Oct 09 2007
Rebels re-take Bukima; army forced back
It is 8am DR Congo time. Gunfire and shelling was heard yesterday in the Gorilla Sector until 20h00. The army, who had managed to regain Bukima, lost this position again.
The rebels control the whole Gorilla Sector again.
Fighting is expected to continue today. I can hear all of this from Rumangabo.
Innocent
Update at 12h00 DR Congo time: Still no noise yet. I have no idea what is going to happen. If the rebels push forward towards Rumangabo and the main road I will evacuate my family. We are very worried. Innocent
Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Innocent - thanks for keeping us informed. Take huge care all of you. Frightning times.
Thanks, Innocent, for keeping us up to date. We learn much more about the situation from y’all than we do from the press.
I have never in my life heard a battle going on near where I’ve lived. I cannot imagine what that’s like. I hope all the gorillas have moved far away from the fighting.
s.
Be safe…I cannot imagine what you are going through…many prayers are now needed for the gorillas…I wish this would end soon!!!!!!!!!
This is such worrying news, stay safe all of you. Hopefully the gorillas will have moved away from the fighting.
I just hope that with all this going on that the snares are not being set and if the gorillas are running they are not hitting snares —
Peace is all I can hope for, for your dear country and your beautiful wildlife. Especially the Gorillas.
Thank you Innocent. I know you will take good care of yourself and your family if you must evacuate. I sincerely wish there was more that could be done. I wish someone would just come in and stop all of this madness. Please be careful and take good care. Lisa, California
Dear Samantha
if the fightings are near the patrols post in Congo, is impossible for the rangers to patrol the gorilla’s families , possible with coverage from MONUC, from the Ruanda?
Innocent,
Who are these rebels you speak of? Are they fighting an army protecting native people near the gorilla sector?
I only recently started reading your gorilla protection blogs, after Time magazine covered the gorilla execution in July 07.
I am sorry you are facing this recent invasion, and may be forced to evacuate! Please be safe.
Innocent -
Thank you for the updates, especially when we know you are concerned for your families well being. Good luck to you and stay safe…hopefully help will find its way to all of you soon.
Hi all — I promised to post some sample text for letters to political candidates and leader as well as to the press…here they are, feel free to use, edit, whatever:
NOTE TO MEDIA OUTLETS
I am not sure how much coverage XXX has previously devoted to the plight of the mountain gorillas in the DR Congo’s Virunga National Park, however, even if there has been some, it is a story that bears much repeating.
Although I am sure you are no strangers to the problems in the DR Congo, you may be less familiar with its national treasure, Virunga National Park. Currently, there are a number of rangers (paid for by charitable donations through an organization called Wildlife Direct)that protect the mountain gorilla sectors — however, they have not been able to do their jobs because both rebels (General Nkunda) and the Congolese army have taken over those sectors. At this time we know they (army and rebels) are destroying the current ranger stations, ripping out their crops and have taken their supplies (weapons, radios, cell phones, etc…). We also know that they will not let the rangers in to check on the safety and welfare of the habituated gorilla families. Given that, over the past decade, 150 rangers have literally sacrificed their lives for the care of the park and its inhabitants; the ongoing strife in this corner of the world; and the very significant humanitarian issues involved here, I hope that much more attention will be brought to these issues in the near future.
Thank you for considering this story. More information about this situation can be found at wildlifedirect.org.
NOTE TO POLITICAL CANDIDATES/LEADERS (NEEDS EDITING FOR PEOPLE ALREADY IN OFFICE)
Issues surrounding the instability and violence in the DR Congo seem to be non-existent in all of the current presidential campaigns. If elected, would XXX encourage the US to take a greater role in securing peace in that nation? It is clear that DR Congo represents a variety of important interests, everything from stopping genocide and encouraging true democracy, to protecting the environment, halting the extinction of a variety of animals (including mountain gorillas) and securing the safety of the people indigenous to that region. The US has been too quiet for too long about the human and environmental problems in Africa and the surrounding areas — it is time to take a stand and show the world what it really means to be a global leader.
Take care, stay safe. Thoughts are with you guys and your families. Just look after yourselves, and hopefully good will win through in the end.
Christina/San Diego, here’s the Wiki page for dissident general Laurent Nkunda and it will explain the history of his actions in DR Congo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Nkunda
It’s all an extension of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, with Nkunda trying to take advantage of political instability in the country.
s.
Dear Antonio. The whole area is very unsafe in DR Congo. So whether the Rangers access from Rwanda or DR Congo does not make a whole lot of difference. You don’t know who you could run across in the forest. Relations between Rwanda and DR Congo are not the best either. Good thinking though!
Hello Christina - the rebels are fighters loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda, a warlord who has been in conflict with the central government of Kinshasa and local groups in the east for tribal reasons essentially. You can read lots and lots about it on the internet.
And Christine C thanks so much for the sample letters… everyone please please use them.
Innoncent, I pray for the safety of you and your family and an end to this horrible conflict. I can’t imagine how worried you must be.
