VZCZCXRO4805
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1099/01 3471318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121318Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8891
INFO RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001099 
 
DEPT FOR OES 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID EFIN EINV PGOV PREL CH CG
SUBJECT: VIRUNGA PARK REPORT: TENTATIVE AGREEMENT BY REBEL GROUP TO 
MAINTAIN CONSERVATION EFFORTS IN THE GORILLA SECTOR 
 
REF: 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. Following renewed fighting in North Kivu in 
October, 2008, park rangers have returned to Virunga park and in 
particular to the Mikeno sector, home of the approximately 200 
mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Laurent 
Nkunda's rebel National Congress of the Defense of the People (CNDP) 
force currently controls a large area of the Virunga park, including 
Mikeno. The park rangers' situation is tenuous, based on 
negotiations between the Congolese conservation authority (ICCN) 
representative for Virunga park and CNDP. Surprisingly, these 
unarmed rangers include a mix of CNDP-friendly rangers and rangers 
loyal to the Kinshasa government. A census of the gorilla population 
is currently underway to provide updated information on the numbers 
of gorillas in Mikeno. CNDP is reported to be charging admission for 
gorilla visits to journalists traveling to the park, though ICCN 
reports that this has been only in limited cases and is not part of 
a wider CNDP effort to generate income through access to the gorilla 
population. While the return of park rangers to Virunga represents a 
significant victory for ICCN, the widespread instability and ongoing 
fighting in the region continue to pose a direct threat to the 
mountain gorillas and conservation efforts in general. End Summary 
--------------------- 
CNDP controls gorilla sector of Virunga park 
-------------------- 
¶2. (U) The Virunga park, a roughly 8,000 square kilometer area 
located in North Kivu and Orientale Provinces in the Democratic 
Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the world's most significant 
reserves of biodiversity. In particular, Virunga is home to 
approximately one third of the world's remaining population of 
mountain gorillas, which are concentrated in a 250 square kilometer 
area of Virunga park known as the Mikeno sector. When fighting in 
October, 2008 led to forces under the control of Laurent Nkunda 
(CNDP) taking control of a significant portion of Virunga park, 
including Mikeno, park rangers were forced to flee the area. Between 
October 29-31, more than 50 rangers working in Virunga fled the 
park, eventually gathering in Goma to establish a makeshift 
temporary camp along with hundreds of thousands of other 
internally-displaced Congolese.  Nkunda's forces had been in control 
of the Mikeno sector since before the recent push in October 2008, 
and according to reports some rangers thought to be more in step 
with Nkunda's forces stayed throughout the recent siege. 
 
¶3. (U) The renewed fighting in Virunga park was cause for great 
alarm among conservation groups. While CNDP had previously used 
Virunga as a base of operations, they had not up until this time 
seized control of the park's headquarters. Emmanuel De Merode, the 
Belgian national named in August 2008 to be the Congolese Institute 
for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN's) Director and Chief of Site 
for the Virunga Park, wrote that "Fighting [..] has now totally 
engulfed the park station and our Rangers have been forced to flee 
into the forests for their lives. The rebels now are the only 
occupants of the park station at Rumangabo." 
 
----------------- 
Park rangers gain negotiated access to Virunga 
----------------- 
¶4. (U) A USAID representative met with De Merode and ICCN Virunga 
Communications Director Samantha Newport on December 3 to get a 
briefing on the current situation in Virunga, particularly with 
regard to the gorilla population. According to De Merode and 
Newport, their efforts to negotiate with CNDP representatives were 
successful in allowing for the return of over 50 park rangers and 
their families to the Virunga park's headquarters at Rumangabo and 
gorilla area in Mikeno district. In all likelihood, De Merode's 
Belgian nationality was a key consideration in CNDP's decision to 
allow the rangers to return to the park. Not being Congolese, De 
Merode does not have any affiliation with a particular Congolese 
political or ethnic structure, and so his motives can be more 
directly understood to be solely in protection of Virunga's 
wildlife, particularly the highly endangered gorilla population. De 
Merode remains highly concerned about the situation, describing the 
rangers' position as tenuous. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The fact that CNDP has allowed a group of men of fighting 
age and condition access to the park, within CNDP areas of control, 
is a very positive development but by no means guaranteed to last. 
In response to the question of whether ICCN was working with CNDP to 
get rangers back into the park, De Merode clarified that ICCN had 
gained CNDP's 'permission' to re-enter the park. Significantly, De 
Merode noted that the rangers included a 'mixage' of rangers 
sympathetic to CNDP along with others loyal to the government in 
Kinshasa. The term 'mixage' is noteworthy in that it makes specific 
reference to the process of military integration that Laurent Nkunda 
negotiated for his troops in 2006 which would have permitted them, 
 
