There is so much bad news in eastern DRC that I can't even keep up with it, and it's demoralizing to think about posting everything that I read. But this short article from the Atlantic shows a (perhaps simplified but relevant) causal relationship that is yet another negative manifestation of the conflict.

Here's how it works: Soldiers / rebel militia kill hippos --> hippo defecation reduced --> food supply (hippo shit) for plankton/larvae reduced --> fish food supply (plankton/larvae) reduced --> fish reduced --> fishermen permitted to fish reduced --> people can't eat. This is complicated by the fact that more refugees have settled in this area, and by the fact that European environmentalists have calculated the number of fishermen that should legally be allowed to fish based on the fish supply. 

Results - fewer hippos, fewer fish, more arrests, and not many people are eating.

Final quote:

In Congo, With Rebels Now at Bay, Calm Erupts

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

BUKIMA, Congo — Jean-Marie Serundori’s eyes light up when he sees his old hulk of a friend Kabirizi.

War, displacement and bloodthirsty rebels had gotten between them.

But for the first time in years, this section of a venerated Congolese national park is rebel-free. Government wildlife rangers, like Mr. Serundori, are firmly in control — for the moment. And Kabirizi, a 500-pound silverback gorilla with a head as big as an engine block, seems to be flourishing in his kingdom of leaves.

“Haa mmm,” Mr. Serundori says, emitting a special gruntlike gorilla greeting that miraculously stops Kabirizi in midcharge. “Haa mmm.”

If the endangered mountain gorillas are any sign, things may finally be looking up in eastern Congo. In the past several weeks, Congo and its disproportionately mighty neighbor, Rwanda, have teamed up to sweep this area clear of rebels who had been at the center of a vicious proxy battle between the nations.

 

( Read more... )

Yes, the gorillas are definitely in danger.  Laurent Nkunda, leader of a rebel militia in eastern Congo, has launched a new offensive, presumably to further the task he has assigned himself of protecting the Tutsi population in that area (at the cost of the majority of the population). 

However, I am also a bit concerned about the park rangers.  Some have already been killed in previous assaults by the militia, and now Nkunda has taken over some territory of the Virunga National Park (up to date blogging on the situation here), where the gorillas live, and therefore so do the park rangers.  I think the count of murders of gorillas now reaches seven (I call them murders because the bodies were left displayed for the rangers to find, rather than killed for food).  The count of rangers that have died at the hands of the militia is at least three recently I believe, but I am too lazy to find a link just now.  [I take it back, link above says 150 in a decade of 1100 rangers working in 5 parks in eastern DR Congo.]

According to the first link above, an emergency fund has been established which has raised $100,000 for additional park rangers to be hired.  I commend this effort, but I really fear for the rangers if they are being presented with ultimatums to join the army or be killed.  (By the way, I still think it's important to support them, so even though I don't like having two plugs in a row, you can read Elie Mundima's blog - he is the commander of an advanced force of 49 rangers - and sponsor a ranger through his site.)

The third link mentions other endangered populations, including bonobos.  I don't have a photo of a mountain gorilla, but I visited the bonobo sanctuary this weekend, where all the bonobos are named after places in DR Congo (Lomela, Katakokombe, Matadi, etc), so here is a gratuitous ape snapshot.

[I know, confusing, not a gorilla.  A young bonobo.]

Hippos may become extinct within the year at Virunga National Park in eastern DR Congo.



The place to shop for souvenirs in Kinshasa is the Marché de Voleurs.  Some people try to tell you that the word is valeurs (treasures) but most say voleurs (thieves).  Some people even translate this into English and talk to me about the Thieves' Market, which always confuses me.

More on shopping later - I have some photos from the marché.

Last year I went with E to the market and browsed for a while - she wanted to buy a ring, but carefully avoided any ivory or potential ivory that is religiously hawked by sellers along the two long aisles of goods.  Rejecting anything ivory-colored, she finally settled on a simple brown ring. 

I asked one of the jewelry sellers what it was made from.  He said, "Les os de l'hippopotame," or bone of hippo.

Last weekend I went to Artisanat et Développement, a small storefront without a sign that grew out of an effort of the Mennonite Central Committee, who started what is now known as Ten Thousand Villages.  This small outfit will not become a part of Ten Thousand Villages' efforts because exporting from DR Congo is challenging, and producing consistently and in large quantity is challenging.  For now, sales are focused on expats living in DR Congo, and their products range from lamps and candle holders to furniture to ornaments and bottle openers, and I think I bought the last three of their line of T-shirts.

We spoke to Debo, who had some hippo bone jewelry on offer.  He said he realizes that Europeans are often loathe to buy animal products.  I explained to him that the fact that it is animal material doesn't bother me, but I don't want to increase the demand for hippo bone if it is not a by-product of some other process. 

He assured me that hippos were not killed in excess, but that they proliferate in the jungle of DR Congo's 2,267,600 sq km anyway, and that they are sometimes dangerous to people, which is when they get killed.

It's possible that they do proliferate in the jungle, but not in Virunga Park, where they are being poached by Mayi Mayi soldiers for food and ivory, and now number 400 or fewer rather than 22,000 twenty years ago.

So, I am not convinced that my decision whether or not to buy hippo bone jewelry does not have an effect.  Ask before you buy.