Gorilla Protection

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.  

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

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

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Category: Threats | Date: Oct 31 2008 | By: paula

Despite the fragile peace, civilians spent another night out in the cold for fear of returning to their homes last night. We are awaiting for the latest news from our friends on the ground in Goma, but in the meantime it seems that diplomatic efforts are underway in earnest.  Monuc reports that “The presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame, have agreed to attend an emergency summit on the crisis in Congo, the European Commission said Friday.The summit will be held in Nairobi, a neutral city. Indeed Nairobi has been the hub for peace talks for Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and the Congo in the recent past.  To be effective, this meeting has to be different. There have been peace talks, agreements, and ceasefires in recent years, yet none seem to have brought about lasting peace.

This quote from the Special Representative of the Secretary General in the DRC says it all

“It is not the peace agreements which make peace. It is of course the will of the signatories which makes peace.”

An online vote on the Monuc website reveals that 76% of voters do not believe that the Amani program (which aims to move to disengagement, the restoration of state authority and facilitating the return of internally displaced persons and refugees in the province) will bring about lasting peace.

The Enough project has people on the ground and has this to say on their website “The immediate crisis should not distract the world from a larger truth: peace in the Congo – and indeed the Great Lakes – requires a comprehensive strategy, robust diplomatic engagement, and a strong and capable peacekeeping force. It also requires the world’s sustained attention. Intermittent and inconsistent crisis management must be replaced by a broader effort to deal with the drivers of endemic insecurity and atrocities.

The January Goma agreement – which secured a ceasefire between the Congolese government and 22 armed groups – is effectively dead. The CNDP has taken control of a critical strategic corridor, stretching from Kibumba to Rutshuru, and has done so without facing effective military resistance or a real cost for its actions. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the last several days, including many who were living in camps that were overrun by Nkunda’s fighters. This brings the total number of displaced, since the latest round of fighting began in late August, to more than 200,000. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are now cut off from access to humanitarian assistance and many relief agencies are evacuating staff, virtually assuring that the mortality rates in eastern Congo will rise to even more grotesque heights.

Incapable of slowing the CNDP’s advance toward Goma, poorly disciplined Congolese government forces have fallen into disorder and now threaten the civilians they are obligated to protect, reportedly with rape and looting. Hindered by insufficient resources to stabilize the region, the UN peacekeeping force – MONUC – has been used as a foil by both sides, and anti-UN sentiments are on the rise. Vulnerable Congolese civilians lack protection, and Congolese human rights defenders are at risk of reprisals for speaking out against the renewed violence.

To read more and their recommendations go here

The Enough group advises activists to  Call your members of congress and ask them to urge the Bush Administration to take these steps to prevent the already catastrophic situation in eastern Congo from spiraling further out of control”.

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Tags: CNDP, Conflict, Congo, DRC, Laurent Nkunda, Virunga National Park, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 31 2008 | By: paula

 A ceasefire has been announced by Nkunda and the situation in Goma is quieter today but still tense. Our friends on the ground continue to iform us about the state of confusion, disappointment and abject fear.  Eyewitnesses say that the humanitarian situation is ‘dire’ with thousands of displaced people looking for a safe place to set up. While NGO’s have left Goma to the safety of Gisenyi on the Rwanda side of the border  Congolese civilians are not allowed to cross and sadly have few choices. There is no food or water in Goma.  Access to other towns is blocked by armed militias. The BBC describes those attempting to return to IDP camps getting shot at. They say that there is nothing there anyway as the former IDP camps have been looted and burned.   There are few NGO’s still providing support on the ground. Even Monuc have evacuated their non essential staff in fear that Nkunda’s troops will break the ceasefire and attack Goma.

Rangers this is from Mongabey: Five days after rebels occupied Virunga Park’s headquarters, thirty-nine wildlife rangers are still unaccounted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During the takeover, which included fighting between the Congolese army and the rebels, many of the rangers fled into the forest.

The rangers who fled do not have food, water, or shelter elsewhere in the park. In addition, so long as they remain in the park they are bystanders in a civil conflict. “These people have devoted their lives to protecting Virunga’s mountain gorillas - whose survival now also hangs in the balance.” Kümpel adds.

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Tags: CNDP, Conflict, Congo, Laurent Nkunda, rebels, Virunga National Park

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 26 2008 | By: paula

Conflict in eastern  Congo is once again in the headlines, once again it’s very bad news.

Emmanuel on Gorilla.cd reports

“Fighting at Rumangabo started at 0400 today between the rebels of Laurent Nkunda and the army. It has now totally engulfed the park station and our Rangers have been forced to flee into the forests for their lives. The rebels now are the only occupants of the park station at Rumangabo. This has never happened before. This is a serious time. We need to get our 50+ Rangers back to safety in Goma, 45km south of Rumangabo. The main road is blocked because of the fighting so they are walking through the forests of the park south, to Kibumba, about 20km away, where we aim to pick them up in trucks. We are trying to maintain phone contact but they don’t have much battery life in their phones”.

Emmanuel has made an appeal on Gorilla.cd and any donations made here will go directly to support these rangers during these difficult times. I’ve spoken to some friends on the ground who say that the situation is extremely bad.

