This is Diddy, and we have received some very good news from members of the community. The Lulengo family has just had a new baby. So this brings the total to three babies since the war started in September. Obviously, this has to be confirmed, and we’re still very worried, but this makes us very happy. You may remember the Lulengo group from last year. It was a very agitated year for the members of the group. They started the year as part of Mapuwa’s Group, but after a fierce fight that lasted three days, Pili-Pili , the solitary silverback, was able to take two adult females and one sub-adult female, and form his own group. But this didn’t last long. Lulengo came along in August, fought with Pili-Pili, and took the females. We don’t know which of the females had the baby. Probably the Maganye, because Mafaze, the only other adult female has never had offspring and is probably sterile. Any thoughts on a good name for the baby gorilla? This is a photo of Lulengo, the happy father, taken back in August last year.
This is Emmanuel. I’ve copied an extract from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report on the political and humanitarian situation in the area in which we work. OCHA do a fantastic job at keeping all of us informed on the wider political situation. Infact, we collaborated with them in December and January on how to best supply the Refugee camps (called Internally Displaced Peoples’ Camps - IDPs) with fuelwood and charcoal. Long ago, like many other conservationists like us in eastern Congo, we switched from being biologists to being political analysts and negotiators. We did this out of necessity because that is what conservation has become in such turbulant times. The animals can look after themselves if you leave them alone - it’s the human context that needs attention. So reports and feedback from organisations like OCHA are a lifeline if we are to understand the turmoil in which we operate. I’ve copied this one in because there are a few developments that may prove to be important in determining the success of our efforts in Virunga. Some are positive. Others are very worrying. My comments are in brackets in italics SECURITY AND POLITICAL CONTEXT • Thanks to the national and international facilitation the CNDP and the Mayi Mayi returned in the Goma Peace Process. On 8-9 March all the signatories of the “Actes d’engagement” and the facilitators met in Goma to settle the Mixed Technical Commission on Peace and Security. (CNDP is Laurent Nkunda’s movement. They are more centrally organised, so they are capable of making decisions. It’s an important step that they are re-engaging in the peace process, although there is still a very long way to go. And, as experience has shown, militias don’t always stick to a peace agreement, especially as there are some insurmountable obstacles to overcome, namely the disarmament issue (Nkunda’s men do not want to disarm without guarantees for the safety of their kin), and reintegration into the national army (Nkunda’s men will never leave their homeland in North Kivu). • Clashes between FDLR and CNDP, as well as between FDLR and Mayi-Mayi were reported north of Bunagana in Rutshuru territory. (this is just north of the gorilla sector - it suggests that the fighting may have moved closer to the heart of the gorilla’s range, which is very worrying)• Fighting between FDLR and PARECO were reported in Kashebere (20 km west Masisi). Rivalry about area control would be the cause of these clashes. • Reports of fighting between FDLR and PARECO in Luofu region (south Lubero) on 10 March. (this fighting is further west, and doesn’t directly affect the gorilla sector, but shows how widespread the conflict has become, making it increasingly difficult to come to a quick settlement - the longer it lasts and the more it spreads, the harder it will be to resolve. Unfortunately there are no real winners in this war. Everyone loses, but some lose more than others, especially the poor and the vulnerable). • No security incidents towards humanitarian workers were reported this week. However, humanitarian partners are still confronted to governmental administrative bothersome, as well as to road barriers and illegal taxes that slow down their activities. (I hope that’s not our Charcoal road barriers that they’re referring to!!) (the following is a sobering reading on the suffering of the people of North Kivu. Many of them still live in internally displaced camps in the most attrocious conditions. Our efforts to provide fuelwood and charcoal was a small gesture, but the scale of the suffering is overwhelming) HUMANITARIAN SITUATION • Protection – Sexual violence: an alarming number of sexual violence victims is reported in itchanga area (east Masisi). Since beginning of 2008 more than 350 cases were notified and taken in harge by a local and an international NGO in this locality. An average of 15 new cases per day is reported. An urgent sensitization for the struggle against sexual violence has to be run in this area. • Protection – Exactions: while the security in the Masisi area IDPs sites is relatively good, securityround the sites has to be improved. The majority of IDPs in this area leave theirs sites during the day to work in the fields around where they are exposed to exactions from armed groups as well as from ivilians. UNHCR and OCHA in Masisi advocated with MONUC for an increase in the number of foot atrols in this area. • Health – Child mortality rate: a very preoccupying child mortality rate is reported in the Masisi hospital due to a poor quality of health services. The INGO working in the area is helping governmental health staff to improve the quality of services. 13 deaths were notified in the nutritional centre and 10 other in the paediatric service in February. • Health – Cholera: while the cholera situation in Rutshuru town clearly improved (more than 100 cases eported from 18-24 February and only 8 the week after), the number of cases in three IDPS camps north Rutshuru are not decreasing. About 25 cases per week are notified and taken care by INGO MERLIN. The Goma IDPs camps are also facing an alarming number of cholera cases. Lacks of jerrycans and soaps are reported to be one of the main causes of this situation. • Food security: due to the suspension of WFP distribution (except for nutritional programmes) in Rutshuru territory as well as in the Kitchanga-Kirolirwe area (Masisi territory) further to the security incidents the UN Agency faced in both localities, lack of food is damagingly felt by IDPs. A WFP food assessment should be done next week in both localities of Kitchanga and Kirolirwe in order to resume food distribution.
