Aug 28 2007
The War on Charcoal
Sorry for the lack of blog post yesterday. The key for the room with the internet made it’s way to Goma on Sunday and didn’t get back to Rumangabo until half an hour ago. The Director Mushenzi has been called to meetings and so is unable to talk on the charcoal trade, as promised, however I would like to talk you about what my men have achieved in this aspect since their arrival.
For the last month we have been on patrols daily to crack down on those who are making charcoal in the Southern Sector of Virunga National Park. Despite being a difficult trade to hide -the smoke below indicates where there is an oven making charcoal- many people are able to profit from the instability here and continue with the making of charcoal.
While out on patrol we have found many of these ‘ovens’ where people have been making charcoal.
It takes about 15 days to prepare these ovens, and so by destroying them we hope to strongly discourage the efforts of the people to continue.
We know that there are large trucks coming out of the park, full of charcoal. And from this we can assume that there are strong networks in place where about 50/60 men make charcoal for 1 or 2 people at the top of that particular chain.
At the beginning of our crackdown we came across and arrested many women making charcoal in the park, but as the Director Mushenzi stated, they are victims of this situation. We also discovered that many of the women in the park with charcoal were the wives of Congolese military who were picking up the scraps of charcoal that they could find so that they can cook for their families. The military are not paid by the government and so their families do what they can to get by.
More recently we have also stopped many men making charcoal in the park, and we have found that the majority of them come from Rwanda. In Rwanda it is illegal to make charcoal, and so many Rwandans enter Congo to make it here instead. They take advantage of the fact that the Congolese military are not paid and so pay the military protection money to enter the park.
We arrested all of the men but, after we instruct them about why they shouldn’t make charcoal in the park, we now let the women go. We take the men to the main station at Rumangabo. Once there we question them to find out more about the networks, and then after some instruction as well as a fine, they are all taken back to the Rwandan border. With the progress that we have made we have unfortunately received many threats, and a few weeks ago one of our men was attacked by the military.
Kimanuka works at the Kibati Patrol Post, and was travelling on a truck between Rumangabo and Kibati. There were some military also on the truck and once the truck had travelled some distance from the main station here at Rumangabo, they started to attack him with their bayonets. Due to the location of his injuries he is very lucky to have survived.
We also receive letters from the military asking us to let certain prisoners free, and believe that this is part of their efforts to continue protecting those who pay them to make charcoal.
However things may be about to change. While out on patrol we also found the following letter from the Commander of the 9th Brigade, who is in control of the military in the South.
It seems that this letter was written just after the Advance Force arrived, and could have been written for a number of reasons. In the letter he advises that charcoal production within the park should stop four weeks from the date on the letter, 25 July 2007.
It was after we found a copy of this letter that we were able to arrange a meeting with the Major to visit the Director here at Rumangabo. The meeting happened last Friday and one of the outcomes was to introduce mixed patrols within the park, of both park guards and military. More details will follow shortly from Director Mushenzi.
Commander Elie Mundima
Advance Force, Congo Rangers
Technorati : Charcoal, Congo, DRC, ICCN, Mountain Gorilla, Virunga
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Elie, so nice to hear from you. I hope you’re well.
OK, I’m just a little confused. Are you planning to launch mixed patrols with the same military that attacked Mr. Kimanuka and that accepted bribes to allow Rwandan people to make charcoal in the park? Do you think the military can be trusted? Will they also be guarding the gorillas?
Thanks for a very interesting post.
s.
