Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 30 2008 | By: paula

Many people inside and outside of the DR Congo are frustrated wtih the failure of the United Nations Peace keeping force to protect civilians, and halt the conflict that is pushing the situation towards a regional war.

The Monuc Website has revealed the following development

“The UN Security Council has discussed, on 27 November 2008, the possibility of amending the mandate of the UN Mission in DR Congo. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC, Alan Doss attended the meeting”.

and 

“The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the DRC and MONUC’s Chief, Alan Doss highlighted the need for addressing the root causes of the conflict, which, according to him, have never been dealt with. He applauded the current efforts by the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed by the UN Secretary- General as Special Envoy on the Great Lakes region. Many other stakeholders joined efforts, including the representative of the Russian Federation.

DRC’s representative acknowledged and repeated that the Nairobi and Goma processes were the only “reliable framework” for the restoration of peace to a region plagued by crisis he attributed to “a warlord who continues to defy the international community in all impunity…”.

We should recall that the UNSC resolution 1843 of 20th November authorized a temporary increase of MONUC’s military and police strengths to enable it to put an end to the crisis in North Kivu. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General said the extra troops will not be deployed for at least two months.”

Read more on the Monuc website here 

Tags: CNDP, DR Congo, Goma, Luarent Nkunda, MONUC, North Kivu, rebels

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 30 2008 | By: paula

It’s not all bad news for gorillas despite the crisis in the DR Congo, there is good news in Nigeria and Cameroon for the worlds most endangered gorilla species.  The Cross River gorilla, the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies has a new protected area to protect it. The species is found only in Nigeria and Cameroon is threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation due to farming, roads and burning, as well as hunting for bushmeat.

The new park called Takamanda National Park is a transboundary park that protects the 115 cross river gorillas (a third of the worlds population) and other endangered animals like chimapnzees, drills and forest elephants to wonder freely in both countries.  It’s creation represents many years of work led by WCS and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Cameroon and local communities.

This project is funded by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt fűr Wiederaufbau Bankengruppe) as part of a 5-year funding program to protect key conservation areas in collaboration with local communities in southwest Cameroon. The initiative is also supported by the World Wildlife Fund, the German Development Service (DED) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

The cross river gorilla is one of four species of gorillas, the other subspecies include: western lowland gorillas, eastern lowland or “Grauer’s” gorillas, restricted to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and mountain gorillas, made famous by Dian Fossey and George Schaller. Earlier this year, WCS scientists discovered more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas in the northern Republic of Congo. All gorilla species  are classified as “critically endangered” or “endangered” by the IUCN Red List.

Read more about this in blogs here and here and here

Tags: conservation, cross river Gorilla, D R Congo, Mountain Gorillas, Republic of Congo, WCS

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Category: Humba Family, Trackers | Date: Nov 26 2008 | By: paula

Emmanuel and the rangers have finally returned to the Mikeno sector of the Virunga National Park after 14 months of absence. They are conducting a census of the gorillas and have already met the Humba family. YOu can read about it on the Gorilla.cd blog

The story has been captured by AFP which is below
Gorilla love conquers war in DR Congo

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 19:05:00 11/24/2008

RUMANGABO — It’s a striking example of how a little love can overcome a whole lot of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rebels and the government, who have blighted lush Nord-Kivu province with months of fighting, have cut a unique deal to allow armed park rangers back into the famed Virunga reserve to care for its long-neglected gorillas.

The deal will allow ranger Innocent Mburanumwe to be reunited with a bald blackback ape that has occupied his waking dreams for the past 15 months, ever since CNDP rebels took over the eastern gorilla sector of the park in September 2007 and forced the rangers to flee.

“Kadogo’s my favorite, because of all the ones I’ve seen, he’s the only one that is completely bald. Kadogo was born bald! I can’t wait to get up there to see him again.”

Last month, the rangers had to flee again, this time from Rumangabo with their families after the rebels swept through the southern sector of the park.

“I grabbed a kid in each arm and ran,” says Mburanumwe. His wife and six children remain behind in Goma at a camp for the rangers’ families housing 1,500.

