more news and images
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.
Tags: CNDP, Congo, Congo crisis, gorillas, Laurent Nkunda, Virunga, wildlifedirect
Please help, emergency support needed for rangers in Congo crisis
Category: Threats | Date: Nov 01 2008 | By: paula
Given the gravity of the situation in the Congo we urge all our supporters to directly contribute towards helping the rangers through this terrible humanitarian crisis. We need to help raise $88,694 for the immediate needs.
You can make a donation directly to the park through their official website gorilla.cd or make a contribution right here on WildlifeDirect. No amount is too small in this crisis.
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Thank you again for all your contributions to date.
From the team at WildlifeDirect
It is not the peace agreements which make peace but the will of the signatories
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”.
Tags: CNDP, Conflict, Congo, DRC, Laurent Nkunda, Virunga National Park, wildlifedirect
Thousands displaced in recent fighting
Category: Threats | Date: Oct 12 2008 | By: admin
Photo Marie Frechon/MONUC “Nearly 100,000 Congolese have been displaced in the last three months alone, and given the population in the areas attacked in the past few days, as many as 30,000 additional people could be forced from their homes”. Christian Science Monitor.
Although the CNDP rebels have left Rumangabo, the situation on the ground is still dire because of the presence of so many armed militas in the area who are threatening the local population. Alan Doss of the United Nations peace keeping force, Monuc, has raised concerns about harrassment and abuse by armed groups, including FARDC, the FDLR and the CNDP and warns that there are fifty thousand armed men in North and South Kivu. Monuc has sought the support of the United Nations Security Council for troop reinforcement to protect civilian populations in North Kivu.
In a letter to the Medical relief group here Doss explains that a human rights violations can only be controlled if these armed groups are removed from villages, roads, markets and fields,
50 of the Virunga National Park rangers and their families are still safe in Goma and you can see photos here where Amir explains
“The area around Rumangabo is swamped with armed men, intent on pillaging the most vulnerable. A band came to the station yesterday and started breaking into the main building. The rangers fired in the air to scare them away. The bandits fired back in all directions. We heard later that they hit one of their own, killing him.
So it looks like things may begin to settle down. It’s an uneasy peace, but hopefully a situation that will allow us to go back to our business of protecting the park within a few days. We’ve made the decision to move the families out of the camp within a week. They will either go to an established refugee camp, where the big humanitarian agencies will provide them with food and healthcare, or hopefully, the situation will be sufficiently peaceful for us to be able to take them back to their homes at Rumangabo”.
Tags: CNDP, gorillas, MONUC, Nkunda, North Kivu, Virunga National Park, wildlifedirect
Rebels retreat from Rumangabo
Category: Threats | Date: Oct 10 2008 | By: admin
The United Nations Mission in DR Congo has informed the French Press Agency AFP that rebel forces have withdrawn from the military base in Rumangabo which they took following fierce fighting with the army.
“At the request of MONUC, the armed elements of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) have withdrawn from the Rumangabo military camp,” the UN mission (MONUC) have said.
The dangerous situation at Rumangabo has forced about 50 rangers and their families to be evacuated to Goma where a temporary camp has beeen established using sticks and tarps. This is a set back for gorilla conservation and speaking to ITV news Innocent is quoted as saying “Nowadays in our forest it is very difficult to work because there are different groups of army who are in the park. You can see the FDLR, the Congolese army, the CNDP, it is very difficult to work,”. In the same article Emmanuel confirms that negotiations will continue to regain access to the Gorilla sector which has been in control of CNDP rebels and out of bounds for ICCN rangers for more than a year.
According to AFP “The Congolese president made a nationwide television appeal on Thursday for a renewed campaign against Nkunda, who claims to be protecting members of his Tutsi ethnic group in the region” but the United Nations has “promised to do everything possible to stop Congo’s eastern conflict from becoming a wider war after the DR Congo government accused Rwanda of sending troops over the border, a U.N. official said on Friday” to Reuters.
Tags: gorillas, ICCN, MONUC, rumangabo, Virunga National Park
Rebels attack Rumangabo
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.
Tags: Diddy, ICCN, Innocent, Laurent Nkunda, MONUC, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers, rebels, wildlifedirect
Soldiers arrested for making charcoal in Virunga National Park
Category: Threats | Date: Oct 06 2008 | By: admin
In Innocents latest post on the official website of the Virunga National Park he reports in great detail how soldiers were caught ‘red handed’ making charcoal in the forest.
” We drove to Mwaro and hiked into the forest near a Congolese army position on the road. We very soon discovered vast areas of forest that had been cut down. Logs had been chopped and stacked in preparation to make charcoal. Soon after we found dozens of charcoal kilns at different stages- some had just been stacked, others were still burning, and some had sacks of charcoal next to them ready to transport to Goma for sale.
There were dozens of people working on the kilns, including women and children. We detained all the men and arrested two soldiers who were running the operation. We ordered the men to destroy the kilns they had just built and then marched them out of the forest.
The atmosphere was tense and we had to leave quickly. After explaining to them why we had to stop what they were doing, we decided to let most of the men go free. The two soldiers were placed in our vehicle and we drove them to our headquarters in Rumangabo. They are now under arrest and will be transferred to Goma to be handed over to the military tribunal.
