Gunmen have killed two rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest deadly attack in a region roiled by militia violence.
Park sources said a heavily armed group opened fire on a control post at Kamuhororo, on the southern shore of Lake Edward inside Virunga, early on May 21. Kasereka Valyathire Baraka, 35, and Munguakonkwa Mihigo Jacques, 34, the rangers on duty at the time, were both killed, according to national park officials.
The killings underscore the extreme risks facing conservation personnel in the eastern DRC. Instability here stems from overlapping conflicts between rebel groups including M23, Mai-Mai and scores of militias. Virunga has recorded more ranger deaths than any other protected area in the DRC, making it one of the world’s most dangerous conservation posts.
It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and biodiversity hotspot, home to two species of great apes: eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).
Park officials said they haven’t yet identified the attackers. The provincial office of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN), the government agency that manages the DRC’s national parks, described the attack as “odious and unacceptable.”
“We call for a thorough and urgent investigation to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice,” Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park, said in a statement obtained by Mongabay.
More than 200 rangers have been killed in Virunga National Park in the last century. Rangers are often outnumbered by armed groups in the region.
There’s also hostility toward the park among some segments of the local population. Officials say Virunga and other protected areas can only be successful if they can create a better conservation-based economy than the war-based economy, which many armed groups depend on.
“If conservation creates hardships, it won’t work,” De Merode told Mongabay recently. “We cannot tell people not to use natural resources without offering them an alternative,” he added, referring to efforts by the park to support alternative livelihoods for surrounding communities.
Mongabay has been documenting violence in and around Virunga National Park for more than a decade.
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Despite the latest deaths, officials have reiterated their determination to continue protecting Virunga. In the statement obtained by Mongabay, officials said the park management “reaffirms its unwavering determination to continue its mission of conserving and preserving the Congolese natural heritage, whatever the threats and trials.”
Banner image: Kasereka Valyathire Baraka, left, and Munguakonkwa Mihigo Jacques were the latest Virunga rangers killed in the line of duty. Images courtesy of Virunga National Park.
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