UN urges Congolese refugees to stay in camps

UN officials hoped today that more Congolese refugees would report to tented camps, after thousands ignored their plea and returned to a city devastated by a volcanic eruption.

Residents of Goma, who fled to neighbouring Rwanda when three lava flows destroyed 40% of the town, packed the few possessions they had brought with them and set off on foot, dodging rivers of molten rock, or climbing over the brittle crust that formed over the lava flows.

‘‘I want to return home because my house is still there and I have heard that the lava has stopped,’’ Augustin Mirenge, a Goma school teacher, said.

‘‘The weather is so cold, we can’t go to (the camp) ... it’s in a forest, so the conditions are harsh and there are many mosquitos.’’

UN officials said they would continue to discourage the 300,000 refugees from returning home, warning that the volcano may still be dangerous and the air polluted with poisonous gases from the lava.

But after three days with very little aid, the prospect of living in a camp and a dramatic reduction in the lava flow, Goma residents said they would rather risk going home.

While the lava still flows into Lake Kivu, the 50-yard wide paths carved by the lava are no longer expanding.

Thousands of Goma residents ran across the fresh volcanic rock yesterday, reaching the opposite side of the divided town for the first time since Thursday, when the eruption began.