!
URGENT ACTION HUMAN RIGHTS ALERT !
27
AUGUST 2007
Congolese Conservation
Expert Under Attack for Speaking Out About Corruption involving Western
Conservation and Humanitarian Organizations in Central Africa
Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC): On Monday, 27 August 2007, Congolese national Mr. Vital
Katembo Mushegezi, a state Conservator and Senior Game Warden, sent out an
urgent SOS appeal from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Katembo has come
under attack from powerful forces seeking to maintain the long-standing silence
about corruption, extortion, and criminality involving international
non-government organizations (NGOs) working in the conservation, development
and humanitarian sector in Central Africa. While previously concerned for his
livelihood and security, Mr. Katembo has now been barred from his offices at
the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) and he is deeply
concerned for his life and his familyÕs security.
Vital Katembo Mushegezi has worked for years for the Congolese
Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), a state-run entity in control
of CongoÕs national parks. In the past year Mr. Katembo has been increasingly
concerned about ÒconservationÓ in Central Africa, and he has shown unflinching
courage by publicly challenging organizations and individuals who are profiting
from the billion dollar conservation, development and humanitarian sectors at
the expense of human suffering and exploitation of the environment. Mr. Katembo
has been increasingly vocal, notwithstanding the threat and actualization of
retaliation over past months.
An August 16 communication by Mr. Katembo challenging the
activities and agenda of Richard LeakeyÕs newly formed Wildlife Direct and
other NGOs in Central Africa has prompted direct retaliation. (For background
see: <http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13445>).
ÒI have now worked in the Virunga for almost 15 years and
my experience of the last 2 years is of deception,Ó Vital Katembo wrote on
August 16, 2007, responding to communications from Wildlife Direct director
Emmanuel De Merode. ÒAre we saving wildlife or are we trying our best to save
so called wildlife direct managers and experts? You are not new to learn that
good people can do evil and this is so obvious in the conservation arenaÉ
Conservation in the Virungas is the last stand of oppression, corruption and
colonialism.Ó
Mr. Katembo previously worked in the Ituri Forest for
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has been active in the Virunga National
Park since 1994. In 1998 he was a project leader for Mt. Tshiaberimu
conservation project and field assistant for Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund-Europe
(renamed The Gorilla Organization in 2006), in North Kivu, DRC.
An email from ICCN Executive Director Cosma Wilungula
Balongelwa circulated privately on Saturday, August 25, 2007 makes it clear
that Mr. Katembo is specifically being targeted by powerful conservation forces
aligned with officials working for the Congolese state and ICCN. Mr.
WilungulaÕs email specifically cites a previous communication by Mr. Katembo
sent to Emmanuel De Merode of Wildlife Direct and certain former affiliates
providing funding from the U.S. It does not mention the actions or threats
taken to retaliate against Mr. Katembo.
The response by the ICCN Executive Director
makes it clear that the ICCN is beholden to powerful Western organizations
whose interests—often hostile to the environment—have been served
through bribery, extortion and corruption, at the expense of the environment,
the wildlife, the Congolese state and the millions of Congolese people who have
suffered, or continue to suffer, various forms of western corporate
exploitation. (For extensive background on these issues see: <
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13445 > and <
http://www.allthingspass.com/journalism.php?catid=45 >).
The list of recipients of the ICCN email include
top level expatriate personnel and in-country officials working for the Dian
Fossey Gorilla Fund International, UNESCO, Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF),
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Wildlife
Direct, UNDP, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the USAID
(U. S. Agency for International Development) funded Central Africa Regional
Program for the Environment. The list is posted below, with several key names
added to it (as noted), and we ask that letters of complaint and concern be
sent to this list (a sample letter is included below for easy electronic paste
and post). We ask that the United Nations Observers Mission in Congo (MONUC)
take the appropriate action to insure the safety of Mr. Katembo. Notably, the
MONUC Public Information Officers have not publicized the conservation expose's
that address this subject, even though they have been informed, showing a clear
bias in favor of international NGOs and their public relations agendas. We ask
that recipients of this email post alerts on their web sites and forward to
appropriate individuals.
