CONFLICT TIMELINES FOR SELECTED NATIONAL PARKS
CHAD
Zakouma National Park
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Garamba National Park
CHAD
Zakouma National Park
- 2012. September. Park Guards killed by armed poachers. Newswatch National Geographic. Sudanese Military involved? NY Times.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Garamba National Park
2006 January 23: In 2006, the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance
Army ambushed and killed eight Guatemalans UN peacekeepers and fifteen of their
own Rebels in Garamba National Park.
· In
2007, the estimated 5,800 families who were displaced back in 1999 are expected
to resettle back into the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ugandan Lord’s
Resistance Army, who had displaced them, has fled with their leader, Joseph
Kony, into Garamba National Park
· 2007 Spetember 07: In 2007, peace was talked about and
agreements and promises were set in place between the National Resistance Unit and Ugandan Lord’s Resistance
Army (LRA). Overtime, the LRA failed to meet its promises. They then stated any
attack is a declaration of war. They are currently based in Garamba National
Park and they stated any attack on their base is a declaration of war.
· 2009 January 01: On Friday, Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) fighters attacked the park headquarters of Garamba
National Park, located in Negero in the Congo (Kinshasa)'s Orientale province.
According to reports, at least ten people were killed, including: two civilian
women, two park rangers, an electrician, and five other unidentified
individuals. At least ten fighters were also killed in the four hour gun battle
between park rangers, Congolese troops based at the local airstrip, and LRA
rebels.
· 2009 January 06: There’s more information available about the January
2nd LRA rebel attack on the Garamba National Park, located in Nagero, in the
eastern DRC. That attack left at least eight dead and thirteen wounded and
caused heavy damage to the park headquarter.
· 2009 January 07: The headquarters of Garmaba National Park
were attacked in 2009 by Ugandan Rebels. This attack was part of the
three week old multinational assault on LRA strongholds in northeastern Congo.
Forces led by Uganda and including Congolese and South Sudanese soldiers began
bombing LRA bases in the park on December 14, 2008 after the rebel leader
Joseph Kony again failed to sign a deal to end his rebellion against Uganda's
government.
· 2011 February 21: On Monday, near the
Garamba National Park in an unknown area of Kasai Oriental, Congo (Kinshasa),
unidentified militants attacked a truck that was carrying food and supplies for
the non-governmental organization, Solidarités International, by unknown means.
No casualties or damages were reported and no group claimed responsibility, but
the militant group Lord’s Resistance Army was thought to be responsible for the
attack.
· 2012 March 31: LRA leader Joseph Kony
surrendered/captured near Garamba. Suspicious sounding statements concerning
his reason for capture/surrender, citing Kony 2012 documentary as informing too
many people about his actions, and the rising power of the internet and
awareness among U.S. teenagers and celebrities.
Virunga National Park
- 2007. May. Mai Mai kill one ranger, wound 4 rangers and kidnap officer. Gorilla.cd
- 2007. October. Mai Mai kill one ranger and wound another ranger. Gorilla.cd
- 2012. August. Virungu NP serves as "buffer zone" between M23 and FDLR forces. Afrika.no
- 2012. October. Mai Mai Pareco groups ambushes Park patrol and kills 8. VOA
· 2000 September 4: Rwandan
Hutu militiamen attacked settlers on the outskirts of Goma in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Six people were killed and nine people were injured in
the attack.
· 2001 August 08: An
armed attack occurred when former Rwandan Armed Forces soldiers shot and killed
a Virunga National Park warden in 2001.
· 2005 October 25:
UN Congo operation
launched in Virunga National Park to flush out rebels. 500 militiamen in Ituri
handed over weapons. In Kivus, dissident
Rwandan rebel group “Rasta” killed 24; Mai Mai militia captured but later
released 43 local disarmament officers; refugees in Tanzania began returning
despite insecurity. UN investigated clashes between gangs of diamond thieves in
south that killed 13.
· 2008 July 07: On Monday evening, an 18 year-old girl and
her mother, the wife of a park warden, were shot dead when a World Wildlife
Fund (WWF) vehicle was ambushed by unknown gunmen in the Nord-Kivu sector of
Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Authorities
attributed the attack to Mai-Mai resistance fighters, although no claim of
responsibility was made for the incident.
