{"id":13930,"date":"2014-04-17T04:58:37","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T04:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/belgian-head-of-wildlife-reserve-shot-in-dr-congo\/"},"modified":"2014-04-17T04:58:12","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T04:58:12","slug":"belgian-head-of-wildlife-reserve-shot-in-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/belgian-head-of-wildlife-reserve-shot-in-dr-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian Head of Wildlife Reserve Shot in DR Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"

{{Emmanuel de Merode, the Belgian head of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, suffered gunshot wounds in an ambush on Tuesday. Park officials say his injuries are serious but not life-threatening.}}<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very relieved that he is in a stable condition,\u201d Joanna Natasegara, a spokesperson for the park, told FRANCE 24 on Wednesday. She added de Merode was in hospital in the regional capital Goma, where he was to remain until his condition allowed him to be transported out of the country.<\/p>\n

De Merode was driving alone at around 4:30pm when his jeep came under fire from unidentified attackers 30km north of Goma.<\/p>\n

\u201cDe Merode\u2019s car was attacked by three men with assault rifles as he returned to his home at the park\u2019s headquarters in Rumangabo from Goma. Despite receiving bullet wounds, he reached the HEAL Africa hospital in Goma conscious and was operated on by a UN surgeon,\u201d the British-based NGO Global Witness, which investigates illegal extraction of natural resources in DR Congo, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Hospital staff said the head of the Virunga park had received several gunshot wounds but that the bullets had missed vital organs.<\/p>\n

{{‘Dedicated conservationist’}}<\/p>\n

Local conservationists issued a statement condemning the attack, which they said was aimed at \u201cdiscouraging community development and conservation efforts\u201d.<\/p>\n

WWF head of conservation Lasse Gustavsson told AFP de Merode was a \u201cdedicated conservationist\u201d who put his life on the line every day to protect the park and the people who depended on it for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

Nothing was stolen from his car and authorities in both DR Congo and Belgium have opened investigations into the attack, which appears to have targeted him as director of Africa\u2019s oldest national park.<\/p>\n

Virunga\u2019s deputy director Norbert Mushenzi told FRANCE 24 that de Merode was \u201cnot hot-headed\u201d and \u201calways told his staff to be prudent\u201d.<\/p>\n

{{Many enemies}}<\/p>\n

Although the surrounding North Kivu province has been the scene of violent rebellions in recent years and many park rangers lost their lives to armed militias, the site of the shooting is regarded as mostly safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was attacked on a major, busy road where there are normally no attacks in broad daylight,\u201d Belgian MP Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier de Donnea told FRANCE 24.<\/p>\n

A long-time supporter of Virunga National Park, de Donnea added that the Belgian conservationist had made many enemies defending the nature reserve, from rebel militias who profit from illegal charcoal manufacturing and fishing to farmers and supporters of oil exploration in the park.<\/p>\n

The Belgian MP said de Merode had called him four hours before the attack to say he was driving to Goma to file a report on activities by the British-based Soco oil company.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo to three years ago, a prosecutor asked the park authority to investigate some facts about Soco,\u201d de Donnea said. \u201cPark rangers collected evidence in the report that was filed yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

{{Oil exploration}}<\/p>\n

Soco obtained an oil exploration licence covering part of the park in 2010, but international pressure has put the permit in jeopardy. The world cultural body UNESCO has listed Virunga as a \u201cworld heritage site in danger\u201d and repeatedly criticised the Congolese authorities for planning oil exploration there.<\/p>\n

The park features stunning scenery shaped by active volcanoes and a rich wildlife including some of the world\u2019s last mountain gorillas.<\/p>\n

Although Soco has always claimed it would act in accordance with Congolese law and stay away from gorilla habitats, park authorities reported at least one case in which Soco workers forcibly entered Virunga in 2011 despite a legal ban on oil prospection inside the reserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not saying there is a link\u201d between de Merode\u2019s investigation into Soco and the attack, de Donnea said. \u201cBut the coincidence can be disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

france24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{Emmanuel de Merode, the Belgian head of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, suffered gunshot wounds in an ambush on Tuesday. Park officials say his injuries are serious but not life-threatening.}} \u201cWe are very relieved that he is in a stable condition,\u201d Joanna Natasegara, a spokesperson for the park, told FRANCE 24 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000051701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-13930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000051701,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton13930.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000051701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13930"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=13930"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=13930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}