Very, very interesting. Why does the Military not back you all up in the protection of the gorillas??? Why do they take bribes to get into the congo to destroy it and all of its creatures??? I cant understand the concept here. Rangers to me are their own military apparently. For they are the only ones trying to protect the park and all of its beautiful things. Guess the rangers and their familys understand this, why not anyone else?? Is there not other countries willing to help. I know a whole slew of citizens all around the world that would love to be there to help. Why not the Government? Is there so much upheavel there that none cares for you parks and the Gorillas we have ALL grown to LOVE? Elie..Sorry I just beleive you have a beautiful country and cant stand it when it seems like you all keep running into brick walls. Well power to the rangers and the Gorillas. Always remember you rangers have alot of people that back you and are appreciated everyday for putting your own lives in danger to save the lives of the gorillas and if we were all there we would be a formidable opponent….Steph
AS SHERYL STATES DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE CONGALESE MILITARY ARE GOING TO WORK TO STOP THE CHARCOAL TRADE WITH THE RANGERS — IT SOUNDS LIKE THE COMMANDER’S LETTER HAD INTENDED IT TO STOP AND SOME RENEGADES FROM RWANDA CONTINUED WITH PAYOFFS, ETC. ?? I KNOW THERE IS NO SOLUTION WITH THE NEED FOR THE CHARCOAL BUT OTHERS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE PARK TO EXPLOIT IT BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL IN THEIR AREA AND CERTAINLY NOT KILL THE MOST VALUABLE THING YOU HAVE - YOUR WILDLIFE FOR IT!
[…] The War on Charcoal at Virunga National Park: “For the last month we have been on patrols daily to crack down on those who are making charcoal in the Southern Sector of Virunga National Park.” Share This […]
Very tough situation..these poor people need to earn a living but are breaking the law and helping to destroy the animals there to do it……I really wish something could work out…thanks for the update..I am really learning new things everyday from your blog! Stay safe…..
I don’t know if anyone else was been visiting WildlifeDircet on YouTube. They have some new videos up. Here’s the link http://www.youtube.com/user/WildlifeDirect
Yes, I agree with Annie. Very tough situation. What can be done to help these people, help themselves in a lawful and eco friendly way? Are there any other options in place…..anything? Thank you for the very interesting report. I too, am learning new things every day on this blog and absolutely love it. Lisa, California
Here’s one other link to WildlifeDirect http://www.youtube.com/user/WildlifeDIRECTcleary
[…] Mehr Infos (engl.): The War On Charcoil. […]
Thanks for the YouTube link, Gary. They’re great vids, and I especially like the ones featuring the rangers talking about their work and the “slice of life” vids.
s.
For some background on the Congolese military: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo
Will, Thank you for the link. Very, very interesting. Lisa, California
Thanks for Wikipedia link, Will. Wow.
s.
Not having all of the facts, I am left to believe that force against the charcoal makers will never work. It all comes down to economics. The charcoal makers not only need to be educated in the “unsustainable” aspects of charcoal making in this area,they ALSO need to be given equal economic incentives, such as, they are paid to educate other charcoal makers about the negative practice or/and they are given an energy substitute they can use to cook, keep warm, etc. with or trained in another craft. Many people have commented on this. What ideas can YOU come up with that might provide opportunities to the charcoal makers that would allow them not to continue destroying the area and its wildlife?
Thanks for this post - it’s great to know that information is available directly from rangers who deal with this issue all the time.
And thank you for pointing out the complexity of this problem as well. It is not that people just don’t care about preserving resources, they feel they need the charcoal to survive.
It seems like the rangers and Wildlife Direct are doing their jobs extremely well in extremely difficult circumstances, addressing the issues that their respective organizations are intended to address. But it also sounds like it is increasingly difficult to do those jobs when there are other issues (extreme poverty) which are not being addressed by other appropriate/relevant organizations.
I suppose it is not really a question for Wildlife Direct or the rangers, but I do wonder where these other organizations are…why are they not addressing this poverty? As far as I understand, organizations which do this kind of work exist, and the UN itself organizes lots of economic aid activities…are any being implemented and if not, why?
[…] He was taken to hospital but died from brain damage. He was coming back with other Rangers from an anti-charcoal burning patrol. We will pay his widow a monthly stipend of $30 out of the donations made on this […]
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