I’ve been accompanying an important patrol in the southern part of the gorilla sector, around Kibumba, the only functional patrol post in the sector. It was a regular patrol with 12 rangers on the southern slopes of the Mikeno and Karisimbi Volcanoes.
Kibumba Patrol Post It was quite an eventful patrol. We tracked some poachers who were laying snares (a very unpleasant way of killing wildlife). 13 wire snares were dismantled.
Ndeze with some of the snares that we recovered While we were doing this, we heard a silverback chest-beating, and tried to locate the gorilla. It was fairly obvious that this a solitary. The gorillas quite rare in this area, but a small group of 4 unhabituated gorillas are known to range in this area, but because of that they’re almost impossible to see. Still, all the more important to have removed those snares.
The patrol, on our return We heard another group on the slopes of Mt Karisimbi, near the Rwandan border. We didn’t take the patrol in that area because we had seen tracks of other groups in the area. We know these tracks to be those of Rwandan military, who often come into Congo in that area. Last month, the rangers laid an ambush to some poachers in the park. Some of the poachers escaped and while they were being pursued by us, they got caught by a Rwandan patrol, and taken to Rwanda. We’ll be going back into the park tomorrow to double check to make sure that there are no more snares. Anyway, this patrol happened thanks to funding from this blog, so we’re extremely grateful for your support Ephrem, at WildlifeDirect
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
I have been reading the discussion between Francis and Nicholai with considerable interest, as it has dominated our thoughts for some time now. Incase you haven’t read them, they exchange comments on the last post on how appropriate it is to visit the gorillas under the current circumstances. I don’t want to sound judgemental, everyone has their own reasons for taking a strong position in this conflict and it is indeed a complex situation. The politics of North Kivu are not straight forward, and no side in the conflict comes out entirely clean. However, at WildlifeDirect, we have made the decision not to engage with CNDP (Laurent Nkunda’s rebel movement) under the current circumstances. In this respect, our position is 100% in line with that of ICCN, as the legitimate Government institution. Let’s start with some simple facts: - Many of the schools and other essential infrastructure around the Gorilla Sector have been destroyed. The International Criminal Court currently has a file that lists the evidence that Nkunda forces have been forcefully recruiting large numbers of child soldiers, some as young as 9. - Over half a million rural people, the poorest on earth, have be forced out of the homes by the CNDP rebellion, and into displaced peoples’ camps around Goma. They are living in atrocious conditions. - Senior CNDP officers have declared that they will execute any of the Virunga rangers who enter the territory that they hold. We are desperate to get back to the Gorilla sector, and indeed, have been invited to do so by the parallel rebel administration (in exchange for funds). However, we cannot under any circumstances play a part in the atrocities of North Kivu by helping to fund the rebels. Unfortunately, tourism revenues at Jomba are used to fund the rebel troops. While we can’t stop anyone from paying $300 to the visit the gorillas, I would urge you to think very carefully about the consequences of funding the rebel administration before doing so. Emmanuel at WildlifeDirect
This is Balemba. We are just beginning to develop the informer network around the gorilla sector. The approach is to work on the edge of the forest. A worrying development is that there is beginning to be more and more livestock, and some of it is regularly going into the park. But there is still nobody living around Bukima because people are still very scared of the rebels. Only Luzaria, the widow that I spoke of in the last post, who lives on her own with her two sheep, is living near Bukima. We are all quite scared, but continue to work as best we can.
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.
This is Emmanuel in Goma. We are struggling to make progress in the gorilla sector. It is incredibly frustrating, but we just have to keep trying. While massive progress has been made in stopping the charcoal trade coming from the park, we are completely stuck when it comes to getting close to the gorillas to protect them. The rebels are making sure that the rangers can’t get into the gorillas sector. They’ve threatened to kill any rangers who try to get to Bukima or Jomba, and have placed landmines on the road to Bukima. They have said that conservation groups can come, if we bring funding for them, but that’s unacceptable to us. But we have been working on a few new ideas, that may work. Some of you may know Balemba who set up the Virunga Youth Alliance. He is an extremely dynamic ranger who is really keen on sport, his community, and of course the Mountain Gorillas. He thinks that he can work with the displaced people through the Youth Alliance, to set up a simple monitoring system around the gorilla sector. At the moment local farmers live down in the valley, but walk up to Bukima every day to cultivate their fields. It is accepted by the rebels, and provides us with an opportunity to put some basic monitoring in place. It won’t be perfect, because they can’t go into the forest, but they can certainly act as our eyes and ears around the gorilla sector. This may even give us some insights into how to make progress through local community members. It’s a long shot, but certainly worth trying. We will be giving them a small stipend through your donations, and we’ll report on what’s going on at Bukima at least once a week.
