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Gorilla Warfare: Fighting Dirty in DR Congo
by jordan | March 7, 2008 at 02:45 pm | 1630 views | 3 comments
Update: the Congolese rebels holed up in Virunga National Park have stepped up their threat, moving from gorilla to human. Also, the rebels have created their own cottage industry of taking tourists into the jungle to view the gorilla/hostages, though I'm unsure why visitors would willingly trek into the jungle with armed militants.
Rebels who have seized control of eastern DR Congo's Gorilla Sector have said they will execute any wildlife ranger who attempts to enter the area.
Despite the recent signing of a peace deal, a group of rebels have set up a parallel administration in Virunga National Park.
UN peacekeepers say landmines have also been planted along one of the main routes through the region.
A tragic UPDATE to earlier coverage can be found below; BBC has a few photos of dead gorillas that I am not re-posting here. The use of noncombatants as shields is pointed out in sharp relief when those noncombatants are also nonhuman.
A female gorilla and its infant that were part of a 12-strong group attacked by gunmen last month are dead, say conservationists in the DR
Congo.Rangers patrolling the area of the Virunga National Park where four
of the great apes were killed discovered the remains of the female, called Macibiri.Conservation group WildlifeDirect said it would continue searching the area to locate the body of the infant, Ntaribi.
The latest casualties brings this year's gorilla death toll to nine.
Earlier this year, two silverback male gorillas were shot dead in the same area of the park in the north-east of the Democratic Republic
of Congo, while a female was killed in May.
Anti-government rebels have attacked Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing a ranger and wounding at least three more. The rebels essentially holding the park's mountain gorillas hostage, threatening to kill them if government forces come too close.
Some 200 Mai Mai militia fighters attacked three observation posts in the Virunga National Park.They are threatening to kill a rare group of mountain gorillas if the authorities come after them.
WildlifeDirect director Emmanuel de Merode said the Mai Mai attack may be a reprisal for a government clampdown.
"Our understanding is that this was a deliberate attack on the Congolese wildlife authorities," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
Gorilla in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in DR Congo. Born Free Foundation
Almost 100 rangers in Virunga have died protecting the gorillas
Hutu rebels and Mai Mai fighters have sought sanctuary in recent years in the park, during a long conflict that has led to some four million deaths.
But there has been a recent attempt to drive out and demobilise the remaining militias in the east.
Mr Merode said there were two important guerrilla [sic] populations who have been under attack since the beginning of the war.
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March 7, 2008 at 02:45 pm by jordan, 1630 views, 3 comments
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Comments (3)
at 18:35 on May 21st, 2007
War 1, every living thing in range, 0. That's the score here for the gorillas as well as the people.
Sigh! reminds me of the words of an old song....
"When will they ever learn...."
Good stuff!
- reply
Salvatore Vat 04:46 on December 15th, 2007
Keep up the good work on reporting this story. I am a gorilla advocate and just saddened with their treatment. We have a link on our home page to this story. www.photostoredirect.com. I will load more photos here in the near future..
at 20:22 on March 7th, 2008
Hello Jordan,
Great, if not tragic reporting. Thank you for bringing this to light here - it's incredibly important and I hope that someone actually does something about this.
Let them shed their rifles and meet a silverback face to face and see who wins the conflict - best opponent gets to eat the other.
~ Swan