Gorilla Protection

 Here are the donations you gave us in April and the beginning of May. Thank you so much for your support- it really makes a big difference!  

Diddy and Innocent

       

Donations 29th March-4th April: $2,637 

One-time Donations

Kristian N $120; Maximilian H $10; Mary H $10; Karen S $300; Cori E $40 

Monthly Donations

Angela S $25; Bhavani J $10; Brian M $100; Chloe F $15; Claude H $50; Cynthia J $25; Cynthia W $30; DARIO R $50; David G $10; diana t $50; doug b $20; Etienne B $50; gregory k $10; Haishin O $27; Janice G $10; Jeanie N $10; Jeffrey W $20; Jennifer B $15; Joseph S $20; julia b $20; justin m $20’ kari h $40; Kari S $5; karith c $100; Kevin C $20; Kindree B $10; Lalita S $20; Lina G $10; Mark H $20; Mark S $20; Mark T $20; Martana R $15; Meghan L $25; Micaela B $10; Michel S $15; Michelle P $30; glyn c $15; reisa v $30; ruth t $15; Shawn K $30; Shawn M $15; Sheryl B $10; Shine W D 25; Stephani A $25; Suzanne C $30; Tasha C $20; william c $35  

Donations 5^th–11^th April: $2,462 

One-time Donations

Pirjo I $100; ARNAU T $157; James F $50; THERESA S $50; Laurel R $50; Katharine F $300; Gearing Up 4 Gorillas $970 

Monthly Donations

Deborah B $10; Kathy M      $30; Alan M $20; Anna R $25; beth m $15; Brenda P $50; Donald T $35; Erin M $20; James H $55; Jesse W $20; Jim H $100; Joy E $10; Kathy B $30; Kevin F $15; Kristin O $100; Lisa H $50; Michael D $25; Patricia L-O $15; Paula G $15; PRISCILLA C $30; Ramsay B $50; rebecca w $10; Sherri S $25; Teresa E $10; Thomas T $20  

Karateka from the Humba Group   

Donations 12^th-18^th April: $955 

One-time Donations

Oliver T $25; Ragen T $50; THERESA S $50; Rustin M $40 

Monthly Donations

David S $20; Tresha D $20; Andrea D $10; ATV ORS $20; Brad M $40; Cathy R $15; Chris S $40; Daryl P $20; david b $20; Gregory F $15; Hayez V $20; Jennifer K $20; Joyce K-G $25; Kim M $40; Lera M $50; Madeleine P $40; Marilyn L $20; Martha A $30; Maryann S $30; matthew c $10; Michelle W $20; Nicholas M $5; Nikki N $25; Petrina L $50; Pirjo I $20; Piya K $70; Rebecca P $25; Robin D $20; Ross W $10; Sean H $40  

Donations 19^th-25^th April: $1,328 

One-time Donations

Stephen D $240; Jacob F $100; Christine G $100; josh r $22; Martin B $25; Minou M $30 

Monthly Donations

MIRIAM C $10; brad h $100; Jennifer A $20; A Brown $20; Anne K $20; Baerbel W $50; Carol H $15; Caroline N $10; Charla M $10; Daniela M $25; Deanne D $15; elizabeth d $40; Eric O $10; Jacqueline T $20; Jana S $5; l a kidd $6; mandi c $10; Maria H $30; Michael G $15; Michael S $30; NATHANIAL W $20; Paul J $15; Richard I $50; Salim J $10; Sandra S $15; susan r $20; Tonia W $15; wild e $25

   

Donations 26^th- 2^nd May: $1,481 

One-time Donations

Lisa s $25; Angelica V $1; Michael J $100; THERESA S $100; Jarvis C $25; Chantal A $25; Elizabeth R $50; Jorge G $40 

