Congo Rangers

Category: General, Rangers | Date: Nov 08 2006 | By: admin

Back in December 2003, just a couple of months before I arrived in DRC, Maombi was based at a small Patrol Post in Nyamilimar. This large town borders the park to the East, and its inhabitants were putting enormous pressure on the parks natural resources.

The ICCN had been working hard to prevent illegal cultivation within the park for some time, and on the 20th December, Maombi was instructed by his commanding officer to oversee the evacuation of more than 10,000 illegal cultivators from an area known as Kongo. He was to do so with 6 new recruits who had been placed under his supervision.

At 0800 his patrol moved into the park and almost immediately ran into an ambush by the Rwandan Army (APR). A bullet tore through his shirt and he hit the ground. He was not carrying his rifle, there were simply not enough to go around, and he had had to privilege his new recruits for training purposes. He screamed to his recruits to run while the APR fired a hail of bullets at them. Then they moved in on Maombi, still lying in the grass, unarmed and terrified. The APR picked him up, bound him and marched him back to their camp outside the park.

Once in their camp he was beaten like a piece of dead meat. One APR soldier said he was going to shoot him, and he told two others to hold him while he raised his weapon to fire.

In one last desperate bid for freedom, Maombi kicked and fought and bit and worked his way free of their grasp.

He started running. Then…. Bang! Bang! Two shots were fired. One struck him through the neck shattering his clavicle, while the other hit him squarely on the back of his head cutting deep into his skull. He fell to the ground, and despite appearing to be quite dead, the soldiers gathered round and pounded at his limp body. Kicking him, stamping on him, punching him, until their terrible aggression had been satisfied.

It was around 2 am that Maombi regained consciousness, drenched in a pool of his own blood, he staggered to his feet and slipped away under the cover of darkness.

He wandered dazed and confused around the bush for over two weeks before he eventually found his way back to his patrol post. With his wounds festering, severely dehydrated and on the point of starvation, it is a miracle that Maombi survived.

Equally incredible is that despite his injuries, he made a full recovery and has proved himself to be one of Virunga’s top rangers. This is what Conrad had to say about him following the selection phase: ‘Scarred youth with brilliant attitude’ - well he made it into the Advance Force.