· 2009 January 01: On
Saturday, near Nambwezi near Dungu, Kasai Oriental, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, armed assailants fired upon Virunga National Park rangers, killing one
ranger and wounding another. One rebel was injured in the attack. No group
claimed responsibility, although it was widely believed the Congolese Coalition
for Patriotic Resistance was responsible.
· 2009 July 9: The rapid
advance of the RDF during the first week of the offensive. On 31 January, in
the Virunga national park, Rwandan soldiers managed to push back the FDLR’s
“Bahamas” battalion.
· 2011 January 24: Three
guards and five soldiers killed in attack at Virunga National Park
· 2011 January 24: Article
on FDLR (Rwandan) attacks on rangers, history with group in park, types of
animals sought, and some numbers on animals in park. Reports of no.’s of FDLR
coming into park.
· 2011 January 31: Attack on Virunga National Park Rangers
· 2011 December: Details
of an attack on Virunga park rangers in December 2011, presumably by FDLR
Rwandan militia. Two vehicles were ambushed when lured to an area by what
appeared to be a broken vehicle. No injuries reported.
· 2012 March 5: Details
of efforts made against poachers and poaching armies in DRC and surrounding
countries. No.’s of elephants killed in recent surge. Deployment of Swiss
canine unit to track poachers.
· 2012 May 7: This
article reports violence that began near Virunga National Park after a
Congolese general and several officers broke away and began fighting in the
area. The article talks about how as
many as fifty thousand people were displaced within a 3 day period as fighting
broke out. The article also goes into more detail over the attacks and how
supplies and food have been stolen from local cities and peoples.
· 2012 July: Rangers and
their families are evacuated from Virunga National Park and transferred to
refugee camps as rebel troops bear down on park headquarters, July 2012.
· 2012 October 25: Good
Article. More details on Mai Mai attack mentioned above. Details of past
attacks in Virunga NP, figures on rangers killed, effects on families, and why
Virunga is the site of high numbers of attacks (relative & absolute).
Specifics on some animal numbers killed, types of animals, current ranger force
no.’s
· 2012 October 26: Brief
article, cites M23 and Mai Mai as groups who recently attacked park rangers.
Description of why groups want to poach in the park. figures of park rangers
killed in recent years.
· 2012 October 26: Officials
in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo say eight people were killed when
militiamen attacked rangers in the famed Virunga National Park.The Mai Mai
Pareco group ambushed a park patrol traveling with an army escort on Thursday,
according to authorities. The park lies
near Congo's border with Uganda. Separately, an attack at the home of a
prominent Congolese doctor has drawn international condemnation.
· 2012 October 26: Eight
men were found killed in Virunga National Park, most likely due to militiamen
· 2012 November 21: This
article reports an attack on rangers within the Virunga National Park by
Rwandan FDLR militia. The report states
that 3 rangers and 5 soldiers were killed and that since 1996 a total of 130 rangers have been killed. It also talks about how Virunga National Park
is the oldest national park in Africa and the home to Gorillas and many other
animals.
- 1994-1997. Influx of Rwandan refugees and rebels into the Park
- 2000. 10,000+ drawn into Park to mine. Controlled by rebels. eoearth
· 2005
July 5: DRC UN troops sweep area near park to
clear armed groups.
· 2009 August 13: Mining has caused conflict in this national park.
· 2011 April 4: Two residents of Bukavu
started a group called Club des Amis de la Nature. The group operates in the
area surrounding Kahuzi-Biega National Park, and they work to raise awareness
about it value and to promote a sustainable management of the buffer zone. The
area has suffered from unrest since the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, and the group
is still working to control the exploitation of mineral, the means by which the
militia groups finance their activities.
RWANDA
Volcanoes National Park
- 1993 (April 4). Rebel fighting spills over into Volcanoes National Park and researchers are forced to evacuate leaving the rare mountain gorillas unprotected. Amidst all the commotion poaching and rebels attacking gorillas is feared to be occurring in the park.
- 2012 (Dec). Volcanoes National Park Warden killed and another injured by Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). This is the second attack in less than a week.
Akagera National Park
- 1990. October. Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) crosses into Rwanda from Uganda and engages the Rwandan army (FAR). Encountering stronger resistance than expected the RPF retreats into Akagera National Park.
UGANDA
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
- 1999. (March). 100 members of Rwandan Militia Interahamwe kidnap and kill tourists. IRIN Africa.
Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Murchison Falls National Park
- 2001 (March 27). Suspected members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) shoot and kill 9 students on a field trip in the park.
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