Two eco-guards were killed on Sunday May 28 in a new attack on Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), park management announced. In a statement released on Sunday, the park said the attackers were believed to be 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 eco-guards “were shot and succumbed to their injuries”, the statement said. “This morning [Sunday] we heard ‘crackling’ of bullets. A group of poachers had just killed a hippopotamus and to protect themselves they ambushed the park rangers,” said Kambale Muhindo, an official stationed in Vitshumbi, a fishing village about 5 kilometers from the scene. the attack.
In addition to the two deceased, “six guards were injured and taken to the Catholic hospital in Vitshumbi,” said 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 [Virunga Park] technicians assigned to development projects”, according to authorities, who also attributed the attack to Mayi-Mayi 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), backed 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, the Virunga Park has been 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.