This is just a short account from my brother who has been deployed in Tshiaberimu for the last 10 days, doing the reconnaissance work after the Mai Mai rebels attacked our patrol posts last week.  He and his 15 rangers were rushed to the mountain immediately after we heard of the rebel attack, and he had an incredibly difficult job doing all the early reconnaissance work.  He is the leader of troop 1, and we’ve now joined him on the mountain for a big defensive operation to protect the gorillas from the Mai Mai rebels.

My brother has been on operations in Tshiaberimu for over a week and it has been difficult, and often very frustrating.  I couldn’t update the blog because I have also been on operations protecting Ishango, which we felt was also quite vulnerable to attack by the Mai Mai.  Ephrem, the WildlifeDirect country director was at Burusi yesterday, so I gave him my photos and have given him my notes on our efforts so far.

Troop 1 travelling through Virunga’s northern Savannas towards Tshiaberimu

On the day of the attack, my brother rushed to Burusi, where the attack took place.  He was immediately drawn into the efforts to resolve the conflict with the Mai Mai rebels.  Director Mushenzi, our commander, and various military and UN Peacekeepers arrived on the scene.  To his big surprise, Commander Jackson, the leader of the Mai Mai in the area turned up.  For all the terrible things his men did to us and to the park, he simply walked in and started negotiations as if nothing had happened. 

Director Mushenzi with UN and Congolese military officers in discussion with the Mai Mai Commander, Jackson

There were long discussions.  Jackson swore that he was not responsible, but other than that, it was unclear what could be achieved.  There were many soldiers, both from the Congolese national army and from the UN Peacekeepers, but within minutes of the talks ending, everyone pulled away and my brother and his park rangers were left on their own to patrol the mountain.  For ten days, the 15 of them scoured the mountain to search for signs of the rebels and to try to find out the status on the gorillas.  There were now indications of the rebels being in the forest, and thankfully, they were able to account for all of the gorillas.

 A welcome sight in the forests of Mount Tshiaberimu.  Thankfully all the gorillas were accounted for. 

We are now all together, all 49 rangers of the advance force, working to protect the gorillas.  It’s hard work patrolling the mountain, but we’re a very strong force, and feel like we are doing the job that we were trained to do. 

 We’ll probably be here for several weeks, but will try to send you other updates.

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