Thanks Christine C. for the letters. If you want I could post them as a template on our website for people to use.
May peace & compassion prevail ~ Robin
please keep safe, thinking of you in this terrible time.
Thank you Innocent for your reports. I really hope that the situation there can be overwealmed by you and the rest of the rangers. I look forward that the gorillas, with the sounds of the fighting, have moved away to a safer area.
thank you Innocent and Samantha for taking the time to keep us informed. It seems a lot of media is covering the situation. I went on Yahoo yesterday and it lists all the newspapers that are covering the situation. But of course we need to keep it in the forefront of peoples minds so I’ll be sending out the press release to everyone I can think of. Salon is a good idea.
Robin –
Absolutely, post the samples wherever you want…thanks!!!
Samantha and Christine….Thanks for all of the info and sample letters I will definatly use them. I cant seem to get anywhere with the media. I think they think I am crackers.
JOIN ME IN THIS STRATEGY - I am calling all the Senate offices I can asking for a meeting with each Senate member’s Legislative Assistant who deals with Foreign Affairs when I go later this month. I am also calling my friends who live in each state asking them to call too so we can gain more support for Senator Brownbacks efforts to end the violence in the Congo (http://brownback.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=282814) Join me in this effort anyway you can or meet me in Washington, DC. Rick LoBello, rickllobello@cs.com 915-474-1456. I also sent out my own version of Chritine’s sample letter to all my media friends. Join me on this too.
To all MSNBC has a video out on the gorillas it wws posted 2 hour ago…
Dear Friends,
I have just made my website at iloveparks.com a “Help the Congo/Virunga National Park Action Center.” I am focusing on getting people to call their Senators and Representatives. Please check it out and forward a link to the site to everyone you know. Ideas, suggestions and comments can be sent to me directly at rickllobello@cs.com or posted on the I Love Parks Community blog at http://iloveparks.blogspot.com/
Thank you for the link Sheryl, Washington DC.
If you want some informations about the situation in DR Congo and the recent slaughter of Gorillas in the Virunga’s Park you may refere to the article of Newsweek by Scott Johnson (at the folowing link) :
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20012315/site/newsweek/
or visiting my blog for those who understand french.
Innocent, mon ami, prends garde à toi et à ta famille. J’espère qu’un jour le Congo sortira de cette nuit interminable. Si tu as besoin de quelque chose. Amitiés de France. Laurent Dingli.
Forgot my blog adresse (French)
Thank you Rick for starting that website. Great idea. Christine C. and Robin thank you for the letters. Both a very good and make it so much easier for people to just print it and send it. Thank you. On Rick’s website, I stumbled upon the pictures of the massacre again. Pictures I hadn’t seen yet. It just does something to your insides to see these images. It tore me apart to see them. I just don’t understand any of it and it is so completely discouraging that the Rangers have not been out there with the Gorillas in over a month now. I pray everyday that they are safe and that this craziness will stop sooner rather than later. For now, I’ll keep doing the only other thing I can do….keep writing. Lisa, California
Just an another thing,
Don’t forget this situation is caused by war, poverty and corruption, but also by tropical deforestation (not talking only of Virunga). Western & Asian cies are destroying the forest in Congo and Cameroun for our garden’s furnitures, home windows, writing paper, etc. The degradation results also from the creation of logging roads. The workers of those companies are poaching monkeys or other animals meat for there own use or for selling on the markets. But I guess you know very well all of this already (excuse me for my english). I’m very worry about the situation of the ancient forest all over the war (also very important for the greenhouse gas emissions). You probabely heard about Australian Cie which burn Tasmanian forest with napalm and kill the animals living there by throwing a neurotoxic poison from helicopter !!! The only purpose is to sell paper to Japanese. The probleme know in Africa is that many chinese (and sometimes westerns) cies are cutting trees illegally. We have to find very quickly an new international agreement to stopp this outrageous destruction. Our president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will try to obtain the creation of the ONUE (translation : United nations organization for environnement) in december, at the conference of Bali. I hope the question of forest will be at the center of it.
Erratum : all over the world (and not the war). I’m going to fast.
I sent Robin’s letter to many of my mp’s (Thanks Robin!) - I have just had an interesting reply and was wondering what peoples reactions to it are:
“Fully understand, but what do you mean by “become involved”?
Invade as we did with Iraq? I have many letters asking me to pursue involvement in Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma etc…but very few people specify…and when they do, it is usually things which are already being done. A so-called peacekeeping force is very easy to name as such, when it may in fact be an army of occupation. I think the proplems in DR Congo are tragic and would love to find a way of helping (and not put into effect actions which make things worse…)
Damian
Damian Hockney
Leader, One London Party
London Assembly”
The Good News? My brother saw this news article and matched my $750 donation from last month. Keep up the great work!
I just found this letter and posted it in my website at iloveparks.com. It is a letter to Secretary of State Condelia Rice from a bipartisian group of Senators asking her to do more to help end the fighting in the Congo. http://feingold.senate.gov/pdf/ltr_Rice_092407.pdf
Go to http://feingold.senate.gov/ now and see Senator Feingold’s speech from October 4 at the US Senate.
