Send ‘Gorilla’-peace keepers to Congo…

Ebenezer T. Bifubyeka (Ten),

Biafra, Mbarara, western Uganda.

UGANDA suffers a slap on her cultural heritage over the torched Kisubi tombs in Buganda Kingdom; and the imminent loss of her gorillas is a hotter slap! Gorillas know no borders and Uganda shares their home (Virungas) with Rwanda and DR Congo.

Gorillas will largely disappear from most of Greater Congo Basin by mid 2020s unless urgent action is taken to safeguard habitats and counter poaching, according to United Nations and INTERPOL, the world’s largest international police organisation.

The 2002 UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) projections report, ‘The Great Apes – The Road Ahead,’ says; only 10 per cent of original ranges would remain by 2030.

These estimates now appear too optimistic given the intensification of pressures including illegal logging, mining, charcoal production and increased demand for bush meat, of which an increasing proportion is ape meat!

Outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus have killed thousands of great apes including gorillas; and 90 per cent of animals infected will die, says Anne-France White’s UNEP News Release, Future for Gorillas in Africa Getting Bleaker of March 24, 2010.

The new report, launched at a meeting of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, Qatar, says the situation is especially critical in eastern DR Congo where a great deal of escalating damage is linked with militias operating in the region.

The Rapid Response Assessment report, The Last Stand of the Gorilla – Environmental Crime and Conflict in the Congo Basin, says militias in eastern Congo are behind much of the illegal trade.

Militias has been identified as the key link between illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn, handled by front companies in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi before everything is shipped onto Asia, the European Union and the Gulf.

The illegal trade is in part due to the militias being in control of border crossings which, along with demanding road tax payments, may be generating between US$14m and US$50m annually, which in turn helps fund their activities. Battling the militia, over 190 Virunga park rangers have been killed in recent years in the line of duty!

The insecurity in the region has driven hundreds of thousands of people into refugee camps. Loggers and mining camps, perhaps with links to militias, are hiring poachers to supply refugees and markets in towns across the region with bush meat.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP, says, ‘This is a tragedy for great apes and countless other species being impacted by this intensifying illegal trade.’

These natural assets are their assets, Steiner says, ones underpinning lives and livelihoods for millions of people. It is environmental crime and theft by the few and the powerful at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable.’

Uganda should send gorilla-peace keepers to Congo to support MONUC – Mission de l'Organisation de Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo (United Nations Observer Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

David Higgins, Manager of INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme, says, ‘Gorillas are yet another victim of the contempt shown by organised criminal gangs for national and international laws aimed at defending wildlife. The law enforcement response must be internationally co-coordinated, strong and united, and INTERPOL is uniquely placed to facilitate this in all our 188 member countries.’

Christian Nellemann, a senior officer at UNEP’s Grid Arendal centre, the lead author of 2002 and 2010 reports, says, ‘With the current and accelerated rate of poaching for bush meat and habitat loss, gorillas of Greater Congo Basin may disappear from most of their present range within ten to fifteen years!’ Are Ugandan gorillas safe?

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