Gorilla Protection

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jan 12 2009 | By: paula

Several news articles illustrate the situation on the ground in the Virungas where 6 people were killed on Friday

The Mail and Guardian here http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-01-11-wildlife-warriors-share-neutral-drc-park

And this article on CNN about the killing of a ranger http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/11/congo.gorilla.ranger.killed/ at Mt Tshiaberimu is also carried by AP here http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_voPhRFmaOSJX111j2J1L-H9slwD95KAK080

This article is taken from Press TV http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=81420&sectionid=351020506

Six killed in fresh Congo fighting
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:18:25 GMT
Children near a camp overlooking Lake Kivu, in Kibati, 5km north of the provincial capital Goma.
Clashes between DR Congo rebels and pro-government militia in the east left six people dead as UN envoy holds talks with embattled rebel chief Laurent Nkunda.

United Nations peacekeeping spokesman Lt. Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said his troops found the bodies of six Mai Mai militiamen after an hour of fighting Friday morning between the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and Mai Mai militia in the village of Mabenga, about 90 kilometers north of the regional capital, Goma.

Mabenga is the site where Virunga National Park was to be constructed but is at present used as a military base by the CNDP rebel fighters. The site also marks the border between rebel-held territory and a zone designated neutral where several pro-government forces are located.

CNDP spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Seraphin Mirindi said they suffered no casualties when they were attacked by members of the Congolese Resistance Patriots, a part of the pro-government Mai Mai.

Meanwhile, the UN special envoy for Congo, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, held talks with Laurent Nkunda, who was the undisputed rebel leader until recently when he was challenged by one of his senior aides, Bosco Ntaganda who now heads a group of rebels.

After the talks in Jomba, 60 kilometers north of Goma, Nkunda told AFP that discussions with Obasanjo were focused on issues “that could move forward the negotiations in Nairobi”. He said that the UN envoy is going to talk with the presidents of the Congolese national assembly and senate by telephone and that Obasanjo has promised to help “until peace returns to the Congo”.

Direct talks between the rebels and the Kinshasa government have been underway since Wednesday in the Kenyan capital.

Years of sporadic violence in eastern Congo, which intensified in August, has displaced more than 250,000 people and has sparked a humanitarian crisis. Some 17,000 UN peacekeepers have not been able to quell the chaos.

Tags: conflict in Congo, Congo, DR Congo, Mountain Gorillas, Virunga National Park