Unsung Heroes and Casualties of War: Dr Emmanuel de Mérode and his Rangers of the Virunga National Park

It seems that Dr Emmanuel de Mérode (photo above), Chief Warden of the

Virunga National Park and a Belgian national, is staying put despite

clear and present danger all around him.





In the past two months, his rangers have suffered countless unprovoked

attacks and ambushes--in which some of them were killed and wounded.





Below is Dr Emmanuel de Mérode last entry on the blog gorillacd.org

posted today on the Virunga National Park website and simply titled "7

O'clock Monday Morning."





I took the liberty of reformatting the text into multiple paragraphs

for readability.





***





7 O'clock Monday Morning





July 9th, 2012 by Emmanuel

Filed under (Uncategorized) by Emmanuel @ 8:47 am





The situation is calm.





The evacuations of all the staff went very well, with everyone both in

Rumangabo and in Goma doing an extraordinary job.





The conditions in camp are very tough, with everyone living in

terribly cramped conditions under tarpaulins, but they have safety,

food and drinking water.





We're enormously grateful for the support that you have given us so

far. It has become a lifeline.





The dog unit was also evacuated to Goma, but our orphan gorillas have

had to stay with us in the park, because they're difficult to

transport safely and the risk of moving them outweighs that of keeping

them with us in the park.





In Rumangabo, morale remains strong.





There was intense fighting in the north in the early part of the day.





The national army has left the area, and in late afternoon we started

seeing small rebel units appear.





We have established basic

defensive positions around the station, but only to protect the

station against looting.





We clarified our role as a neutral in the current conflict, and I

think it is now well understood on both sides.





People are worried, and a few thousand displaced people from the

surrounding villages converged

around the station last night.





We opened the school to give them basic shelter, but most of them had

to sleep outdoors.





The situation in Rwindi is very worrying.





Over a thousand fleeing troops have converged on Rwindi and the

situation is very volatile, with sporadic gunfire and quite extensive

looting.





Rodrigue is on site, and keeping the situation under control as best he can.





(gorillacd.org/blog/)





***



PHOTO: Dr Emmanuel de Mérode and his rangers.



PHOTO CREDITS: www.charcoalproject.org