Monthly Donations

Carol G $15; g roberts $20; Sharon C $40; Angela S $25; Brian M $100; Chloe F $15; Chris V $50; David L   $20; diana t $50; doug b $20; Elizabeth V $20; Eric S $25; Etienne B $50; gregory k $10; Jeanie N $10; Jeffrey W $20; Jessica I $20; julia b $20; kari h $40; Karin T $55; Kelly M $50; Kevin C $20; Lalita S $20; Lara D $10; Mark H $20; Mark S $20; Martana R $15; Michelle P $30; glyn c $15; Paige W $10; reisa v $30; Robert J $10; Shawn K $30; Shawn M $15; Sheryl B $10; Stephani A $25; Suzanne C $30; Tammie F $25; Tasha C $20; Ted W $20; Timothy S $10; william c  35; Yvette L $20  

Donations 3^rd- 12^th May: $2,262 

One-time Donations

Tribal Collaboration $385; mark j $105; Ayako U $10; Deborah B $10; Jennifer A $20; Kathy M $30; Christine L $5; Paul S $200; James F $30; anon $50 

Monthly Donations

Bhavani J $10; Claude H $50; David G $10; Haishin O $27; Janice G $10; Jennifer B $15; karith c $100; Kindree B $10; Lina G $10; Micaela B $10; Sherri S $25; Shine WD $25; Cynthia W $30; Joseph S $20; justin m $20; Mark T $20; Meghan L $25; Michel S $15; Brenda P $50; Donald T $35; Jim H $100; Joy E $10; ruth t $15; Anna R $25; PRISCILLA C $30; Kristin O $100; rebecca w $10; Thomas T $20; Erin M $20; Jesse W $20; Kevin F $15; Kim M $40; Michael D $25; Paula G $15; Ramsay B $50; Alan M $20; Kathy B $30; Lisa H $50; Madeleine P $40; Teresa E $10; Anne K $20; beth m $15; Deanne D $15; elizabeth d $40; Eric O $10; Jana S $5; mandi c $10; NATHANIAL W $20; Paul J $15; Martha A $30; Ross W $10; DARIO R $50; Patricia L-O $15 

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This is Diddy. Below is the video that Pierre filmed 10 days ago at the Kibati charcoal checkpoint.

As you can see, people are hiding bags of illegal charcoal under sacks of potatoes. The truck in the video had 30 bags hidden!

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This is Diddy. As you know, most of the Mikeno Sector (where the gorillas are) has been out of bounds for us for the last 8 months. Before the rebels took over, we had 5 Patrol Posts in Mikeno: Jomba, Bikenge, Bukima, Gatovu and Kibumba. Kibumba is the only one we have had access to.

Well today I have good news: this morning we sent a team from our anti-poaching unit to the Gatovu Patrol Post with the help of the Congolese Army (FARDC). We had heard that the rebels were no longer controlling Gatovu, so we wanted to check it out.  

                       

The Reconnaissance Team 

 

The Patrol Post   

We were pleased to discover that the Patrol Post building has not been destroyed by the rebels, although we did find that a large area of trees around it had been cut down for charcoal.

    

We also found a FARDC position nearby- they told us that they would collaborate with us in re-establishing our presence in Gatovu. We hope to send a team of Rangers next week to stay there permanently.  This is a fantastic development: re-opening Gatovu is an important first step on our way back to seeing the gorillas once again. Hopefully the Jomba, Bikenge, and Bukima Patrol Posts will follow, although we know that the rebels are still very much present in those areas.   

I’ll let you know how things go next week.

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This is Diddy. I am back at Rumangabo Station and I want to tell you about the living conditions of the wives and children of some of our Rangers.  

  Hopefully in the future we will find the money to bring this building up to standard.

 

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This is Pierre. I am the newest member of the WildlifeDirect team, and I will do my best to continue the fantastic work that Samantha did over the past year.

I have just moved to Goma from London, where I was working for the BBC making documentaries. One of my goals will be to put more video on the Virunga blogs, and I welcome any suggestions you have in terms of what you would like me to film.

In the meantime, here is some footage that I shot last week at the Rumangabo Station, where you can see the smoke coming from charcoal kiln fires burning within the Virunga National Park.

