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)