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
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