Later this week, I will post footage from the Kibati charcoal roadblock, where we looked on as the Rangers confiscated about 30 bags of illegal charcoal from a single truck.

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These pictures show a military truck rented by smugglers to transport charcoal.

The situation between us and the military is so bad that three of our Rangers (Mwanga bin Assani, Majori Gakuru, and Ndianabo Ido) have been attacked and injured by soldiers in the past few weeks. We now have 60 bags of confiscated charcoal at the Kibati roadblock, but it is not safe to keep such a large amount there. Thanks to your donations, we are renting a truck to take the stockpile to Rumangabo Station where it is safer. 

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I’ve just been in touch with Diddy, who has summarised the outcome of their efforts since last November, when the Makala Campaign began.

The Makala Campaign is the sustained effort to prevent the destruction of the gorilla’s habitat for charcoal, and which is considered to be the single most important threat to the future of the Mountain Gorillas in Virunga.

There has been a non-stop watch at Kibati with regular patrols on the eastern flanks of the Nyamulagira and Nyiragongo Volcanoes and Kibumba, in the gorilla sector. Forest destruction for charcoal in these, the most critical sites in the park, have been reduced by two thirds.  In the past tens years, since the war started, we have never achieved such results, so there is quite a sense of encouragement among the rangers.

The patrols have been interesting as well.  On Nyiragongo, the big active volcano to the north of Goma, rangers of the Advance Force, and gorilla rangers from Rumangabo joined forces with the Monuc Indian batallian in January and effectively displaced the FDLR rebels from this part of the park.  For those that are not familiar with the various Rebel factions in Congo, the FDLR are the militias that formed out the Interahamwe, the Rwandan militias that perpetrated the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994.  Not a nice group of individuals.  Unfortunately they are camped out in the forests of eastern Congo, and are a major threat to the ongoing work of the rangers.  The FDLR are also heavily involved in illegal activities including illegal logging for charcoal.  For now, the rangers have the upper hand in this area, but it’s a constant struggle, with occasional armed contacts between militias and government rangers.

The Makala road blocks have been difficult to manage, with trucks trying to force their way through the roadblock at night and at high speed.  But they have been very succussful in reducing charcoal.  These are the registered results so far:

November 07:  5o sacs seized and 3 kilns destroyed

December 07: 102 sacs seized and 180 kilns destroyed

January 08: 413 sacs seized and 37 kilns destroyed

February 08: 296 sacs seized and 53 kilns destroyed

March 08:  385 sacs seized and 7 kilns destroyed

First  two weeks of April 08: 499 sacs seized adn 17 kilns destroyed.

This makes a total of  1745 sacs, or about 80 tons of charcoal seized since the beginning of the campaign.  This charcoal is distributed among the people who have been displaced by the war and are living in camps around Goma.
Unfortunately, many people make money from charcoal and it is a constant battle at a political level to explain the sense of what is happening.  On 20th March, the Provincial minister for the Environment was formally requested to explain the actions of the rangers to the Provincial Assembly (this was documented on the ending charcoal blog).  Last week she defended our position in parliament, and the vote was carried in our favour, which is a big relief, and give us the legal basis to continue the difficult work that lies ahead.

So the legal institutions in Congo, so often criticized in the international media, have played their role very effectively, and maintained the integrity that we had hoped for.  This also applies to the arrest of the suspects considered to be behind the Rugendo Massacre last year.  For my part, I never believed that we would get this far.  But the suspected ringleader has been arrested, and five accomplices were heard at the military tribunal of Goma last week.  That they started at the top on this difficult trial, rather than just finding a couple of small scapegoats, is very much to the credit  of the Congolese judicial system.

In the Mikeno, around bukima, it remains very difficult.  We tried working with a team of villagers to get information on the gorillas.  This worked for a while, but we have since suspended activities because of the risks involved for the villagers going in.  That said, the little information that we have suggests that the mountain gorillas have not suffered, and that there may have been three births, which is pretty miraculous.

All in all, the situation is as difficult a ever, but we are hopeful that we are in a good position to buy time for the gorillas, until this conflict is over.  It means constant support for the rangers so that they don’t lose their morale and continue their incredible efforts.

