On Friday 24th April 2020, 17 people and 12 rangers were confirmed dead in an attack in Virunga National Park. The park authorities also disclosed that asides these confirmed deaths, the attack also led to the killing of a driver and four other civilians.
The Virunga National Park is spread over the borders of the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda and is home to a world-famous population of mountain gorillas but has been hit by rising instability and violence from repeated attacks by rebel groups, militias and poachers.
From previous findings, the park rangers were said to be returning to their headquarters when they came across a civilian vehicle that had already been attacked. Unknown to them, the attackers were still at the location of the crime, when they were immediately ambushed.
“Initial investigations indicate that the rangers were on their way back to their headquarters when they encountered a civilian vehicle that had been attacked and subsequently came under a ferociously violent and sustained ambush,” park authorities said in a statement.
The park authorities affirmed identity of the attackers saying “we can confirm that the perpetrators of this attack were the armed group ‘FDLR-FOCA”. They are known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an armed Rwandan rebel group active in the DRC. The park authorities also said that two civilians and three rangers were injured, one of whom was in critical condition.
Given the recurrent attacks perpetrated on the park, the security of visitors and tourists cannot be completely assured and this will definitely have an effect on the revenue inflow of the park. Between May 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, the park banned visitors on account of the kidnap of two British tourists in the park environs. They were later released but a ranger was killed during the abduction. Asides the insecurity issues, visits to the park have been suspended since March 19 for at least 30 days as part of the DRC’s efforts to halt the spread of the new coronavirus.
In a comment made by Phil Clark of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, to Al Jazeera, he said that “FDLR is a Hutu-dominated rebel group. The reason it is fighting the Congolese army at the moment is because the Congolese government is in the process of renewing relations with the Rwandan government. And that is a Tutsi-dominated government.” He also said that “Rwanda wants Congo to deal with the FDLR, which they see as a Hutu threat across the border – killing Tutsi civilians inside Congo. The FDLR also has a history of going across the border into Rwanda.”
Giving the comment made by Phil, the root of these attacks can be traced to existing unresolved tension linked to the conflict between the Hutus and the Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. If this is not well addressed and resolved more lives will be lost, the security situation in both affected states will be heightened giving room to possibility of a more serious conflict, the political scene of the states will become unstable giving room to chaos. Hence it is paramount that all concerned stake holders and people in position of power, meet to address the issue.