Over the next week or so, hundreds of rangers will shoulder their Kalashnikovs and head into the bush from their Rumangabo headquarters to begin a census of the apes, keenly watched by their new rebel minders.

It is a unique situation in the battleground that is Nord-Kivu, the first time that an armed group has been allowed through a front line to go about their business freely.

At least that’s the plan, painstakingly worked out between park director Emmanuel De Merode, employed by the Kinshasa government, and rebel leader Laurent Nkunda at a meeting last week.

De Merode pores over the map of the park and smiles gamely when told he’s like a player in a wicked board game, minefields at every turn, only in his case it’s Congo’s bewildering array of armed groups. There’s the Mai Mai, the Rwandan FDLR rebels, the government forces, and of course, the CNDP, his new partners in conservation.

“It’s a complicated situation and they’re all involved in natural resource exploitation. Now it’s a little simpler because the park is all controlled by the CNDP. But it’s a difficult situation,” said the Kenya-raised Belgian, above the noise of a screaming baboon.

“There’s always controversy. But the message is very clear. We are only here to do park management and we’re doing it because it’s a world heritage site and also to protect the natural heritage which is extremely important to the economic future of the country.”

But ranger Roy Nkoma Musubao said he has no room for fear, particularly of the FDLR, whose illegal charcoal trade in the park poses the biggest risk to the rangers.

“This is my job, my lifeline. Armed groups or not, the job has got to be done,” said Musaboa, 120 of whose comrades have been killed since 1997.

De Merode commands 680 rangers, including many who stayed behind when the rebels advanced, notably Pierre-Canisius Kanamahalagi, a 52-year-old who wears smart city clothes and an air of authority.

“There’s a misconception put out by Kinshasa that the rangers were chased out” says Kanamahalagi. “They were ordered out by the government for propaganda reasons!”

“I’ve been called a rebel by some because I stayed on to look after the gorillas. But the management recognizes I’m a conservationist. Even a hero. A hero,” he says, emphasizing the last word.

De Merode is too diplomatic to say, but the mysterious presence of Kanamahalagi at the park’s headquarters is part of a delicate two-step with his new partners in conservation, the price to pay for being allowed back into the park.

No one can be certain the highly vulnerable apes, which have not been seen for 15 months, have survived unscathed. The park is home to 200 of the world’s 700 surviving great apes.

But Kanamahalagi insists they are safe. “The gorillas we’ve seen are in very good health, apart from their natural habitat damaged by FARDC [army] bombardment recently. Happily it didn’t affect the gorillas.”

Tellingly, De Merode, speaking separately, said such evidence is “anecdotal” and will have to be checked out by qualified personnel.

According to Mburanumwe, the partnership is working so far. “We embraced those who were here when we got back, so the coalition is working.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20081124-174114/Gorilla-love-conquers-war-in-DR-Congo

Tags: Congo, Congo crisis, Humba Family, Innocent, Mikeno, mountain gorilla, Virunga National Park

3 responses so far

Category: Threats | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: paula

As if things were not complicated enough, now reports suggest that the government militias are fighting each other with the Mai Mai attacking the government forces whom they are supposedly allied to. This seems to be strengthening the position of Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP rebels which can’t be good news. Reports now show that Nkunda’s territory extends as far as Kanyabayonga as shown in this map from the Washington Post

These photos taken by Uriel Sinai  will make you want to cry - but you must look at them to understand a little better how serious the crisis is in the Congo.  

Tags: CNDP, Congo, Congo crisis, gorillas, Laurent Nkunda, Virunga, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: paula

While President Obasanjo of Nigeria was been in talks with Laurent Nkunda to end the crisis in the Congo,  Nkunda’s heavy fighing was taking place. The UN peace keeping force has denounced the violations of the ceasefire agreement, but that seems to be a tootless threat.  Nkunda has repeatedly refused to cooperate with MONUC who he claims is pro government.

As a result, the humanitarian crisis continues to deepen in eastern Congo and IDP camps are being moved to protect those seeking shelter by getting the camps out of the line of fire. The virunga national park rangers are amongs thtose internally displaced people living in a hellish camp.  This article in the New York Times describes a tragic situation where rangers admit rying to eat leaves - afterall that is what gorillas survive on.

