2023-05-29 10:53:44
Two eco-guards were killed on Sunday May 28 in a new attack on Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), announced the direction of the park. In a statement released Sunday, the park said the attackers were members of the “Mai-Mai Kabido armed group”a community-based militia, among dozens plaguing eastern DRC.
In Nyamusengera, during a patrol in the park near the shores of Lake Edward which marks the border with Uganda, two ecoguards “were shot and succumbed to their injuries”the statement said. ” This morning [dimanche], we heard the “crackling” of bullets. A group of poachers had just killed a hippopotamus and, to protect themselves, they ambushed the park rangers.said Kambale Muhindo, a civil servant stationed in Vitshumbi, a fishing village located about 5 kilometers from the site of the attack.
In addition to the two deceased, “six guards were injured and taken to the Catholic hospital in Vitshumbi”says Blaise Kalisha, a human rights defender in the area.
On May 18, about sixty kilometers further north, four park agents, including three guards, were killed in an ambush against “a convoy of technicians [du parc des Virunga] allocated to development projects »according to the authorities, who had also attributed the attack to the Mai-Mai militiamen.
Oldest nature reserve in Africa
Since 2020, several dozen guards have been killed during attacks or ambushes carried out by various armed groups hostile to Virunga Park. Armed guards are the main targets. They try to prevent them, sometimes with military means, from carrying out destructive activities of fauna and flora within the limits of the park.
The entire southern part of the park, including its headquarters in Rumangabo, has since November come under the control of another armed rebellion: the M23 (March 23 Movement), supported and supported on the ground by units of the Rwandan army, according to several reports by the United Nations group of experts.
The oldest nature reserve in Africa, created in 1925, Virunga Park has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Renowned for its wildlife and grandiose landscapes, it is also known to serve as a rear base for many groups. armed for over a quarter of a century.
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