KINSHASA 00001099  002 OF 002 
 
 
unlike other armed groups going through the process of military 
integration, to remain in North Kivu province and under his control. 
 If the reference was meant to suggest that the park rangers were 
being forged into an integrated force, which the original mixage 
process was meant to create, it would be a change from the previous 
situation in which only forces loyal to Nkunda were allowed to 
remain in the areas of the park under CNDP control and benefit to 
some degree from the limited tourism revenues that were generated. 
Whether De Merode continues to maintain the confidence of both the 
Congolese government and the CNDP - a tightrope act that for the 
time being is producting results - remains to be seen. 
 
¶6. (U) The return of rangers to Virunga allows certain conservation 
efforts to resume for the gorilla population. A census of the 
gorilla population is underway for the last week, which will be the 
first gorilla census completed since August 2007. During the 2007 
census, a total of 72 habituated and 120 non-habituated gorillas 
were counted in the area, providing the basis for the estimate that 
the DRC is home to approximately one third of the world's mountain 
gorilla population. The census will take between 3 and 4 weeks to 
complete and will seek to identify every individual gorilla in the 
park. 
 
---------------- 
ICCN "Lurching from crisis to crisis" 
---------------- 
¶7. (U) Aside from armed conflict in the park, Virunga is still 
menaced by the charcoal trade which represents the most important 
single threat to the park's long-term sustainability. With very 
little forest around or outside the park, and very few economic 
opportunities available in the area, there are few alternatives to 
the local population for production of charcoal other than cutting 
trees inside the park. Charcoal is a lucrative commodity in the 
area, with a bag commanding between $20-25 on the market in Goma. 
Estimates of overall production indicate that charcoal represents a 
$30 million per year industry in the area. Astonishingly, ICCN 
indicated that they understand that local families can spend up to 
80 percent of household income on fuel, meaning that there is 
intense demand for charcoal production and few available 
substitutes. Last year Rwanda generated $6 million in tourism 
revenues from gorillas, which suggests that sustainability is 
possible in the DRC if and only if the gorillas can be managed as a 
valuable resource and generate income for the local population. 
Past experience with gorilla tourism in the DRC included 
insufficient revenue sharing provisions and other development 
opportunities for local communities. Last year's killing of 7 
mountain gorillas in Virunga, which captured worldwide attention, 
shows the dire consequences for the DRC's gorilla population when 
they are seen to stand in the way of the livelihoods of the local 
population and economic interests of political and military 
officials profiting from the charcoal trade. 
 
¶8. (U) Poaching also presents an ongoing threat to wildlife in the 
Virunga park, though it has been focused primarily on other large 
mammal species including elephant and hippopotamus. With three armed 
militia groups in and around the Virunga park, pressure for meat 
from the forest is intense. Virunga's hippopotamus population, in 
particular, is seriously threatened by poaching. The estimated 700 
remaining hippos are a fraction of the over 20,000 which were in 
Virunga 20 years ago. Poaching of the hippo and elephant populations 
dramatically increased in 2007 and is understood to be ongoing and 
driven by armed groups operating in the area. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Conclusions: Given the tenuous situation with regard to 
ICCN rangers' access to the Virunga park, it will be important to 
keep an eye on the situation but to tread very carefully when 
discussing the situation with the GDRC. It is remarkable that De 
Merode has been able to achieve the return of rangers to the park, 
and ensuring that gorilla protection efforts are not subsumed by a 
political agenda on either the CNDP or GDRC side of the conflict is 
the most positive outcome that can be hoped for. With regard to 
development assistance, developing sustainable alternative fuel 
sources is the most critical factor in reducing charcoal production 
and associate habitat degradation. The USG should consider increased 
investment in biodiversity conservation efforts in Virunga that 
target reduction of cutting in the forest, provide alternatives to 
charcoal from Virunga as the primary fuel source in the area, and 
establish other livelihoods options for the local population. Until 
an end to conflict in the area allows for development of a viable 
tourism sector urgent consideration should be given to how to help 
the local population earn a living without resorting to charcoal 
production in critical areas. 
 
HAYKIN