 Once again we appeal to you to donate any amount on this blog to help those rangers and their families.

Its hard not to despair about the situation in Congo - who should we be supporting, who are the good guys? Here’s an interesting article by Neil Campbell of Reuters

“Reinforcing What? The EU’s Role in Eastern Congo”,
Neil Campbell in Reuters: The Great Debate

17 November 2008
Reuters: The Great Debate

“Unacceptable and murderous.” Those were the words French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner chose to describe the situation in north eastern Congo at a press conference after October’s monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers. Sadly, Congo was not even on the agenda of that meeting.

In the following weeks, Laurent Nkunda’s rebels advanced on Goma, displacing up to 300,000 people; the Congolese army went on a spree of looting, raping and killing in that town; and there was a double massacre in Kiwanja on 4 November, first by pro-government Mayi Mayi militia, then by Nkunda’s rebels against suspected Mayi Mayi loyalists.

At the next meeting of EU foreign ministers, on 10 November, Congo at last made it to the agenda. But the European response to the crisis in central Africa is not encouraging. EU military assistance was not completely counted out in their agreed statement, but turning a general call for “reinforcement of cooperation between the EU, its member states and MONUC [the UN force]” into any specific reinforcements on the ground is far from straightforward.

For now, the EU has chosen the diplomatic route, pressing for a political solution within the framework of two key agreements signed over the past year. The November 2007 Nairobi agreement provides for normalisation of relations between Congo and Rwanda, disarmament of Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo - including some perpetrators of the 1994 genocide - and ending Rwandan support to Congolese Tutsi insurgent Nkunda. The January 2008 Goma agreement outlines a ceasefire, voluntary demobilisation of combatants and the “Amani” peace process between the government, Mayi Mayi militias and Nkunda’s rebels.

On the one hand, an international push behind these deals is welcome. The current escalation in violence resulted in part from international complacency once these agreements were signed, despite the best efforts of the EU’s Special Representative for the Great Lakes region, Roland van de Geer.

Unfortunately, the EU’s recent track record of top-level diplomacy does not give much confidence the 27-country Union will stick together on this issue. Kouchner was the first to call for EU military intervention in Congo. The EU’s chief diplomat, Javier Solana, quickly rejected the idea, the Belgians came out in support, and the British were skeptical. Meanwhile visits to the region by van de Geer, commissioner Louis Michel, and Kouchner with UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband left no impression of a unified front. It is not clear if Miliband’s primary objective was conflict prevention or Commonwealth enlargement with Rwanda. And Solana was not even allowed on the plane.

Diplomacy by others may prove more coherent. The UN Secretary General appointed an African heavyweight as his special envoy. Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo was then joined by Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, the African Union’s representative, as facilitators of the Nairobi and Goma agreements at the regional summit in Nairobi last Friday. Obasanjo and Mpaka could learn from the Europeans’ mistakes and initiate a clear division of labour. The former military man Obasanjo should concentrate on the Nairobi agreement and disarmament and reintegration of militias, while Swahili speaking Mkapa should concentrate on other aspects of the Goma process and the Amani peace-building program.

But the EU could still offer practical and immediate assistance. Despite the deficit in political will for the military option, there are possibilities the EU should explore. Europeans could temporarily secure Goma and its airport, allowing the UN forces to concentrate on security in the surrounding areas of Rutshuru and Masisi.

Sure, the EU needs to focus on its commitment to the political solution and ensure that there is one coherent EU message. The best way to protect civilians is a return to the agreements, and by assisting the UN with a specific short-term security objective - allowing the UN some breathing space to fulfill its wider mandate - the EU can play an important role towards that political solution, and reinforce its diplomatic message with real and visible commitment.

Time is short, however. Laurent Nkunda’s continued talk of a national agenda risks massive escalation of violence and chaos. But if in turn his rebels are seriously threatened, there is the real chance of widespread revenge killings of the Tutsi minority, to which Rwanda may well respond. And if the fighting continues indefinitely, we may see repeats of Kiwanja on a much larger scale. The paths currently being followed by all armed groups will only lead to an intensification of the conflict, with dire consequences of further regional involvement.

