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Five staff members of the Upemba National Park in southeastern DR Congo have lost their lives during an armed attack on the park’s headquarters on Tuesday.
The Director-General of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), Yves Milan Ngangay, said in a statement that the park’s headquarters at Lusinga in Katanga province was “the target of an armed raid carried out by a group of unidentified assailants”.
“Five members of the park’s staff have tragically lost their lives,” Ngangay said in a statement.
Ngangay also revealed that the headquarters’ equipment was looted and its infrastructure damaged during the attack.
He described the attack as a “flagrant violation” of national law and international conventions that protect natural areas, and as a direct breach of the principle of neutrality and non-belligerence governing protected spaces.
Ngangay, however, made no mention of who was responsible for the attack but noted that security forces have restored full control of Upemba park and the Lusinga office.
Upemba Park’s headquarters is located in Lusinga, a region which is more than 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of the Kivu region, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has been fighting Congolese armed forces.
The nature park is home to black rhinos, elephants, buffalo, leopards, lions and other endangered species whose populations have since been largely decimated.
