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

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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

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 24 2008 | By: paula

The situation in eastern DR Congo around Rumangabo remains very bad according to Monuc who has just reported that the CNDP attack on Rumangabo on 7 October, has left over 15,000 people displaced and fleeing or living in makeshift camps. They state that in a recent visit they found Rumangabo had been “virtually emptied of it inhabitants”, and these who had returned had suffered a campaign of “systematic lootings by the armed forces of the DRC (FARDC)”. Emmanuel reports on the Virunga Park website that rangers have been able to prevent any looting of the Rumangabo Headquarters of the the Virunga National Park and while many rangers have returned to Rumangabo but their families are still in the temporary camp for their own security in Goma.

Efforts however are underway to try and halt the cycle of violence and the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday urged an immediate ceasefire by all parties to halt the resurgence of violence in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

A number of organizations are trying to raise awareness and international reaction including blogs like Peter Godspeed who predicts that “The war the world ignored, at the cost of more than five million dead since 1998, is exploding once again” and Abayomi Azikiwe writing about the historical background and who thinks that the UN is posed for greater intervention in the Congo.

The main concern being raised in the news is the humanitarian crisis resulting from recent fighting which puts the civilian population at great risk and is hampering humanitarian operations. There is universal condemnation for the recruitment and use of children by armed groups, and the continued use of sexual and gender-based violence.

Despite all the attention the rhetoric is escalating, rebels have rejected the call for a ceasefire and the UN is poised to strengthen the Monuc forces in Kivus, while President Kabila himself has been on Congolese television appealing to the people of eastern DRC to take up arms and defeat Laurent Nkunda and his rebels.

Tags: CNDP, conflict in Congo, DR Congo, ICCN, Kivu, Laurent Nkunda, rumangabo

3 responses so far