Volcanoes Pose New Threat for Refugees

Volcanic activity near Rwandan refugee camps raised concern among aid officials Friday that hundreds of thousands who fled civil war may be forced to flee again.

The Nyirangongo volcano, a few miles from the Kibumba camp, has been giving off a red glow, indicating the presence of a lava lake in the crater. An eruption of that volcano killed 1,000 people in 1977.

The Nyamuragira volcano, 20 miles north of Goma, has produced a lava flow out of its southwest flank, a volcano expert at the U.S. Geological Survey said.

An eruption of Nyirangongo would force the evacuation of both the Kibumba and Katale camps, which contain two-thirds of the 900,000 refugees in the area, a U.N. spokesman said.