Virunga Dispatch | Mountain Gorilla Front | We have just suffered another deadly attack by rebels – this time from a newly created group which calls itself the Mai Mai Mayangose. The militias attacked the patrol post of Nyaleke (10km east of Beni) at around midnight a few days ago. The 9 Rangers defending the patrol post held off the attack for two hours.

We believe that there were about 40 militiamen. During the attack, Ranger Anangana was killed. He was 55, due to retire this year, and had served the park for 30 years. Another Ranger, Levico, was very severely wounded with two bullet wounds in the abdomen and a machete wound across the side of his face that broke his lower jaw. He remains in a coma at Beni hospital.

Ranger Anangana, aged 55, killed two weeks before he was due to retire.

The militias then moved to the military base at Nyaleke (just down the road), where, allegedly they met with no resistance, and were able to empty the armory. The militias are now well armed and confident, which leaves us with very serious security concerns in that area, and we are preparing for additional attacks in the coming days.

This brutal attack that aims to undermine the work of the Rangers comes at the end of an extremely difficult week. We have suffered 5 separate attacks throughout Virunga in the last 7 days. One attack was in the southern sector of the park and one of our construction engineers was shot in the back (he is recovering in hospital) as a result, and the other 3 attacks were around Lake Edward (fortunately without injury). Any assistance to support the hospital fees for our wounded Ranger and the funeral costs for Ranger Anangana’s family would be enormously appreciated.

We will keep you posted about security in Virunga in coming days. Thankfully the Gorilla Sector has not been targeted, but needless to say we are all greatly concerned about these latest unprovoked attacks that threaten to impact the protection of Virunga’s wildlife and forests. The Mai Mai are a disparate group of Congolese rebels, with no clear political or moral affiliation – they mainly seek to destroy Virunga and pillage its resources. We need to be prepared.

Article Source: http://gorillacd.org/2010/04/30/armed-militia-kill-congo-ranger-in-deadly-attack-on-virunga/

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