About The Blog

The Proxy Lake Blog

The Proxy Lake is a place on the web I keep latest news, great views and published, classified, unearthed or leaked materials of the African Great Lakes Region and beyond.

What is and where is the African Great Lakes Region?

The African Great Lakes are a series of lakes and the Rift Valley lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African Rift on the continent of Africa. They include Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area, Lake Tanganyika, the world’s second largest in volume as well as the second deepest and Lake Kivu which lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Lake Kivu empties into the Rusizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika.

Why the African Great Lakes Region

The Lakes in the region, in particular, the Lake Kivu have been caught up in deadly ethnic conflicts from both sides of their shores. The lake Kivu silently witnessed tragedies unfolding  in its surroundings, lethal conflicts, in Rwanda and in DR Congo, which led to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, War crimes and crimes against humanity of the First and Second Congo Wars.

The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Many of the refugees were Hutu people fleeing the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), which invaded Rwanda in the run-up to Rwandan Genocide. Lake Kivu gained notoriety as a lake that many of the victims had to cross for shelter and safety.

The series of wars and genocides resulted in immense suffering to millions of people. War and genocides have had far-reaching repercussions for both Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa. Today Rwanda is in crisis as its people are yet to come to terms with the tragedy befallen in their country. Some may say that reconciliation has taken place and matters are settled. Others think that underlying issues to the conflict have been swept under carpet and that true reconciliation is not possible until truth is brought to surface.

On the other side of Lake Kivu and Tanganyika, many armed factions are in conflict with each other in Congo, millions of Congolese have had to leave their homes and property to save their lives. The nearly 6 millions less fortunate Congolese have died over the past decade. Rape and sexual violence is rampant and the culprit are never brought to account, which makes it difficult to resolve the conflict. It is said that Congo conflict is the deadliest war after the second world war but yet the international media keeps silent on the conflict.

I would like The Proxy Lake blog to be dedicated to offering to Rwandans, Congolese and their friends a platform for reflections on a pathway to a peaceful resolution on the Great Lakes Region crisis. One of the many ways to pave way to resolution is to seek to bring the truth to light.

• It’s your right to know the truth behind biased mainstream media.
• It’s your right to say what you think about the truth behind mainstream media’s headlines.
• It’s your right to be informed beyond mainstream media’s biased and inaccurate reporting.

Claire Umurungi,