FDLR rebels are reported to have on Tuesday taken control of the easter part of the Virunga park on the Drcongo side.
A statement released by the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) says, “ This is very worrying, because our relationship with the FDLR is not good.”
It adds that the FDLR are a violent militia group from Rwanda largely made up of combatants most of whom are responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda .
The statement further notes, “Most of the our 12 rangers who were killed last year were killed during attacks on our positions by the FDLR.”
It is said the military advances by the M23 rebels in the past few days has caused the Congolese military to withdraw, but the M23 have not advanced as much as the military have fled, and the empty ground in between is being filled by militia groups.
Many of those areas are in the park, and park rangers have remained to protect it. We currently have 40 rangers at Lulimbi, which is on the border with Uganda, and protects the Ishasha Valley.
It’s a tremendously important area for elephant migrations with Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, as well as for its hippo and other large mammal populations.
We can’t afford to abandon this area, but the rangers are now cut off because the FDLR occupy the nearby fishing settlement of Nyakakoma.
They’re low on ammunition and rations. Yesterday morning we received news that a column of FDLR were advancing to attack our rangers at Lulimbi.
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