23
Dec 2008 - Eastern DRC – Mountain gorillas
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
have been seen by park rangers for the first
time since the rangers were forced out of
areas of Virunga National Park by Laurent
Nkunda’s army 15 months ago.
Virunga National Park
director, Emmanuel de Merode, successfully
negotiated with Nkunda and got confirmation
that Institut Congolais pour la Conservation
de la Nature (ICCN) would be allowed to
reenter and work in the southern part of
the park.
ICCN, the government
institution in charge of protected areas
management, park rangers and their families
were forced out of the park when rebel leader
Nkunda and his army took control of several
parts of the park including the areas where
mountain gorillas are found in September
2007. Since that time, no one outside of
Nkunda’s army has been allowed to monitor
the gorillas.
“We were very worried
about the mountain gorillas as we had not
any contact with them for over a year but
ICCN rangers have already seen many of the
mountain gorilla families and we are happy
to report that most of them seem to be doing
well,” said de Merode. “We are continuing
our census of the gorillas and are reinstating
our antipoaching operations.”
In spite of this good
news in the southern part of the park, the
central and eastern sectors of the park
remain very unsafe. Over half of ICCN’s
staff and their families who work in Virunga
National Park (over 2000 people) are now
living at IDP (Internally Displaced Persons)
sites outside of the park because of fighting
between Nkunda’s army and the Congolese
army.
The conflict in the
Congo has forced thousands of people to
flee their homes and there are now an estimated
145,000 IDPs scattered in 6 sites just outside
of the national park. The people living
in these sites are in desperate need of
food, shelter and fuelwood.
WWF has been focusing
its efforts in the area on the humanitarian
crisis caused by the conflict and is distributing
fuelwood from sustainable tree plantations
to people living in IDP sites. WWF has also
been passing out improved cooking stoves,
which use half the amount of wood as a normal
stove.
“WWF believes that the
needs of people displaced by the fighting
and the gorillas are inextricably linked—we
are providing displaced people with the
basic resources they need for shelter and
cooking, while at the same time protecting
Virugna National Park’s forests, which are
already heavily damaged by illegal logging
for wood and charcoal,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman,
Director of WWF International’s Species
Programme. “We hope that a normal life can
quickly be restored for local communities
living near and benefiting from the park
and its gorillas.”
Virunga National Park
was created in 1925 as Africa's first protected
area and is located in the eastern part
of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering
Rwanda and Uganda. Despite its protected
status, encroachment for farming and settlement,
as well as by warring rebel factions, is
leading to uncontrolled exploitation of
its forests.