War-torn Congo Gorilla Park Re-opens
10/2/97
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Headline: War-torn Congo Gorilla Park Re-opens
Source: CNN
Date: 10/2/97
Copyright 1997: The Associated Press.
SABINYO MOUNTAIN, Congo (AP) -- When war swept the
former Zaire last year, human beings were not the
only victims.
Ten rare mountain gorillas were killed in the
Virunga National Park by soldiers and gunmen from
Congo and Rwanda.
The park in this far northeast corner of what is
again the Congo was closed due to poor security,
shutting off funds vital for park maintenance,
according to Vital Katembo, a conservationist with
the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
"It's so sad," said Katembo, who also works
closely with the Congolese Institute for the
Conservation of Nature. "I can tell you that the
most fragile population of mountain gorillas is
the one in this mountain range."
Some 350 of the world's remaining 610 mountain
gorillas live in Virunga park. The rest are in the
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda.
Corrupt officials poached park's funds
Poachers, refugees, soldiers and rebels have
ravaged the 8,000-square kilometer (3,200
square-mile) Virunga park that straddles the
borders of Uganda and Rwanda. Forests were
depleted for firewood, and funds for conservation
fell into the hands of corrupt officials under the
regime of former President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Although armed insurgents from the former Rwandan
army still roam the reserve, officials of the new
government of President Laurent Kabila decided to
reopen the park September 10 to tourists ready to
pay $120 each.
One of the attractions is Lulenga, an 11-year-old
gorilla who has cared for his family of 13 since
his father, Rugabo, was killed by poachers two
years ago.
Since 1995, 18 mountain gorillas have been killed,
according to the International Gorilla
Conservation Program.
Visitors a lucrative source of funding
One gorilla conservation official, who asked not
to be further identified, said Congolese
authorities were crazy to open the park with all
the armed insurgents around.
But the visitors didn't seem to mind.
"It's not felt like a war zone at all," said Shona
Ford of Australia, traveling with 28 other hikers
through Africa.
During a recent nine-hour walk through dense
forest and thick underbrush, the only assailants
were stinging ants.
"If there was another wonder of the world, it
would be the gorillas," Ford said. "It was
magical."
The park has collected $15,000 from the 125
visitors who have shown up since early September,
but park rangers, whose token salaries are less
than 50 cents a month, have not been paid for a
year.
Under Mobutu, only $8,450 of the average monthly
tourist take of $140,000 went toward running the
park, according to the ICCN, which manages Congo's
eight national parks. The rest disappeared.
One of the first things Kabila did when his rebels
captured Goma, the chief town in northeastern
Congo, in November was to tell the African
Wildlife Foundation that the safety of the
gorillas was a priority.
But Katembo said nothing had changed since Kabila
took over the country in May.
"Rehabilitation efforts have been slow in
starting, and things are just getting worse in the
meantime," he said. "The impact in terms of
conservation efforts is terrible."
International agencies like the AWF provide
equipment, uniforms and $20 monthly "bonuses" for
park rangers.
Successive wars discourage Virunga's keepers
Destruction of Virunga park began with the 1990-94
civil war in neighboring Rwanda.
In 1994, over 1 million Rwandan refugees fled to
Zaire, settling at the foothills of the range of
mostly dormant volcanoes.
They scoured the forest floor for food and cut
down an estimated 36 million trees for shelter and
firewood.
Local nurseries grew trees to replenish the
supply. But last November the fighting that sent
most of the refugees home hindered park
rehabilitation.
"When we started, it was under very difficult
conditions because we didn't know there would be a
war," nursery manager Jean Bosco Sebazung said.
"But the war came, and we had no choice but to
stop. Now we are trying to resume, but we fear
something bad will happen again."
Katembo said Congolese soldiers admitted killing
four of the gorillas out of fear. Others may have
been shot by Hutu rebels for food, he said.
The presence of the rebels, he said, made it
impossible to take a census of the gorillas or to
track down an undetermined number of rangers who
disappeared.
But he said despite the added danger to the
gorillas that comes from exposing them to the
possibility of human disease, he was encouraged by
returning tourists.
"I feel like we've exploited them," said Chantal
Russick of New Zealand. "But you want to go back
now and sponsor gorillas and tell people about
them. You want to do so much now."