The other victims of the DRC war
2001-05-20 11:57
Goma - Not a single elephant remains in the Kahuzi-Biega national park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while the gorilla population has been cut down to 130 from 8 000, just five years ago report said on Friday.
An environmental magazine, The Gorilla, said that in 1996, some 3 600 elephants had been counted in the park, in South Kivu province, but that a recent recount by the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) had failed to turn up a single pachyderm.
The WCS added that only "130 gorillas live in the park compared to
8 000 in 1996."
The Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature blamed the decimation of the wildlife on the "presence of armed groups on all fronts."
The area is controlled by rebels, who since August 1998 have been fighting for the ouster of the Kinshasa government, headed by Laurent Kabila until his assassination in January and since then by his son Joseph.
The institute also blamed the killing of wildlife on the presence of some 12 000 local and foreign small-scale miners searching for deposits of the mineral coltan.
Exploitation of the mineral has escalated in recent months following a recent surge in demand and price.
The miners shot the animals both for meat and for trophies, the institute claimed.
- SAPA