VIRUNGA RANGER KILLED AS TWO BRITISH TRAVELERS GO MISSING
(Posted 11th May 2018)
Reports are coming in from sources in Goma, Eastern Congo’s main city, that two British citizens were kidnapped while their guide, a female ranger from the Virunga National Park, was killed in the process.
Only a month ago, as reported here (https://atcnews.org/2018/04/10/virunga-more-rangers-killed-by-militias/), were several rangers shot dead in an attack attributed to the Mai Mai militia which keeps roaming this part of lawless Congo with impunity.
Two years earlier, in March 2016, were three rangers killed in the same park while in more recent times over 170 park staff died while performing their duties, again reported here at the time (https://atcnews.org/2016/03/14/three-more-rangers-gunned-down-in-virunga-national-park/). Chief Park Warden Emmanuel de Merode himself baredy survived an assassination attempt (https://atcnews.org/2014/04/16/virungas-leading-conservationist-ambushed-shot-and-critically-injured/) after locking horns with company representatives attempting to prospect for oil inside the UNCESCO World Heritage Site national park.
The two missing Britons only arrived earlier today, according to reports, and were said to be going for tracking mountain gorillas when they were attacked.
Many in particular young backpackers and adventure tourists are also drawn into Eastern Congo by the prospect of seeing the massive lava lake inside the crater of Mt. Nyiragongo but this latest incident underscores the serious warnings issued by Western governments to their citizens to avoid travelling into Eastern Congo which is fraught with dangers and entirely unpredictable as far as security is concerned, which can change from one day to the next.
It is understood that efforts are underway by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to establish more facts about the disappearance of their citizens and local security forces are said to be combing the area in pursuit of the attackers.
https://atcnews.org/2012/03/20/congos-virunga-gorilla-national-park-under-threat-by-oil-companies/
https://atcnews.org/2013/05/18/total-drops-exploration-plans-for-the-virunga-national-park/
https://atcnews.org/2014/06/12/british-oil-explorer-soco-in-major-climbdown-over-virunga-oil-deal/
https://atcnews.org/2015/11/08/oil-companies-and-congo-regime-told-handsoffvirunga/
https://atcnews.org/2015/03/16/congo-oh-congo/
https://atcnews.org/2018/05/04/congo-oh-congo-2/
