The 23 March Movement (M23) has once again been accused of pillaging the wildlife and floral resources of Virunga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Fourteen environmental organisations have just appealed to the President of the DRC to find an urgent solution to save this World Heritage site.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
The 23 March Movement (M23) has once again been accused of pillaging the wildlife and floral resources of Virunga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Fourteen environmental organisations have just appealed to the President of the DRC to find an urgent solution to save this World Heritage site.
In a letter sent to the
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo on 20 July 2023, fourteen
environmental organisations condemned acts of looting by armed groups in the
Virunga National Park in the east of the country. The 23 March Movement (M23)
is the main armed group singled out by environmental activists. This rebellion
is accused of poaching, charcoal burning, trafficking in wood and charcoal,
trafficking in baby primates and other activities in Africa's oldest nature
reserve, created in 1925 and listed as a world heritage site by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) since 1979.
President Félix Antoine
Tshisekedi Tshilombo is being called on to find an urgent solution to preserve
this site, which is vital for biodiversity. The fourteen organisations are also
calling on the Head of State to include in his diplomatic efforts the need to
protect what remains of the Virunga National Park. They are also calling for a
joint investigation, involving the regional force of the East African Community
(EAC), the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) and the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), to ensure that these acts, which
they call environmental crimes and war crimes, are punished.
Dislodging the M23 from
Virunga Park
This is the second time in
the space of six months that the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo
has been questioned about the ravages of the M23 in Virunga Park. In an open
letter sent to President Félix Tshisekedi on Sunday 15 January 2023, Gorilla
Ambassador warned of the threats posed by the M23 to animal species in Virunga
Park, following its encampment at Mont Sabinyo in Rutshuru territory in North
Kivu. Alain Mukiranya, the organisation's deputy director, believes that animal
species are threatened by poaching in the Mont Sabinyo region, which is
occupied by the M23. "The cantonment of the rebels at Mont Sabinyo is a
danger for the gorillas, which have long been threatened by war, poaching and
loss of habitat. The presence of these rebels (the M23, editor's note) will
increase the poaching rate because they will be hunting and cutting down trees
to produce charcoal for sale", warns Alain Mukiranya.
The M23 rebel group has
also set up its rear base in the area of the park occupied by the mountain
gorillas, making it impossible to monitor the primates. In a press release
published on 20 December 2022 by the Congolese Institute for Conservation and
Nature (ICCN), which manages the park, the M23 rebels are presented as the main
threat currently facing the mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park.
The M23, a predominantly
Tutsi armed group (an ethnic group from neighbouring Rwanda) that was defeated
in 2013, took up arms again in late 2021 and stepped up its offensive in
October 2022, seizing large swathes of territory north of Goma, the capital of
North Kivu in the east of the DRC. The region serves as a rear base for a dozen
other local armed groups, including the Forces démocratiques de libération du
Rwanda (FDLR).
Fanta Mabo