Congo Rangers

Category: Active Service, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers, Your Donations | Date: May 17 2007 | By: admin

Christof Schenck, Frankfurt Zoological Society’s Executive Director, arrived in DRC a week ago to see how we were getting along. Christof has been wanting to come and visit the Congo for three years now, but every time he planned to come over, renewed fighting would break out between different rebels factions, or between rebels and the Congolese military, thousands of people would evacuate across the border to Rwanda or Uganda, and the park in which we work would become impossible to visit. Furthermore, all Embassies would advise against all travel to the region, and although that advice may well still stand today, Christof did at last manage to find his window of opportunity. He made it to the Congo! He also brought with him three journalists - Michael, Sebastian and Norbert, who will be covering the story when they get back to Germany. For us it was a very special occasion and a huge honor to have the ‘Grande Fromage’ come and visit our project and different activities. The ICCN even sent over the Head of International Cooperation from Kinshasa to welcome him to Congo!

First up, of course, were the gorillas, but not before a quick trip to the HQ of the gorilla sector to hand over two vehicles (one of which was purchased with funds raised through Paulin’s blog - thanks again Chris!!), 5 desk tops, 5 lap-tops, three printers, a projector and screen, 11 office tables, 36 chairs, a conference table, 2 solar systems, and a large stock of drugs for the medical dispensary (which was also purchased through the blog). See photo below.

We spent two days in the company of gorillas… the first day with the Kabarizi family who has just had another newborn - just two days old - and we had the great luck to be joined by Anne Hammil from the IISD and Ellen Brown from WCS (who has a blog on her work up in Epulu).

This is Anne with the photographers behind her!

The following day we went to see Rugendo - very different family of 12 individuals - and a very different family dynamic. Rugendo means wanderer, and he wanders much further than any other family. In fact he wanders right out of the forest and into the community land where food is plentiful. This however causes problems with local communities, and so it is important to involve them in conservation activities.

Before leaving, we met with some Pygmies who live around the edge of the park. They have been marginalized from society, having left their traditional way of life in the forest but without having found acceptance by the Bantu, they have no access to education or health care, and although getting more ’street-wise’ they originally had no real concept of ownership over land or plants - it just didn’t figure in pygmy logic - so if they saw a banana plant growing somewhere they would simply help themselves. This got them a really bad reputation for thieves… despite the fact that this land that the bananas are now growing on, did once in fact ‘belong’ to them… Christof gave all the women skirts and tops, and for the men, two pairs of jeans… it is important for us conservationists to work with the pygmies as well as other local communities living around the park if we are to have a chance of saving the gorillas in the long term, and getting to know them over a song and a dance is a first step…

Next up was a flight to Ishango and then a hike up the active volcano to spend the night on the crater rim… to be continued…

Technorati : congo, drc, fzs, gorilla, virunga, wildlifedirect

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Category: Active Service, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers | Date: Apr 11 2007 | By: admin

We are now back at Camp Karema after last week’s evacuation.

The Rangers are on patrol and monitoring the activities of the Mountain Gorillas near Bikenge. These are 3 families in total.

One of the families is the Humba family, and here is one of the 9-member family members below.

More to come soon.

Technorati : bukima, fzs, iccn, karema, mikeno, mountain gorilla, wildlifedirect

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Category: Active Service, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers | Date: Mar 10 2007 | By: admin

We have started setting up a new camp in the Mikeno Sector in Virunga National Park. The aim is to have a base from which we can monitor the Mountain Gorillas.

This is how we have progressed so far:

1. Clear a space for the camp! (no tree cutting - the log you can see in the background is a fallen tree)

2. Clear spaces for tents (again, no tree cutting)

And I will keep you posted on the rest… This is a very exciting time. After the rebel attacks last Dec and Jan we will finally be able to be close to the Mountain Gorillas and monitor their protection even more closely.

Technorati : bukima, congo rangers, gorilla, mikeno, wildlifedirect

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Category: Active Service, Hippos | Date: Feb 26 2007 | By: admin

This picture was just sent to me that I think is really great… the Hippo, a male, lives near Kasindi Port on the shores of Lake Edward. The Hippo is habituated to humans and likes playing with the fishermen on the boats. Apparently I am told he also likes having his neck scratched which you can see here.. A wonderful sight if you consider what they hippos have been through lately.

