Gorillas, guns and oil

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest and largest wildlife park. Since 1925, it’s been home to some of the last mountain gorillas on earth. But it’s also home to armed militia groups and an ongoing battle for natural resources. The park’s rangers regularly put their lives on the line protecting the precious wildlife and the Congolese communities who live within the park’s boundaries. Two weeks ago, six rangers were killed. Emmanuel De Merode, the park’s director – who also happens to be a Belgian prince – tells us his extraordinary story. Despite huge challenges he remains optimistic that renewable energy and job creation can help steer the region’s next generation of Congolese away from a cycle of violence that has caused so much damage.

(Photo: A mountain gorilla in Virunga National Park. Credit: Thierry Falise for Getty)

Presenter: Vivienne Nunis Producer: Sarah Treanor

Transcript

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0:00.0	It was a particularly difficult time.
0:06.0	We were, I would say, fighting against the efforts of a British oil company
0:11.2	that was trying to illegally explore for oil in the National Park.
0:15.7	There were enormous tensions tied to that.
0:19.0	You know, we were in confrontation with a number of people.
0:23.1	This is Emmanuel de Meroad.
0:25.5	On today's Business Daily with me, Vivienne Nunes,
0:28.6	we will hear the extraordinary story of the director of the Varunga National Park
0:33.0	in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
0:35.8	Africa's oldest and largest wildlife park,
0:38.8	and home to some of the world's last mountain guerrillas. Working there can be extremely dangerous.
0:45.2	Two weeks ago, six park rangers were killed by local militias. But to begin, Emmanuel takes us back
0:51.3	to one of the toughest periods in the park's history, 2014,
0:55.5	when a British oil company was circling with plans to extract oil on the park's land,
1:00.6	and the notorious M23 militia were advancing.
1:04.2	On that particular day, I had submitted a substantial investigation report
1:10.4	on the activities of that oil company. As I was coming back to the park on the road, I was on my own. There were people waiting for me in a forest that I had to drive through. And they opened fire on my vehicle. I was shot in the chest and in the stomach.
1:30.4	I was very lucky.
1:32.5	You know, I managed to get out of the vehicle and then people from a village nearby
1:35.0	picked me up and pulled me away.
1:37.8	And so, you know, my efforts continue.
1:42.4	Thanks to them.
	...

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