastern part of the Congo had killed scores of
people, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and severely
damaged neighboring cities.
"On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I express deep
sympathy through your excellency to the government of the
Democratic Republic of Congo and express my sincere solicitude to
the family members of the victims," said Jiang.
"We believe your country and people will overcome the difficulties
caused by the disaster and the affected regions will recover as
soon as possible," Jiang said in the message.
Mount Nyiragongo started spewing lava on Thursday, swallowing
buildings and forcing residents to flee in its wake.
There were unconfirmed reports that around 40 people may have died
as a result of the eruption of the volcano, the first since 1977,
when lava flows killed almost 2,000 people in less than half an
hour.
Almost half a million people are thought to have fled their homes
in and around the devastated city of Goma, many across the border
into Rwanda.
UN
agencies, the Red Cross and a host of other non-governmental
organizations have rushed to provide food, water and shelter to
homeless people in Goma, a city of 350,000 inhabitants, and the
nearby Rwandan town of Gisenyi.
(China
Daily January 22, 2002)