APA – Kigali (Rwanda) – The relationship between Kinshasa and Kampala may turn sour following reports that Ugandan soldiers are involved in trafficking timber, local media reported Thursday.
According to Aimé Mbusa Mukanda a well known human rights defender in Rutshuru territory , “The Ugandan soldiers who came as part of the East African Community (EAC) mission felled more than a million trees in the entity of the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo”.
Mukanda made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Politico a local daily on Friday.
He claimed, “Several of the Ugandan soldiers of the EAC are involved in the exploitation of timber in the Virunga National Park precisely in Mabenga, on the Mabenga-Mayamoto section, in the territory of Rutshuru, in North Kivu.”
“These Ugandan soldiers bring machinists to cut down these trees, in order to use them as planks and coal which they export to Uganda, via the Bunagana border post,” Mukanda noted.
According to him, a large number of these Ugandan soldiers are active in logging in Virunga National Park. He accuses these military operators of consequently defiling the RAMSAR site and UNESCO world heritage.
“May these acts not go unpunished by soldiers transformed into loggers. It is disrespectful to the country that trusted them. We want investigations to be carried out in order to apprehend and punish the culprits,” he pleaded.
A few months ago, 14 NGOs in North Kivu, active in the environmental, land, land use planning and human rights sectors, had, in their investigation report, mentioned the same illegal activities in this part of the country.
These human rights defenders working in Rutshuru territory call on the Congolese government to be vigilant and to put an end to environmental destruction.
“The activism of armed groups in Virunga Park leaves something to be desired. On the Mabenga-Kabaraza-Kamunga axis, in the territory of Rutshuru, Ugandan soldiers deployed on behalf of the East African Community (EAC) were clearly identified among the traffickers of the park’s natural resources and they exercise without being worried,” the activists said.
According to information from Congolese civil society, the Ugandan contingents even escort the vehicles which transport the products resulting from the looting to Bunagana, a border town between the DRC and Uganda.
The group of NGOs took advantage of this opportunity to denounce the involvement of certain elements of the FARDC in the destruction of Salonga Park, the oldest park in Africa, in the territory of Nyiragongo.
CU/APA
Ugandan soldiers accused of stealing timber from Eastern DR Congo
