13 hippos left, and counting…
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Dec 04 2006 | By: admin
Hippo carcass on the edge of Lake Edward
I have just flown over Vitshumbi where less than two months ago we had counted over 200 hippos. Today we saw just 13. This follows a massive slaughter over the past week by a group of Mai Mai some 20km East of Vitshumbi on the southern shores of Lake Edward.
I was flying Ben Anderson and his film crew up to Mutsora to do a documentary on the Advance Force to be aired next spring. He saw first hand the threats the rangers were facing, and flew over hippos being hacked into pieces and loaded on small canoes destined for the illegal fishing villages along the west coast.
Only two days ago, this same group of Mai Mai attacked Lulimbi, a ranger station in the East of the park. Fortunately no one was killed, but they left a ranger badly injured and made off with 10 rifles and 4 walkie-talkies.
How long will the UN let it go on? Without their immediate support it may all be over for Virunga’s hippos before Ben has finnished filming for his documentary.
It’s not often you see a presenter left speechless
20% of the remaining hippos killed in 3 days
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Dec 02 2006 | By: admin
The situation has gone from bad to worse in the Virunga National Park, and despite significant risks, the ICCN are now sending their rangers to Vitshumbi to protect one of the last main hippo groups. One troop from the Advance Force will be deployed in support of this operation within the next 24 hours.
One of many half-butchered hippos floating along the edge of Lake Edward
The sudden increase in poaching comes as a direct result of UN and military troops leaving the park in support of operations against the dissident General Laurent Nkunda. The vacuum has been filled by a lunatic group of Mai Mai rebel soldiers currently living in the park. Many of these soldiers have now moved out of the bush and into Vitshumbi, a fishing village on the edge of Lake Edward, where they are systematically destroying what remains of the hippo population.
Again the UN Peacekeeping Force for the DRC seems reluctant to get involved at this time - the trouble is, for the hippos at least, time is running out.
Tackling the Hippo Slaughter
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Oct 30 2006 | By: admin
What the Mai Mai do to Rangers Patrol Posts
The situation at Muramba is now calm, and only one of the three Advance Force troops still remains at Ishango. Their mission is to continue to provide protection to the small group of rangers at Ishango from any further Mai Mai attacks. I have just spoken with Elie Mundima, the Advance Force Commander, and he believes the situation is now stable and will be pulling his troop out on Wednesday to join his two other troops at Mutsora.
With voting now over, the Advance Force are starting to think about moving south to Rwindi in order to put pressure on the Mai Mai, but they are still unsure as to whether they will receive the support they are so desperate for from MONUC, the UN Peace Keeping Force for DRC. To help put pressure diplomatic pressure on MONUC, UNESCO has agreed to write an official letter to William Swing, the UN’s Special Representative for the DRC, requesting that he gives the operation to dislodge the Mai Mai from the park his highest priority.
Whether or not the UN is forthcoming, the Advance Force is keen to get stuck in. They know what is at stake if they do not act now, and for these brave men, the total extirpation of hippos form their park would be an unacceptable loss. I will travel up to Mutsora later this week to meet with Elie and the other members of the Advance Force to see how their preparations are coming along. In the meantime, I will meet with MONUC here on the ground and see whether I can muster any support from the new UN General. He must appreciate that the rangers will be going in, but they need UN support.
New FZS census finds a 98% decline in the Hippopotamus population of the Virunga National Park, DRC
Category: Crises, Hippos, Personal | Date: Oct 23 2006 | By: admin
A census carried out this morning revealed that there are only 629 hippos left in the Virunga National Park, DRC. In the late 60’s and early 70’s there were around 30,000 hippos living in the park. The aerial census carried out by the Frankfurt Zoological Society with funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, shows that this population has now declined by 98%.Â
With the second round of presidential elections in Congo less than one week away, the Mai Mai and other non integrated local militia groups are poaching at an unprecedented rate because they believe their days in the park are numbered. The Congolese army who operate in the park without sufficient rations or salary, have also been accused of poaching the hippos, often in collusion with the militia troops.
The problem has now become so serious that the Ugandan military have deployed troops along the banks of the River Ishasha, which separates Congo from Uganda, to help deter the Mai Mai from killing the park’s largest remaining group of hippos consisting of only 134 individuals. The Mai Mai and other poachers have been targeting hippos and elephants for their ivory, which is collected regularly from the militia camps and is thought to leave Congo through Uganda and Sudan to be traded illegally on the international black market.
The Mai Mai have refused to engage in dialogue with the rangers and have recently begun launching attacks on their patrol posts. Despite that fact that over 100 rangers have been killed over the last few years trying to protect Virunga’s wildlife populations, and that they have not received a proper salary for more than a decade, the rangers continue to show remarkable commitment, determination and fortitude. After years of hardship, some support from the European Union and other donors is enabling the Congolese rangers to take control of the situation, but this positive development may be too late for the hippos.
Poaching has now become so prolific and the threat to rangers so serious, that a combined operation between the park rangers and the UN peace keeping troops is needed. The Mai Mai camps are well known to both the rangers and the UN, and an operation needs to be mounted quickly. However, the UN is preoccupied with the lead up to the second round of elections and the militia forces have taken advantage of the situation. Over the last few weeks the park has seen unprecedented levels of poaching, ambushes, violence, and violations of human rights.