Neil Campbell, EU Advocacy Manager of the International Crisis Group, recently returned from eastern Congo.

Tags: CNDP, gorillas, MONUC, Nkunda, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 13 2008 | By: paula

GOMA, Congo, Nov 10 (Reuters) - East Congo’s conflict has put more than a quarter of the world’s last mountain gorillas at the mercy of armed groups who hunt and camp in their territory, park officials said on Monday.

With no rangers left to protect or care for them, the gorillas face even greater risk of extinction, they said.

Recent fighting between Tutsi rebels and the government army and its militia allies has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, home to the Virunga Park, Africa’s oldest national park. It has also eliminated all protection and effective conservation monitoring for 200 of the last remaining 700 mountain gorillas in the world, who live in the forested hills of Virunga, on the border with Uganda and Rwanda.

Virunga’s Gorilla Sector has been in the hands of rebel General Laurent Nkunda’s fighters since September 2007 and the Rumangabo park headquarters, from which conservation operations were run, fell to a rebel assault in October this year.

More than 50 wildlife rangers, who had spent years protecting the gorillas and other animals in Virunga, were forced to run for their lives, joining 200,000 other refugees sheltering around the North Kivu provincial capital Goma.

“It’s not possible now to have any news about the gorillas,” one displaced Virunga park ranger, Diddy Mwanaka, told Reuters.

“We don’t know about their health, their security or if they remain in a secure place or not,” he said, speaking at a makeshift camp housing refugee rangers and their families.

The park’s website, www.gorilla.cd, chronicles the Oct. 26 capture of the park’s HQ by the rebels and its consequences.

Samantha Newport, communications director of the Virunga National Park, said park authorities were extremely concerned that the unprotected mountain gorilla families, or solitary gorillas, could now be caught up in the crossfire of combat.

“No one is looking after them in any way, shape or form,” she said. At least 40 percent of the Virunga Park was no longer under the control of the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN).

Newport said that while park authorities did not believe that gorillas were being singled out for killing, they and other animals such as elephants, hippos and antelopes faced threats from armed groups, poachers, land invaders and charcoal burners who destroyed their forest habitat.

POACHING

“All these rebel groups, from whatever side, use the park to train, to camp out, to rest and to eat,” she said.

“We have problems of poaching of elephants, hippos, buffalo and antelope, just to name a few as a result of the presence of these armed groups in the park,” Newport added, saying 40 elephants had been poached in Virunga this year alone.

Over the years, east Congo’s conflict, which has persisted despite the formal end of a 1998-2003 war in the vast, former Belgian colony, has taken its toll on both the gorillas and the ICCN rangers who protect them.

More than 150 rangers have been killed in the last decade protecting parks in east Congo.

Virunga’s Gorilla Sector suffered repeated attacks in 2007 during which 10 mountain gorillas were killed.

Newport said Nkunda’s rebels saw the south of the border park as strategic territory. They used it as a supply route.

“At the moment, there is no chance of going back to the gorilla sector… When you have such a vulnerable, critically endangered population of animals, you really need to keep track of what is going on,” she added.

Newport said that unlike other endangered species, mountain gorillas had never managed to reproduce in captivity.

“So the ones we have in the wild, that’s it, when they’re gone, that’s it, they’ve gone,” she said.

Meanwhile two independent news sources have said the rebels continue to make progress and, as of Wednesday night, CNDP rebels had advanced to about 10 kilometres south of Kanyabayonga, the town looted by government troops earlier this week which is around 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of the Nord-Kivu capital Goma.

Tags: CNDP, DR Congo, gorillas, ICCN, Laurent Nkunda, Virunga National Park

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 12 2008 | By: paula

Despite the flurry of international attention and all the ‘high level  meetings” there is no good news to report on the situation on the ground in Eastern Congo where fighting continues, the humanitarian situation worsens and there are now epidemics of various diseases including cholera, meases and whooping cough.

l

Although some aid supplies are getting into the displaced peoples camps and at least some human suffering is being addressed, the bigger political problem continues to fester and many analysts believe that there is a very real danger of the conflict widening into a wider regional war similar to the one witnessed in 1998 - 2003 which drew in 9 African nations.  According to CNN Angola has already promised troops.

