In the eco-rich forests and savannas of western Congo poachers slaughter endangered wildlife with continued impunity from local authorities.
”The situation in the Conkouati park is unlawful,” said Paul Elkan of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Congo.
”Poachers massacre elephants, gorillas and marine turtles which they sell at Pointe-Noire, where groups supported by political and administrative authorities are located,” Elkan said last week during a meeting with Congo’s environment and forestry minister, Henri Djombo, and minister of the state, Isidore Mvouba.
The US-based wildlife group had been managing Conkouati National Park, Congo’s most ecologically-diverse protected land space, since 2000 until this August when it withdrew from the park after several attacks organised by the poachers.
”Poachers terrorise members of the military and the gendarmes” responsible for assuring security in the park, Djombo said. ”The situation in the Conkouati park is catastrophic, but not irreparable.”
Djombo announced the establishment of a management committee, including representatives from local populations, to reinforce security on the protected land with the aid of additional troops and gendarmes.
But Alexandre Honore Paka, prefect of Kouilou, Conkouati’s administrative region, is opposed to reinforced security measures in the park.
Since 1996, bushmeat has been in high demand in the western coastal city of Pointe-Noire, according to WCS.
For the several thousand people who live in and around Conkouati park to whom hunting has become a common practice, Djombo proposed the establishment of an economic diversification program.
Conkouati is Congo’s third-largest national park and is home to endangered species of elephant and gorilla. Its flourishing habitat is considered one of the largest sites in the world for marine turtle nesting and egg-laying.
No official figures from Congo are available concerning the extent of hunting practices in Conkouati. – AFP
