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Decimation In The DRC by a Correspondent
The
threat to the flora and fauna on the African continent may now have
reached the point of no return. Interminable strife, conflict,
disease, poverty, displaced persons, drought, dwindling resources
and rampant corruption all add to the problems that Non
Governmental Organization’s (NGO's) struggle to tackle in this very
difficult environment. French speaking Africa is probably the most
affected. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ivory Coast, and
the Central African Republic (CAR) are just a handful of countries
suffering from this environmental ‘disaster situation’.
One
of the areas falling under the spotlight within recent months is the
Virunga National Park in Eastern DRC. This World Heritage Site has
recently witnessed a massacre of its hippo population by a group of
Congolese rebels known as the Mai Mai. Over the last decade the
hippo numbers have dropped from an estimated 29,000 to a current
herd of a few hundred strong. The bloodied water along the edges of
Lake Edward, well within the park’s boundaries, is a visible
epicentre of this slaughter.
With
a strategic vision for conservation in Africa, the Frankfurt
Zoological Society, one of the lead NGO’s in Eastern DRC, recognized
that more muscle was necessary to combat the growing number of
rebels and bandits preying on the resources of the Virunga National
Park. During the latter half of 2005, FZS sifted through the 500
Park Rangers to select a squad of rangers who would be trained to
form an "Advance Force" to confront this specific problem.
Instructors were recruited from Kenya, Britain and South Africa to
train and develop an elite ranger unit over a 6-month period. The
training provided the rangers with the skills necessary to carry out
anti-poaching operations under exceptionally difficult conditions.
Today this unit comprises 50 highly motivated and skilled men under
the command of Eli Mundima, Aloma Zephyr, Aloma Majoro and
Balukwisha, who continue to risk their lives protecting the
remaining wildlife in the Virunga National Park.
The
rangers’ success under difficult circumstances, with limited
logistical support, reflects the spirit and hope for an emerging
democracy within the DRC. They have stemmed a land invasion by
local farmers who were illegally cultivating around the foothills of
an important group of lowland gorillas, seriously threatening their
long-term survival. Last month the rangers mounted an operation to
dislodge the Mai Mai from the southern shores of Lake Edward,
something that the Congolese army and the UN Peace Keeping Force
have previously been unable or unwilling to do. In addition the
Advance Force provided security and protection to those rangers and
their families displaced during clashes between the Congolese army
and the dissident General Laurent Nkunda. FZS continues to
coordinate the support for the Advance Force under the direction of
Robert Muir, the project leader who has worked out of Goma for the
last three years.
As we
start a new year, 2007 will continue to see factional fighting
between the various groups in the Eastern DRC. A major concern,
along with the dwindling hippo population, is the protection of the
Mountain Gorillas in the south of the Virunga National Park. The
rangers recently went back into the gorilla sector to try and locate
the Kabirizi group, consisting of 33 individuals including a
one-month-old baby gorilla, but only came across a lone silverback.
FZS continues with the rangers to search for the gorilla family but
progress is slow and frequently interrupted by renewed fighting in
an area of the park that is still being contested by Government
forces. NGOs play a vital part in the conservation of Virunga’s
threatened wildlife and continue to call for urgent support from the
wider international community during these troubled times.
A few
days after this article was sent, I received a further email from
our correspondent saying ‘We
have just lost 2 more gorilla's in the Congo! Murdered, gutted,
skinned and decapitated and the rest of the bodies thrown into an
open latrine.’
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February
2007