WildlifeDirect continues to raise funds for the rangers and their famililies who are directly affected by this humantitarian crisis in the Congo. Thank you so much for your support to date, we look forward to a brighter day.

Tags: Congo, Crisis in the Congo, gorillas, wildlifedirect

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 03 2008 | By: paula

A number of people have been raising concerns about how the crisis in the Congo is affecting the two gorilla orphans, Ndakasi and Ndeze, in Goma. We were really pleased to read today when Emmanuel confirmed that despite the conflict, he has been able to visit the babies and that they and their caretakers are all doing well. But in an emotional post on Gorilla Doctors blog, Dr. Lucy Spelman who is currently in Rwanda commented on her concerns of the situation facing the caretakers in the Congo and how it affects the gorilla conservation work and the orphaned babies in Goma.

She said

“I know that Jacques, Eddy, Jean Paul, the gorilla caretakers, and the orphans Ndeze, Ndakasi, and Mapendo are okay for now in Goma.  But the situation there is very unstable”

“Several people have said they feel helpless as they watch the events from a distance.  I’m an hour-and-a-half drive from Goma, and I feel the same way.

Meanwhile, on the humanitarian front, we are hoping that the ceasefire will hold and the convoy efforts to get food out through the front lines will be successful as the local communities around Goma have been without food for nearly a week now. We have heard distressing news about the condition of children especially, who are suffering from all manner of nutritional and health related disorders the aid must reach these people soon to avert untold suffering, starvation and death.

We send our good wishes with our colleagues on the ground, the ICCN, conservation partners, and journalists who are risking so much by staying there and helping through this crisis. If you have any spare dollars, please support the ICCN rangers through this crisis.

Tags: Goma, Gorilla Doctors, gorillas, Lucy Spelman, MGVP, Mountain Gorillas, Ndakasi, Ndeze, Virunga National Park

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Category: Threats | Date: Nov 01 2008 | By: paula

Given the gravity of the situation in the Congo we urge all our supporters to directly contribute towards helping the rangers through this terrible humanitarian crisis. We need to help raise $88,694 for the immediate needs.

You can make a donation directly to the park through their official website gorilla.cd or make a contribution right here on WildlifeDirect. No amount is too small in this crisis.

If you want to  leave a cheque follow these instructions

To donate by check please follow the following procedure :-
1. Write a check payable to WildlifeDirect Inc.
2. Simply write gorilla protection GOPRSIOP on the check

3. Include your mailing address for us to be able to send you a tax receipt

Mailing Address:

WildlifeDirect Inc.

P.O. Box 71435

Washington DC 20024-1435

USA

Thank you again for all your contributions to date.

From the team at WildlifeDirect

Tags: crisis in Congo, Emergency, Virunga National Park

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 01 2008 | By: paula

Fears of a refugee crisis in the region is fueling the pace for Congo talks to end the crisis. Talks are hoped to lead to a ceasefire, and real progress towards a lasting peace agreement.

Meanwhile the Virunga National Park  and ICCN staff are not faring very well. It was very saddening to read Diddy post on the Official Virunga website, describing the impossible situation that some rangers are in. Some have remained in Rumangabo and are more or less cut off from communication. Others have been trying to reach Goma through a 40 km hike through the forest which is occupied by rebel forces. They seem to be separating and are appearing in small numbers in Goma, exhausted and sick. However,  as of now, 23 rangers are apparently lost. Two rangers were arrested and with Emmanuels intervention were released, 9 rangers in the refugee camp have cholera, while one ranger, Louis Kabwana, who was sick and in hospital has died. He had worked for the Park since 1971. My he rest in peace.

According to this map on Gorilla.cd Nkundas troops seem to have control of the entire park, Diddy says they are apparently moving north. It’s not clear if anyone knows what his strategy is.

An emergency fund raising effort is underway on gorilla.cd, we are also raising funds for the rangers here on WildlifeDirect to support the ICCN rangers caught in this conflict. All donations made on this blog will contrubite towards the humanitarian crisis facing the rangers in Goma and Rumangabo.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support to date.

Tags: , conflict in Congo, Diddy, Rangers, Virunga National Park

3 responses so far