Mountain gorilla numbers up despite Congo conflict

Jan 27, 2009, 11:00 GMT

Nairobi/Goma - The number of rare mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park has increased despite the recent conflict in and around the park, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said Tuesday

Rangers were not able to access the gorillas in eastern DR Congo until late December, 15 months after rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda's men forced them out.

Despite heavy fighting in the east, the number of gorillas in groups habituated to human contact had risen to 81, from 72 in 2007.

'Habituated mountain gorillas aren't afraid of humans, which makes them particularly vulnerable to danger,' said Marc Languy, of the WWF's Eastern Africa Regional Programme.

'We are relieved to see that instead of fewer gorillas, which we had feared, there are actually several more animals,' he added.

Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) spent several months late last year battling government forces and other militia.

Over 250,000 people were displaced by the fighting.

Nkunda has now been arrested and elements of the CNDP have joined the Congolese army and Rwandan troops to battle Hutu militia.

Despite relative calm, a ranger from the ICCN (Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature) was killed in early January after an attack by Mai Mai militia.

Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF's International Species Programme, said the good news about the gorillas was only possible due to the 'courageous efforts of ICCN rangers.'

According to the WWF, there are only around 720 mountain gorillas left in the wild, 100 of them in the Virunga National Park.