Congo, prisoners of the mud | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

When the Congo gained independence it had one of the best road networks in Central Africa. Today, barely 2% of its roads are paved. The remainder are no more than dirt tracks, often impassable in the rainy season. The North of Kivu is one of the richest regions in Africa and, most importantly, the country’s breadbasket. Here, everything will grow. This province provides food for the whole of the Congo. To transport it to the rest of the county there is only the road: the National 4. Food produce leaves the city of Goma for the river port of Kisangani, nearly 1,200 kilometres away. From there it is dispatched by boat to the capital, Kinshasa, and to other provinces of the country. This road is a lifeline, not only for the country, but for neighbouring countries too, which send their goods along it. Trucks used to make the trip in three or four days. However, today the journeys take considerably longer. It now takes them between two and six weeks to reach their destination. We accompany Eric, a driver with forty years experience. We spend a mere three days with his truck and some twenty passengers before he gets caught up in a unique traffic jam. Deep in the equatorial forest more than one hundred trucks are blocking the road. They are stuck in the mud, which has gradually turned into a thick sludge. The right-hand side of a 30-tonne truck has sunk up to its axles. With our 4-wheel drive vehicle we manage to get to the far side of the swamp, leaving Eric to wait more than three days before the road is clear. While we wait for him we decide to follow the National 4 towards Kisangani. For nearly 60 kilometres along the road there’s nothing but a succession of mini-buses, cars and trucks, either broken down or stuck in the mud. After passing the town of Nia Nia, we are again held up by a giant traffic jam. Several hundred trucks are parked along more than two kilometres faced with a sea of sludge that covers the road. This time our 4-wheel drive can’t get through. Only motorbikes are able to continue on their way. The other vehicles are left stranded. Some have been there for more than a week. When one truck manages to get clear, others immediately attempt to get through. They stall, bog down or overturn and the situation gets worse. There’s neither water nor food. There are nearly one thousand women, children and drivers camping alongside the track. They manage as best they can to survive. Amidst this general chaos, people gradually organise. They help each other and encourage each other to overcome this hell of heat and mud. Not far from there lies another hell. It’s caused by the rush to the new Eldorado of Kivu: the Congo’s coltan mines. For several months, the “Grey Gold” of Rubaya Massisi has been attracting thousands of adventurers to a bare mountain that is swept by wind and dust. For a few Euros per day men, and also children, risk their lives to extract this precious mineral. It’s extremely rare and two or three times more expensive than gold, but most importantly, it is indispensable to high technology. Without the toil of these miners with their impossible task, we would not be able to use our cell phones or our computers…