At least six rangers in DR Congo’s Virunga national
park, famous for its mountain gorillas, were killed Sunday in an
attack officials blamed on a militia group.
The UNESCO World Heritage site is caught up in persistent unrest
in the eastern North Kivu province, where a plethora of armed
groups are battling for control of rich mineral deposits.
“Mai-Mai (militia) carried out an ambush at Nyamitwitwi. The
provisional toll is six park rangers killed along with two
Mai-Mai,” local government delegate Alphonse Kambale told AFP.
Provincial lawmaker Elie Nzaghani confirmed the tally from
Nyamitwitwi in Rutshuru province.
“We confirm that a group of armed men attacked our positions in
the region of Nyamitwitwi, a central sector of the park in the
territory of Rutshuru” in North Kivu province, the park’s spokesman
Olivier Mukisya told AFP by email.
Mukisya said six rangers were killed and another was seriously
injured in the attack around 9:30 am.
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Virunga park, created in 1925, covers some 7,800 square
kilometres (3,000 square miles) and is home to about a quarter of
the world’s population of critically endangered mountain
gorillas.
Nearly 700 armed rangers work in Virunga where sources say at
least 200 have paid with their lives in attacks going back more
than a decade.
Various rival armed groups have repeatedly clashed over land and
resources and stoked tensions in North Kivu, which like the rest of
eastern DR Congo has been riven by decades of conflict.
Mai-Mai militia groups have been accused of killing hundreds of
civilians over the years.
Mai-Mai (the word comes from the Swahili for water) sprinkle
themselves with water before going into combat in the belief it
affords them protection.
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2021/01/11/at-least-six-dr-congo-park-rangers-killed-in-attack/
Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of State for Health, Monday
said that the ongoing registration and National Identification
Number enrolment may be suspended due to the rise in the number of
Covid-19 cases in the country.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
As at yesterday, 100,087 cases have been confirmed by the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 1358 are reported dead
since Coronavirus stormed Nigeria on February, 2020. Also, about
80,030 persons have been treated and discharged.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
On Sunday 10, 2021, NCDC confirmed 1,544 new infections of the
Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. This however is a wake-up
call to all Nigerian that Covid-19 is real.
In other to stem the spread, Mamora while playing host on
Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme today, said it would
be wise if NIN enrolment and registration is suspended.
“I don’t feel good looking at the picture where people are
gathered in multitude; it’s like a super-spreader event which we
don’t like. But I’m also aware that the relevant ministry which is
the communications and digital economy is looking at this.
“My understanding is that the whole process may be suspended so
as to reorder the whole process in terms of management of the crowd
because it was never intended that it would become a rowdy process
like that.
“We have a duty as government to ensure that people are
protected; we also have a duty to ensure people comply within the
limit of what is good for the society at large.”