positions at Ishango" on the north-western shore of Lake Edward.)
***
As I've already said it here, Virunga National Park Chief Warden Dr.
Emmanuel de Mérode and his Park Rangers are the unsung heroes of the
ungoing war.
For a number of years now, they've been battling militia groups,
poachers, all manners of human encroachments on the park, all the
while keeping watch on biodiversity, keeping tabs on mammals (such as
gorillas, hippos and elephants), and entering scientific data into the
park's database.
No one knows how long these heroes will keep on carrying out these
daunting tasks.
And these days, the blog of the Virunga National Park (VNP) reads like
a war diary.
The Park is a vast swath of about 8,000kmsq north of (and even abuts
against) the besieged city of Goma.
***
The Rwandan FDLR terrorist group and local Mai-Mai militias seem to be
vying for control of key areas in the VNP system.
Yesterday morning, Dr. de Mérode reported that on the south-eastern
side of Lake Edward, near the Ugandan border, a long strip of
territory running from the town of Ishasha (by the Ishasha River) in
the south to the "fishing settlement of Nyakakoma" on Lake Edward in
the north, is already "under FDLR control."
This means that by the same token the VNP station at Lulimbi, by the
same Ishasha River and north of both settlements, is virtually cut off
from the Park system--save for the airfield.
Muramba, on the other hand, is on the north-western shore of Lake
Edward, within a stonecast of the lakeside point of Ishango.
And both Lulimbi and Muramba came under heavy attacks in the night of
August 3 to August 4, Dr. de Mérode wrote in his post of yesterday
morning.
According Dr. de Mérode:
"Lulimbi was attacked by a heavily armed FDLR unit at about 2 in the morning.
"We were expecting them and the rangers were on full alert.
"There was very heavy fighting for about one hour, after which the
militias retreated.
"Unfortunately, two of our rangers received gunshot wounds during the
attack, one in the leg (not too serious) and one was shot through the
arm."
The ranger who sustained the gunshot wound in the arm was medevaced to
Rumangabo HQ where he's in "stable" condition.
(My guess is that Dr. de Mérode is the pilot of the VNP: I've seen
photographs of him in the Park's Cessna cockpit.)
As for the Mai-Mai attack, Dr. de Mérode reports:
"Muramba, on the north-western shore of Lake Edward, was attacked by
Mai Mai militias just
before dawn.
"We only had eleven rangers on the position, but again, they were
positioned in their trenches and were able to push them back.
"Seven of the rangers were able to mount a pursuit and pushed them
back up the escarpment out of the park."
Adding:
"We're working on strengthening Muramba and Ishango, which are both
heavily threatened by
militias.
"As hard as it is on our staff at the
moment, morale remains incredibly high."
***
PHOTO CREDITS: gorillacd.org
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