Two
gorilla park rangers in Virunga National Park in Eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo with another soldier were killed by rebels as reported by one of the Park
officials.
In
this attack, also five rebels were killed and this has threatened the life of
the endangered species of Mountain Gorillas living in the Virunga National Park. The Eastern area of
Democratic Republic of Congo has in the past years suffered from existence of
numerous armed rebel groups based in the Park. Because of this, they often
poach animals and according to the Park officials, almost 130 park rangers have
been killed by rebels since 1996.
It
has been reported that the M23 rebel group has its bases in the Park and
recently it allowed tourists to resume activities such as Gorilla trekking in
the region. However, this year the rebellion by this group has caused more than
500,000 people to flee their homes into the neighboring areas of Rwanda and
Uganda.
According
to the Virunga National Park Director Mr. Emmanuel de Merode, the rangers were
travelling with an armed escort by the time they were ambushed by the members of
the Mai Mai militia which is another rebel group that has its base in Eastern
Congo. The group came under attack from a quite substantial Mai Mai unit.
The
Virunga National Park is one of the three National Parks with the world’s
remaining Mountain Gorillas (other gorilla parks are Bwindi National Park in
Uganda and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda). Virunga is also on the list of
UN World Heritage sites in danger.
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