Kahuzi-Biega and the "14-day War"
Bukavu, July 5th, 2004. The Tshivanga Station was looted after
the recent conflict, the so-called "third liberation", which
swept Bukavu and its surroundings from May 26th to June 9th. On June 2nd,
Bukavu town fell under the control of dissidents from the national army.
Following strong international political pressure, the dissidents retreated
from Bukavu town and were replaced by loyalist forces.
These terrible events were accompanied by an organized bloodbath, the
rape of girls and women, and the wilful destruction of the town's infrastructure,
especially in the areas surrounding the town that were reached by the
dissidents.
The Tshivanga Station could not escape the same fate: the post was occupied
by the national army from May 26th to June 2nd, by dissidents from June
2nd to June 9th, and finally by the loyal army again from June 9th to
date. During this series of occupations, our Land Cruiser patrol jeep,
5 radios, 10 batteries and 2 collapsible solar panels were taken.
The dissidents completely looted the station. Wilful destruction engulfed
the whole infrastructure, including the camp of the rangers (15 houses)
and the dispensary, 3 computers, one printer, 2 typewriters, radios, the
entire equipment of the dispensary including medical drugs, office furniture,
administrative files, electrical installations - all of it was taken or
ripped out; glass was broken, doors were forced, and so on. Currently,
our staff members are still living in empty houses; most of them own nothing
but a single pair of trousers.
The office of the conservator after looting
After these events, we increased our contacts with the General Commander
of the 10th military region, whom we had asked to visit the station. Thanks
to the provincial governor of South Kivu, the people responsible within
MONUC and the General Directorate/ICCN, to whom we reported these events,
the patrol jeep was returned on July 2nd.
In spite of the atmosphere of insecurity and uncertainty that dominates
the region at the moment, we have restarted the service and rangers have
been deployed to all patrol posts. Contact has been re-established with
all the monitored gorilla families. Their sizes are:
- Mugaruka group 10 individuals
- Chimanuka group 20 individuals
- Langa group 6 individuals
- Mufanzala group 16 individuals
- Mpungwe group 6 individuals
- Birindwa group 9 individuals
- Ganywamulume group 5 individuals
Other monitoring and development activities in the surroundings of the
park are also continuing, in both the highland and the lowland areas.
The personnel in the sub-stations at Nzovu and Itebero were not affected,
and they were able to carry on normally with all social classes in their
respective sectors. We appreciate the efforts of our partners who contribute
to the preservation of this site.
Overall, we can say that luckily the park's fauna has not been significantly
affected by the recent events.
Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi and Carlos Schuler
Bernard Iyomi Iyatshi is a specialist in wildlife
management. He has worked for nature conservation in the Democratic Republic
of Congo for 22 years, for example in the national parks Salonga, Maiko
and Kahuzi-Biega. In August 2002, he became Principal Conservator of the
Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
Carlos Schuler first worked as a typographer, then became a windsurfing
and skiing teacher. In 1983, during one of his intercontinental travels,
he visited Bukavu. Two years later he returned and since 1994 he has been
working for the GTZ there.