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Category: Active Service, Crises, General, Hippos | Date: Jan 10 2007 | By: admin

I have just spoken to Elie.  He tells me that the anti-poaching operations are going well, and that in the last three weeks only 3 hippos have been killed.  This is compared to 109 hippo bodies found butchered in the three weeks before they arrived. 

The rangers are really happy with how things are going and have now made a total of 17 arrests.  Many of the poachers have already been transported to Goma where they are awaiting prosecution.  The rest are still being questioned at Rwindi ranger station.  Once their statements have been taken, they will also be brought to Goma to face the local magistrate, and a long sentence if found guilty. 

Meanwhile it sounds like the Mai Mai, feeling the heat, have abandoned their camp at Cyndo.  Just to be sure, Elie sent in one of his rangers earlier today dressed as a local fisherman.  If the Mai Mai really have left, the rangers will go in and dismantle whatever remains of the camp.  If they are still there, I hope the ranger makes it back ok… 

 

 

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Category: Active Service, Crises, Mountain Gorillas | Date: Dec 16 2006 | By: admin

I was in Rumangabo this morning (HQ of the gorilla sector) where Elie, Ben, the team from Ricochet, and two sections of the Advance Force were about to help escort a group of rangers and their families back to their Patrol Post at Bukima. 

 

Bukima was the only patrol post that had not been occupied by either the military or rebel troops during the fighting ten days ago.  However, less than an hour before we were due to set off, a group of UN Peacekeepers came tearing up the drive in their jeep reporting mass evacuation from a nearby village. 

Aloma Zephor was immediately instructed by Elie to get into civilian clothes and take a motorbike to Bukima to see whether it had been occupied.  He returned an hour later to confirm that Nkunda’s troops had based themselves there, the local communities had fled the area, and he had just passed a vehicle from the 2nd Integrated Brigade from Beni loaded with heavy weapons heading in the direction of the patrol post. 

Clearly this was not something for the Advance Force to get involved in, but there are huge concerns amongst the rangers for the safety and welfare of the gorilla groups near Bukima patrol post - especially the Kabirizi group of 33 individuals with a newborn just a couple of weeks old. 

Unfortunately the risk to the gorillas isn’t just from stray bullets, but also from rockets and grenades… the Congolese army clearly mean business, but unfortunately they are up against a well trained and well equipped rebel group and it’s not going to be easy.  Only time will tell if the gorillas make it through unscathed.

 

 

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Category: Active Service, Crises, Hippos | Date: Dec 16 2006 | By: admin

I have just heard that the Mai Mai have started to move out of Cyondo following the deployment of the Advance Force into Vitshumbi on Friday and subsequent arrest of one of the Mai Mai poachers.  Information is still a little thin and I will need to follow it up over the next couple of days to get a clearer picture of what exactly is going on.  However I have managed to get a call through to a military intelligence officer based at Vitshumbi who confirmed that over the last 24 hours, the Mai Mai have moved most of their soldiers out of Cyondo and are heading for the military integration camp at Rumangabo.  When I asked the intelligence officer what sparked this off, he said that it was because the ICCN were starting to get serious and the Mai Mai didn’t want to hang around any longer. 

This is a huge success for the Advance Force and goes to really highlight the importance of a well trained law enforcement unit to deter illegal poaching actvities.  The Advance Force will continue to build on this success and increase its presence on the ground at Vitshumbi, until such time as all the Mai Mai have evacuated the area and the Advance Force can go in and dismantle whatever is left of their camp.

 

 

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Category: Active Service, Crises, Hippos | Date: Dec 15 2006 | By: admin

I have just come back from a patrol with the Advance Force which was deployed for the first time today at Vitshumbi. Within 3-4 hours of getting on the ground, they had arrested their first hippo poacher who they found hacking meat from a carcass and loading it onto a small fishing boat.  He has been transported back to the station and is currently undergoing questioning.  The Congolese Wildlife Authority has now decided to send down a second troop to support the intervention, and they should arrive within the next 48 hours.