Emmanuel

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Thank you all for your comments and concern. We are still waiting to find out who actually killed the gorillas last year. It is suspected that the lucrative trade in charcoal (some news papers are calling it Makala), which is an essential domestic fuel, was the motive. We have been writing much about ending the illigal charcoal trade. In the meantime we have some other news. On Tuesday March 18, Didi and Emmanuel and Balemba received information from a tourist operator in Jomba about another family of gorillas that had crossed over to the DR Congo part of Virunga National Park.
Initially, we thought it might be the Kwitonda family that had migrated to Rwanda in 2004. Of course we were very anxious to find more information and soon discovered that is was likely to be a new group! Whereas the Kwitdona group had sixteen individuals, this group has nine. The question remains as to whether this is a part of the Kwitonda group that has split off or an entirely new group that has crossed over from Rwanda.
We then checked with the Rwandese authorities who stated that it appears to be the 13th family from Rwanda who have crossed over to Congolese territory. The CNDP rebels have also confirmed this as they have control of trekking tours to see this particular family as well the Mapuwa family, and the Nyakagezi family (from Uganda).
Since September 2007, ICCN has completely lost control of the Mikeno gorilla sector which is in the hands of the CNDP rebels who had refused access to our Director, Mr Mushenzi in February this year.

We will continue to update you as news comes in. Diddy and Innocent.

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This is Diddy.  Yesterday was an important day in Congo.  It is was International Women’s Day, which have a very special significance for us, especially in North Kivu, where we have yet to experience the peace that we have been hoping for all these years.

Our mothers, wives and daughters organised a March through Rumangabo and into the village.

The March was organised by Madame Virginie Munyaga, who is also the Treasurer for the Southern Sector of the Virunga National Park.  She is very educated and respected in Rumangabo.  Madame Virginie made a very strong statement to the population.  It was a statement of protest to all those who were involved in rape and other forms of brutality against women.  She also condemned those that were destroying their children’s future by destroying the forest for charcoal and killing the gorillas.

Madame Virginie, giving her speech yesterday 

Children were part of the march - we hope that they will not live through what we have had to endure.

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Balemba has made considerable progress in building a small team of local community members to monitor the situation in Mikeno.  At the moment there are two small teams of local agriculturalists forming, one in Bukima, one from Jomba.  We will not be giving you their names, or publishing their photos, because they are operating in rebel territory, and it could put their lives at risk.  We hope that one day, when things have settled down, that we will be able to present them to the public, and that they will get the recognition they deserve.

This is Balemba’s report on progress so far:

We had our first meeting today, Sunday, in the afternoon.  We were joined by Felix Balibua, of the Rumangabo Youth Alliance, and the two team leaders, one from Jomba and the other from Bukima.  Both are internally displaced and live near Rumangabo with relatives.  They climb up to their fields during the day, to try to keep their crops from being destroyed, but cannot stay at night because of insecurity.  They have reported that the rebels have their main base at Jomba, and a secondary base at Bukima.  So they have taken over the ranger’s patrol posts, and are well entrenched and settled for the long haul.  This is bad news, as it will make it all the more difficult for the rangers to recover their patrol posts.

The rebels have forbidden anyone from getting close to Bukima or Jomba, except for a few people herding livestock.  Infact, there is no longer anybody actually living in Bukima, other than an old widow and her two sheep.  She has refused to move.  They have, however seen a group of 6 gorillas in the corn fields between Bukima and Bikenge about a month ago, but since then the fields have been destroyed and they don’t come out of the forest any more.  The group is probably the Rugendo group, whose seven other members were massacred in July last year.  They regularly went out of the park.  It needs verification, but it would be very good news that the six are alive and well.

The rangers’ patrol post at Bikenge has been left in a terrible state by the rebels.  They no longer live there, but they are regularly present in the area.  When they appear, they catch farmers and impose forced labour, including transporting water, and planting marijuana for them, which is now growing all around the patrol post.

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