The news on CBCTV Canada about fighting in Congo and that Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park are not protected anymore - with pictures.
We need to see more news on TV that world and more people are aware what is happening.
Glad to see the senators trying to help out…….I really hope some more this cause gets more exposure!!!
I guess I can’t write I meant that I hope this cause gets more exposure! Sorry
The answer from from Damian Hockney was very interesting. It’s true the situation in the Congo is SO complex, it would seem the logistics and consequences of getting involved is more than any governmental body is prepared to deal with.
Samantha, I realize that safety is the number one priority for the rangers. However, are they in need of money or anything else that we can help with at this time?
Hi Stephen, That was fast.
It was my concern also. But I thought since our elected leaders have more experience in this they’d have the answer. One thing they might pursue is to ask the Congolese Gov’t what they need to secure the park and help the people. I don’t see too much happening along those lines. If our governments had opened a dialogue they most certainly would talk about it. 4 million people died in the last war and nothing was done. I don’t think we as world citizens can afford to wait it out this time. Maybe I need to rework the letter a bit to ask our governments to open a dialogue with the Congolese Government to see what it is we need to do to secure the park and help the people.
Oh my God!!!!!!!
has anyone else read the OpEdnews story???
Some mad, weird woman journalist has written an insane piece accusing wildlife direct of being militant rebels involved in kidnapping baby gorillas and poaching!!!!
Has the world gone mad????
here is the link to the story from the post above
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_georgian_071009_general_nkunda_makes.htm
Thanks for posting the Senator letter to Condoleezza Rice. That letter had some more concise answers as to what should be done. Like pressuring the Rwandan Governmnet to severe ties with Nkunda.
That is just too weird! She better not hear about the other blogs. God only knows what she’d come up with!
Hey y’all … I was wondering when the Nienaber and Snow pieces would show up here. I’ve read most of them and done as much research into the “authors” as possible on the innernets and have learned quite a few things about them. First, they never, ever attribute any quotes in their stories; second, they never, ever reveal what is the source of their information; third, they really hate Wildlife Direct; fourth, neither of them has a journalistic credit that’s worth a hill of beans, and finally, Nienaber wrote a fluff fiction piece about Dian Fossey and her life with Digit if she hadn’t been murdered. You can’t make up shit like that … oh wait, if you’re Nienaber and Snow you can make up all sorts of stuff and try to pass it off as fact.
READ CRITICALLY.
s.
Hello Robin,
I could not find your letter - I would also like to send this to my MPs. Can you help? Each day I pray for the situation to get better - I end up feeling more depressed!
Thank you Innocent for keeping us informed - take great care of yourself and family and know that you are always in my prayers. Hope the gorillas have moved further away from the fighting. Thank you also Samantha for updates. Is there anything else we can do to help?
Stay safe Innocent!
I’ve read the “article” by Nienaber, and it’s the grossest peace of “journalism” I’ve ever read. She uses words like “it’s a fact”, but never gives a source for her accusations. At best it’s an editorial that she tries to portray as factual. At the worst it’s slander.
Her opinion is clear though: she’s pro Nkundu and pro Rwanda (is that because US extreme Christians have funded Rwanda government for training Christian armies) and against anyone who tries to push the situation on the political and media agenda. Careful reading here shows that neither the rangers or wild life opine about either side, other than not wanting to be forced to get involved and wishing the area to turn peaceful once more for the preservation of the mountain gorillas, which to me seems a sensible attitude when you’re right smack in the region.
I’ve tried to search for the “video” she refers to in such a way that ought to discourage you to even look for it. I never found it! As far as I know it doesn’t exist.
Lastly, I’ve tried to comment on the lack of sources, my problems with finding that “sickening” video but in order to post a comment I had to register, which I did, but I haven’t yet received a verification email. I’ve tried to contact the author then, but in order to email the author you need to register as well. Tactics to avoid critical comments?
the article on opednews in italian is “grande minchiata”
Hi Yvonne,
Here’s thr link to the letter. You’ll need Word to open it and edit it. http://arthelpingmountaingorillas.googlepages.com/Template.doc
Here’s a place to find the addresses for your senators and congresspeople.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Here’s Condoleeza Rice’s address:
Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
I just read the OpEd news story…….seriously is this woman nuts? Blaming WD for the things that are going on in Virunga…….since they have set up shop she says……wonder where she got her information………..truly idiotic……
Wanda. You make a very good point because as soon as there is instability poachers take advantage of this situation to lay snares.
Christine C. Thank you for the letters you posted on the blog. It is very important because here in Congo we cannot get involved ourselves in politics because it is dangerous.
And thank you everyone for everything you are doing for us here in Congo and for the gorillas. I am happy that so many people care.
I have just come to Goma to drop off more material we are evacuating from Rumangabo. Innocent.
Innocent — I hope you and your family are safe and out of harms way.
Take care and we hope to hear from you soon.
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