Read more about it and check out the photos here
Tags: charcoal, DR Congo, gorillas, wildlifedirect
United Nations will not tolerate renewed destabilization
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.”
Tags: Conflict, DR Congo, Laurent Nkunda, MONUC, United Nations
Congo fighting escalates
Category: Humanitarian Situation, Political situation, Threats | Date: Oct 04 2008 | By: rumangaboyouth
According to this article in the Associated Press fighting in Eastern Congo could escalate into a wider conflict.
“The top U.N. envoy to Congo warned Friday that renewed fighting in eastern Congo has heightened ethnic tensions and could lead to the renewal of a wider conflict in central Africa.
Alan Doss urged all militias in the country’s hilly eastern border area — the scene of the worst fighting and a humanitarian crisis in Congo — to support a U.N. disengagement plan to bring peace to the conflict-wracked region.
He expressed dismay at reports this week that a key rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, who initially said he would discuss the plan, was now reported to be backtracking and “walking out of any effort to move the peace process forward.”
Nkunda launched a low-level rebellion several years ago claiming Congo’s transition to democracy had excluded the country’s minority Tutsi ethnic group, which is being targeted by ethnic Hutus from Congo as well as Rwanda.
The U.N. estimates there are about 20,000 militia fighters in the east, belonging to a number of different groups.
Among them are members of an extremist ethnic Hutu militia accused of orchestrating the 1994 genocide of 500,000 ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda. The group and others are accused of razing villages, terrorizing the local population and perpetrating rapes”.
The fighting in this region directly affects conservation efforts and the needs of Virunga National Park are now greater than ever and although the original authors of the gorilla blog have stopped posting here, WildlifeDirect will continue to support gorilla conservation efforts by maintaining this blog and raising funds to continue support the rangers in the field.
To date we have sent over $400,000 to the Virunga National Park from funds raied on this blog which has helped significantly in keeping the rangers on the ground. Thank you all for your support. The situation in Eastern Congo is very serious but we cannot give up hope that peace will return. Our goal is to help ensure that wildlife, especially mountain gorillas survive through this trying period. Our thoughts and prayers are with the rangers who continue to work despite the escalating conflict.
Tags: Congo, Mountain Gorillas, Virunga National Park, wildlifedirect
Conflict Coltan and Cassiterite
Category: Community, Humanitarian Situation, Mountain Gorillas, Press, Threats | Date: Oct 02 2008 | By: rumangaboyouth
If you have a cell phone, DVD player or use a computer then chances are that some part of these devices are made of Coltan. Coltan and Cassiterite are minerals found mainly in the Congo where it’s exploitation has been linked to the deadly conflicts and human abuses.
These mines are typically worked by children
The good news is that U.S. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) have introduced the Conflict Coltan and Cassiterite Act, legislation which would require certification of minerals imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Their press release earlier this year
“We are witnessing a grave humanitarian crisis in Congo, and we must act now to put an end to the death and suffering,” said Brownback. “Everyday, Americans use products that have been manufactured using inhumanely mined minerals. The legislation introduced by Senator Durbin and I will bring accountability and transparency to the supply chain of minerals used in the manufacturing of many electronic devices.”
Every day in Congo, 1,500 people die as a direct or indirect result of the conflict over the mining of minerals like cassiterite and coltan; to date, the conflict has displaced more than 1.3 million Congolese and has resulted in over 5.4 million deaths.
“Without knowing it, tens of millions of people in the United States may be putting money in the pockets of some of the worst human rights violators in the world, simply by using a cell phone or laptop computer,” Durbin said. “We ought to do all we can to make sure that the products we use and the minerals we import, in no way support those who violate human rights abroad.”
The Conflict Coltan and Cassiterite Act requires the President to compile a list of armed groups in the DRC committing serious human rights violations, and prohibits the importation into the U.S. of any product containing columbite-tantalite (”coltan”) or cassiterite (tin ore) from the DRC if groups on the list would financially benefit.
Approximately 65% of the world’s coltan reserves are located in Congo. Congolese civilians are terrorized and brutalized by warring rebel groups seeking to capitalize on the mining of these minerals. Coltan is commonly used in electronic devices like cell phones, computers, and DVD players.
You can read more about this piece of legislation and what you can do on Take Action website here. According to this site, the bill has been referred to the Committee on Finance.
Tags: Cassiterite, coltan, Conflict, Congo
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Mountain Gorilla News- Rare gorilla twins born in Uganda - AFP
- Congo Rebel Leader Threatens War - About - News & Issues
- African governments commit to protect gorillas - Surfbirds News
- Congo Rangers Return to Virunga Gorilla Sector - Environment News Service
- Gorillas in the midst of the Congolese conflict in Virunga ... - Irish Times
- News from Congo
- Congo rebels pull out of eastern town - The Associated Press
- Rebels agree to meet governor in volatile east DR Congo - AFP
- UN still hopes for EU force in eastern DR Congo - AFP
- Rwanda Hutu Militia Takes Congo Corridor After Rebel Withdrawal - Bloomberg
- Belgium says no prospects of EU force in Congo - International Herald Tribune
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