An ABC news report on Monuc website reports that “Rebels loyal to renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda have seized a major army camp in eastern Congo in heavy fighting Sunday that sent thousands of civilians fleeing, U.N. officials and rebels said. An unknown number of soldiers, rebels and civilians were killed in the renewed fighting in North Kivu province, civilians said.

Government troops raced down the road north from the provincial capital of Goma to reinforce a counterattack Sunday morning. One tank careened into a group of fleeing civilians and killed three teenage boys”.

This is the second time that Nkunda and his rebels have attacked Rumangabo. Thousands more are now fleeing through  the forests and aid agencies say that the fighting jeopardises the delivery of aid to the now malnourished victims of this escalating conflict.

More reports here on the Guardian and the BBC who state that the fighting is continuing and an unknown number of people have been killed. More than 200,000 people are said to have fled the area since the end of August.

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Tags: CNDP, Laurent Nkunda, Mountain Gorillas, rumangabo, 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.

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

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Category: Threats | Date: Oct 09 2008 | By: admin

We are alarmed with news reports that rebel forces have taken over the military base at Rumangabo. This has forced the ICCN to begin evacuating rangers from the Virunga National Park which is critical for their safety and survival, but will leave the gorillas and forests vulnerable.

According to AFP “The Democratic Republic of Congo’s envoy to the United Nations called on the Security Council to intervene to stop what he called an “imminent” Rwandan attack on the eastern DRC city of Goma.

Atoki Ileka told AFP that DRC authorities had “observed concentrations of Rwandan troops in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi,” and that this suggested that an attack on Goma, located just across the frontier, was “imminent.”

Goma is the capital of Nord-Kivu province, which is at the center of renewed fighting between rebel and government forces that broke out August 28 in the east of the DRC.

“We have asked the Security Council to put the necessary pressure on Rwanda to prevent a new (Rwandan) aggression against DRC,” Ileka said, adding that troops in Rwandan uniforms had seized the Rumangabo military camp near Goma early Wednesday.”

Reuters have also just reported the invasion of Congo by Rwandan troops “Congo has accused neighboring Rwanda of sending troops across the border and fighting in support of a Congolese warlord. A Rwandan military spokesman denies the allegations.

North Kivu provincial Gov. Julien Mpaluku says Rwandan soldiers backing Congo warlord Laurent Nkunda crossed into Congo three days ago and headed for the frontier villages of Tshanzu and Bunagana. He said Wednesday that Rwandan troops were fighting in Rumangabo, a small village north of the regional capital, Goma”.

Rumangabo is the headquarters of the Virunga National Park where our former CEO Emmanuel de Merode and his team of rangers including Diddy and Innocent are based. In a post on the Official Virunga National Park website where Samantha reports that heavy fighting had broken out between the army and Nkunda’s rebels. The fighting approached the park station (Rumangabo is the Park headquarters). Military tanks were apparently “firing on the hills where they believe the rebels to be; an army helicopter is also hovering, patroling the area”.

It is now certain that the CNDP (Nkunda’s troops) have taken control of the Rumangabo military base - a major blow to the army and a major threat to the Rangers at the station.

A post on the blog at Gorilla.cd states

“Emmanuel is doing his utmost to try and secure the station and get the remaining people out. Monuc - the UN team in DRC - thankfully knows Pierre and the others are all there and have told them not to move from the station as it is unsafe”.

This is of course terrible news for conservation as it not only puts the ICCN staff in a severely dangerous situation(over 120 rangers have died in the line of duty over recent years), but will further curtail conservation activities, patrols or management of the park. In addition, it is likely to escalate the problem of internal refugees which will deepen the environmental impact of the tens of thousands that are being displaced as they seek safety.

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Tags: Diddy, ICCN, Innocent, Laurent Nkunda, MONUC, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers, rebels, wildlifedirect

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Category: Political situation, Press, Threats | Date: Oct 05 2008 | By: admin

The situation on the ground in eastern Congo remains tense and the official website of the United Nations Monuc.org the peace keeping force have declared “The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) firmly condemns the recent declaration of Laurent Nkunda calling for an insurrection against the elected legitimate Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). MONUC and the international community will not tolerate this renewed attempt at destabilizing the political process.”

Sensibilisation campaign organized by MONUC to protect street children. Photo Myriam Asmani / MONUC

Secretary-General’s Special Representative Alan Doss has asked for additional peacekeepers beyond the nearly 19,000 uniformed personnel already there to prevent the vast country from slipping back into “horrendous” conflict.

Photo: MONUC

Responding to this condemnation from the United nations a spokesman for Nkunda, Bertrand Bisimwa, has denied that the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was threatening to expand his rebellion. It has been captured in the press here and here

“”We haven’t said we are going to wage war outside of the borders of North Kivu,” Bisimwa told Reuters by telephone, responding to questions about Nkunda’s comments.

Nkunda’s statement broke months of silence, amid rumours that he was ill. His fighters have since August launched attacks on the Congolese army in eastern North Kivu province, forcing at least 100,000 people from their homes.

The United Nations, which has its biggest international peacekeeping force, around 17,000 strong, in Congo, said it was studying Nkunda’s comments, which seemed to threaten an escalation of the long-running conflict in North Kivu.”

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Tags: Conflict, DR Congo, Laurent Nkunda, MONUC, United Nations

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