Before deploying, we met briefly with the commander of the marines and the infantry based at Vitshumbi.  Neither seemed in a hurry to help the ranges, and the marine told of how he had called his commanding officer when he first saw the Mai Mai approaching, guns blazing, in four motorised speedboats.  The marine was told in no uncertain terms that as long as the Mai Mai did not start shooting at the local population, they were not to get involved.  The massacre continued relentlessly for three days and three nights, right in front of the fishing village, until they had shot every hippo in sight.   

After the meeting, the rangers wasted no time getting out on patrol and found illegal fishing boats hidden in the grass, and wooden wheel barrows used to transport hippo meat.  Bones lay everywhere and hippo skin had been rolled up like thick doormats and thrown under the bushes.  The stench was unbearable. As well as the poacher, they found and arrested several illegal fishermen, and when questioned they said that they were fishing for the marine commander we had spoken to earlier.  This is not going to be easy, but the Advance Force is determined and their efforts represent the park’s last real hope of saving Virunga’s hippos. 

 

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Category: Active Service | Date: Dec 02 2006 | By: admin

Ricochet production have just arrived in Goma and will be filiming the Advance Force over the next few weeks for a series entitled ‘The World’s Toughest Tribes’ that will go out on the Discovery Channel early next year.

On the trail of armed poachers

Ben Anderson, who will be presenting the documentary, will be trained for one week by the Advance Force in drill, patrolling, weapons handling, tracking, arrest and interrogation, navigation, and first aid. Assuming he passes the training programme, he will receive his green berret and the opportunity to join the Advance Force on a brief 3 day reconnaissance mission to the far north of the park, an area that fell into the hands of Ugandan Rebels more than 30 years ago.

Within the next six to eight months, the Advance Force hope to bring this area back under full control of the Congolese wildlife authority, starting with Ben’s mission in a couple of week’s time.

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Category: Active Service, Crises | Date: Oct 15 2006 | By: admin

The ICCN deployed 30 park rangers to help the military secure a small fishing village in the Virunga National Park following last Saturday’s clashes with the Mai Mai. Two rangers were sent ahead to inform the local commander that re-enforcements were on their way, but instead of welcoming the news, the military commander had them disarmed and arrested. Prisoners in their own park.

The ICCN was unable to negotiate their release, and when dialogue broke down, the ICCN sent in their Advance Force to go in and get them out…

     

Ranger Bisimwa died a few months after a viscious attack on ranger station thought to involve the local military

As the Advance Force drew near, the military opened fire. Despite the considerable risk to their own lives, the rangers continued moving forward, as they had recently been trained to do, without returning fire. Then, upon surrounding the military, the rangers demanded the immediate release of their colleagues. Out maneuvered and out numbered, the military had little choice but to hand over the rangers.  The rescue was completed successfully, amazingly without injury.

The rescue operation undertaken by the rangers demonstrated to the Congolese military how force should be used – measured and controlled and appropriate to the situation.  It does beg the question however that if the rangers cannot count on the support of their own military to help secure the park from rebels and bandits, who can they count on? Perhaps only themselves.

So what are the military doing in the Virunga National Park? The official reason given for their presence here is to secure the area from banditry and possible invasion from neighbouring countries. But instead of dealing with the problem of rebels, and protecting the international border from possible invasion, the military operate a protection racket for illegal cultivators and poachers. Herein lies the problem and the reason for the conflict between the military and the park rangers.

     

Military attack a lorry near the park Head Quarters leaving four dead

While the military remain unpaid and unfed, they continue to prey off the local population and provide protection to poachers in return for illegal trappings. They see the rangers as a threat to their unlawful activities and this manifests itself in violent attacks against the rangers and occasionally against their wives and their children, often with devastating consequences.

The military, who have been repeatedly accused of carrying out attacks, rapes and other violations against human rights in the Virunga National Park need to be removed, and full responsibility for law enforcement handed over to the park rangers, with support where necessary from MONUC and the military only for specific operations.

While UNESCO World Heritage Committee decides to retain the Virunga National Park on it’s list of World Heritage Sites in Danger, it is vital that immediate action is taken on the ground to improve the local security situation for the park staf, local communities and threatened wildlife.  The UN need to carry out rapid sweeps of the park directly following the elections to remove all the rebel groups and the military should then be encouraged to leave.  The future of this great African park is hanging in the balance…  

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