The Virunga National Park’s best chance now lies in the hands of its elite ranger force, trained by Frankfurt Zoological Society and deployed to help protect the last few hippos from extinction. The Congo Rangers are massively under resourced and are outnumbered five-to-one by poachers armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. UNESCO and the EU are engaging at the highest political levels in Kinshasa, but support in terms of patrol equipment, rations and salary supplements are desperately needed on the ground if the rangers are to halt the precipitous decline in hippos and wildlife.
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The UN to carry out anti-poaching patrols in the Virunga National Park
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Oct 11 2006 | By: admin
The UN have agreed to carry out anti-poaching patrols at Nyakakoma in the Virunga National Park to help stem the catastrophic hippo poaching. In a meeting with Colonel Shivrain this afternoon, he agreed to deploy a company of MONUC peacekeepers on a two day patrol to help put pressure on the Mai Mai to reduce the level of poaching. He has also agreed to try and encourage Mai Mai leader Col Mosubu back to the table for discussions after he boycotted a meeting to discuss the problem last Sunday.Â
While anti-poaching operations are not in the official UN mandate, the hippo poaching has now got so out of control that the UN have had to step in. The Mai Mai are poaching on average 150 hippos a week in what the UN commander believes is a last ditch effort to gather as much ivory as possible before the elections take place at the end of the month.Â
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Colonel Shivrain of MONUC’s Indian Batallion
Once the elections have passed, the Mai Mai will be forced to accept integration into the Congolese army or demobilisation into civil society. If they resist either, they will be removed from the equation. However it seems that the Mai Mai are heavily supported by the Interehamwe who are much stronger and better resourced, and MONUC are concerned that any punitive action taken right now against the Mai Mai could impact negatively on the upcoming elections, the countries first for over 40 years. In the mean time, sit tight! But for how long? Â
Interview with Mai Mai deserter at UN base
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Oct 11 2006 | By: admin
“They are shooting hippos as if they were cutting down trees†exclaimed the Mai Mai officer who was being held by MONUC Peacekeepers. The poaching of around 150 hippos a week, is organised by Lt. Col Kabila (I can only assume this is a code name) and his Second in Command Major Thomas. A section of 12 Mai Mai soldiers are sent out to recruit local poachers, providing them with all the rifles and ammunition they need. The ivory is then collected by the Mai Mai, and the hippo meat given to the poachers who sell it in illegal markets. Once every few weeks, one of Lt. Col Kabila’s associates makes his way down across the park to Cyondo where he collects all the ivory and takes it back to his home town of Butembo. Where it goes from there is anybodies guess…Â
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Kabale Bonane: Mai Mai Intelligence Officer
I found Second Lieutenant Kambale Bonane at the UN Peacekeeper’s camp at Rutshuru earlier on this morning. He was one of a handful of Mai Mai and Interehamwe detainees awaiting eventual integration into the Congolese military. He was young and bright, and willingly provided answers to my questions. I showed him some aerial photos I had taken of the Mai Mai camp and he was able to locate his old house, along with that of Lt. Col Kabila and Major Thomas. He told me that there were approximately 86 Mai Mai soldiers at Cyondo, but that more than 530 Mai Mai were currently under the Command of Colonel Mosubi, the Mai Mai Chief who boycotted Sunday’s meeting with the park rangers to try and resolve the poaching problem, and who instead sent 90 of his men to attack a group of rangers at Muramba. He went on to say that the Mai Mai would not come out of the bush until after the elections. He clarified this by saying that should Jean-Pierre Bemba win the elections the Mai Mai would probably stay in the bush and continue fighting. It seems there may be rather a lot resting on the outcome of the DRC elections…
Casualties of War
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Oct 09 2006 | By: admin
The Virunga National Park has become rampant with militia activity in the run-up to the elections putting both the wildlife and park rangers in grave danger.
The Mai Mai Camp of Cyondo (Google Earth : S 00 37’96’’ E 029 31’ 24’’)
A small group of Mai Mai have killed 407 hippos in the last two weeks alone, and there are talks of a coalition of rebel leaders who are apparently trying to acquire ivory to sell on the black market. Rumours suggest that between them they have already amassed over 200 points of ivory probably hidden somewhere in the park, and with this last slaughter they must be nearing their target which is said to be 1,000 points.Â
The Congolese Wildlife Authority called an urgent meeting on Sunday with the head of the Mai Mai and the head of the Interehamwe to demand that the rampant poaching of hippo and elephant cease. The head of the Mai Mai however decided to boycott the meeting and the opportunity for dialogue, and instead sent an advance party of 12 Mai Mai to attack the ranger post at Muramba on the north western shores of Lake Edward. After the Mai Mai had caught and disarmed the 4 rangers and 6 military who were based there, no less than 90 Mai Mai soldiers descended upon Muramba, seven of them carrying rocket launchers.
MONUC arrived at Muramba earlier today to assess the situation and I will try and get hold of their report tomorrow. What is clear though is that MONUC’s strategy not to engage in offensive operations against rebel troops in the lead up to the elections has resulted in total anarchy within the park. I have already approached MONUC asking them to deploy a company of UN soldiers in support of the Advance Force in an attempt to get a handle on the situation.  MONUC is currently in containment mode however, and will not provide the neccessary support until after the elections. The question is how long can the rangers and wildlife hold out?
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