The wire is awash with the tragic news that Rumangabo has fallen to rebel forces loyal to the renegade Democratic Republic of Congo general, Laurent Nkunda, putting the 200 mountain gorillas resident in the Virungas in danger. The rebels have captured the Virunga National Park headquarters at Rumangabo and the rangers who were stationed there have fled into the forest. Now the more than 50 rangers are hiding from the rebels inside the Virunga Forest without food, water or reliable communication as the fighting between government troops and the rebels continues.
The Gorilla Protection blog is assisting the Virunga Park in raising funds to help them evacuate the rangers and host them in Goma. Please donate to help these desperate rangers who take care of the majestic and rare mountain gorillas.
Emmanuel, the Virunga Park chief, is quoted in the Gorilla Protection blog at WildlifeDirect saying:
Fighting at Rumangabo started at 0400 today between the rebels of Laurent Nkunda and the army. It has now totally engulfed the park station and our Rangers have been forced to flee into the forests for their lives. The rebels now are the only occupants of the park station at Rumangabo. This has never happened before. This is a serious time. We need to get our 50+ Rangers back to safety in Goma, 45km south of Rumangabo. The main road is blocked because of the fighting so they are walking through the forests of the park south, to Kibumba, about 20km away, where we aim to pick them up in trucks. We are trying to maintain phone contact but they don't have much battery life in their phones
Emmanuel is trying to negotiate with the armed groups in the forest not to harm the rangers. Hopefully they can get safe passage to the edge of the forest to Kibumba for safe transportation to Goma. I just heard on radio right now that residents of Goma, in North Kivu, DRC, have rioted and are pelting the UN headquarters with rocks in protest. According to the residents, more than 200,000 of whom are now internally displaced, the UN forces have failed in protecting them from rebels. They don't understand how the more than 17,000 UN troops stationed in Goma have not protected them.
Innocent, a senior ranger in Virunga Park communicated with his assistant Barake, one of the fleeing rangers, and he learned that none of them are hurt yet - which is good news - but since the forest is thick with rebels, the situation is more dangerous such that they can not risk moving to the designated rendezvous point at Kibumba.
As the rangers try to get to safety, it is unknown how the gorillas are fairing. Although the general Nkunda has declared in public that he's a conservationist, there is evidence that his rank and file have been arrested by Virunga rangers ferrying charcoal made from illegally felled trees in the Park. The charcoal racket in and around Goma is huge and if Nkunda fully controls it then he will have great power. The atmosphere is therefore frightening since no one knows what Nkunda will do with this newly acquired "asset". The government army is still trying to recapture the station and heavy fighting is still going on.
The Gorilla Protection blog is assisting the Virunga Park in raising funds to help them evacuate the rangers and host them in Goma. Please donate to help these desperate rangers who take care of the majestic and rare mountain gorillas.
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