This is Innocent, I just wanted to report on the charcoal campaign efforts around Mikeno. We still can’t get back into the sector, because the rebels have said that they will execute any rangers who go to Bukima or to Jomba. We don’t have enough support to face up to the rebels, who number in their thousands. We are only a little more than 100. That said, the reports that we have been receiving informally are that there have not been any gorilla killings, and that two baby mountain gorillas were born during the war, which is really encouraging for us. The other important thing is that we are finally making real headway in our efforts to stop the charcoal trade. A section of the Advance Force (the elite Rangers who are based in the north of the park) have come to join us, and in many ways, we have never been stronger. We have now seized over 100 tons of charcoal, which is being redistributed in the Internally Displaced Camps. We reckon that the flow of charcoal is now less than a third of what it had a couple of months ago. The problem is that we are making many enemies, especially among the military. Some of them have been making a lot of money from the charcoal and they are not happy with our efforts to stop the illegal trade.
Seizing Charcoal at Kibati. Because we have been successful in stopping people transporting charcoal, the military have started to use military trucks. Last week we had several incidents of military trucks smashing through our road blocks to get the charcoal through. We brought the Advance force in, as well as 5 military police officers, and managed to seize two military trucks. The soldiers couldn’t believe it and were really mad at us. They followed us all the way back to Goma. We offloaded the charcoal, and handed over the trucks to the military tribunal, who had them seized. Morning Parade, preparing for operations So the rangers won the day, but we have a load of really annoyed soldiers and we have to be quite careful. Fortunately, the local politicians have decided to support our cause, and we have a letter of support from the Governor, instructing us to seize all illegal charcoal. Slowly slowly attitudes are changing, and maybe, just maybe, we will be able to stop the forest destruction for charcoal before the gorilla’s habitat is permanently destroyed.
We were very caught up by what we call the Makala Campaign - the campaign to stop the charcoal trade that is destroying the forest of the park, and poses a very real threat to our mountain gorillas, so I am sorry for the delay in updating you. It has been an extremely difficult time since September last year, with some of the darkest moments that we have know. But there have also been some real successess, and although we have not been able to return to Bukima and Jomba, we have launched a number of major initiatives that will help us to protect the park for years to come. So I wanted to summarise some of that, just to remind ourselves of the challenges, but also of the fact that it is worth continuing the struggle. The Bad 2. Parallel administration: the rebels have established their own system of tour leaders and trackers. They are not qualified and have received no training to work with the gorillas. They have to go. 3. Illegal Tourism in the park: The rebels have started to take tourists coming from Uganda to see the gorillas as a way of making money. At the moment we reckon they are taking about two groups per week, which generates money for their militias. Unfortunately, they are not, as far as we can tell, respecting the basic regulations to ensure that the gorillas are kept safe from disease and disturbance. They send in more than one group of tourists per day, and the groups are bigger than the maximum allowed. 4. Bukima mined: Anti-personnel land-mines have been set on the road to Bukima, making it impossible for us to get there for a long time, until it has be demined. Checking for Illegal Charcoal at Kibati 1. Ending Charcoal: As you know, a major long-term threat to the gorillas is the clearing of their habitat for charcoal. This increased massively with the outbreak of armed conflict, much of it going to Rwanda. Since December, we have launched what we call the makala campaign, which is an unprecedented effort to block the charcoal that has been illegally obtained from the park and handing it over to the internally displaced people for free. This discourages the illegal loggers from cutting down the forest. So far we have seized over 60 tons of charcoal and delivered it to the internally displaced camps through UNHCR, the UN refugee organisation. 2. Little equipment loss: We managed to secure all the equipment that would otherwise have been looted by the rebel militias, which means that we are ready to hit the ground running as soon as we can get back into the gorilla sector. This includes the Bukima Camp and the vehicle that was bought through WildlifeDirect. 3. Rumangabo re-launched. Rumangabo, the main park station for the Gorilla sector has been at the centre of much of the fighting, and so had to be evacuated. Now the station has been re-launched and is the centre of operations for the Makala Campaign, with office equipment, radios, wireless internet and so on has been re-established. It is, we hope, a first step towards re-establishing control of the Gorilla sector 4. The Force Avancee, with new leadership, is with us in full force to help manage the Makala campaign. This put a lot of weight behind our efforts. 5. Monuc Support: Monuc, the UN peace keepers are providing us with real support on the ground through joint patrols with members of their Indian Battallian. This is a big impact on our security and effectiveness in protecting the forest.
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