In the event of Mr. KatemboÕs persecution, detention,
or disappearance the individuals listed below will be considered accomplices to
an international crime. The names and information have been turned over to
officials of the U.S. Department of Justice offices involved in ongoing
investigations over allegations of misappropriation of funds, extortion, and
corruption in Central Africa by the organizations named above, and others,
including the Africa Conservation Fund, Conservation International, Fauna and
Flora International, Jane Goodall Institute, Frankfurt Zoological Society, U.S.
Forest Service and the Born Free Foundation.
The courage shown by Vital Katembo Mushegezi is exemplary
of a human rights defender faced with the most severe conditions and hardship.
The fear of persecution and professional ostracism by these conservation
entities has led to a universal silence in and amongst the expatriate
professionals who are aware of the realities that Mr. Katembo has dared to
publicly name. It is because of the silence of the countless others who are aware
of the corruption, extortion and expropriation of funds that Mr. KatemboÕs life
is now at risk. We encourage conservation and humanitarian professionals to
break this silence and make their knowledge heard, for the benefit of nature
conservation, social justice and human rights everywhere.
&
Georgianne Nienaber
Keith Harmon Snow
<www.allthingspass.com> worked as human rights investigator for the
United Nations, Genocide Watch and SurvivorÕs Rights International, and his
series on conservation realities in Central Africa, co-authored by
investigative journalist Georgianne Nienaber <www.thelegacyofdianfossey.com>, is published under the title KONG: < http://www.allthingspass.com/journalism.php?catid=45>.
RECIPIENTS OF THE ICCN EMAIL TARGETING VITAL
KATEMBO
Emmanuel Demerode
<edemerode@wildlifedirect.org>, <edemerode@uuplus.com,
"JosŽ" Kalpers <jkalpers@gmail.com>, Schoorl Jaap GTZ CD
<jaap.schoorl@gtz.de>, Patrick Memlman <ptmehlman@hotmail.com>,
Filippo Saracco <filippo.saracco@ec.europa.eu>, Filippo Saracco
<filippo.saracco@cec.eu.int>, Robbert Bekker
<robbert.bekker@undp.org>, YALOLO <yalolob@yahoo.fr>, Eugene
Rutagarama <erutagarama@awfke.org>, Augustin Basabose
<augubasabose@yahoo.com>, Raymond Lumbuenamo
<rlumbuenamo@wwfcarpo.org>, Lisa Steel <lsteel@wwfcarpo.org>,
mushelusenge@yahoo.fr, sitepnvi@yahoo.fr, wwfpnkb@yahoo.fr, WWFpevi
<dnganziwwfpevi@yahoo.fr>, ROSMARIE RUF <rosmarieruf@hotmail.com>,
Yvette Kaboza <y.kaboza@unesco.org>, Guy Debonnet
<g.debonnet@unesco.org>, Samy Mankoto <s.mankoto@unesco.org>,
Schuler Karl GTZ CD <carlos.schuler@gtz.de>, Jean Claude Kyungu
<jckyungu@yahoo.fr>, dirsitepnkb@yahoo.fr, didierbolamba@yahoo.fr,
"HonorŽ" MALINGANE <dpiccnprov.orientale@yahoo.fr>, DP
<isaac_chifurura2004@yahoo.fr>, lukasumbayo@yahoo.fr,
parcgaramba@yahoo.fr, Henri Paul Eloma <henripaul.eloma@undp.org>, Henry
Cirhuza <henrycirhuza@yahoo.fr>, Josianna Falla
<jofalla@yahoo.com>, PAULIN <pngobobopnvi@yahoo.fr>,
snewport@wildlifedirect.org, Marc Languy <mlanguy@wwfearpo.org>,
teresehart@gmail.com, "John A. Hart" <jhart@wcs.org>,
deokujirak@yahoo.fr, wathaut2002@yahoo.fr, Richard Tshombe rtshombe@wcs.org,
Additional notables:
"Rob Poppe" rob_poppe@mac.com, "ROB MUIR" robertmuir@fzs.org,
***************************************************
SAMPLE LETTER FOLLOWS
RE: ICCN Conservator VITAL Katembo
Date: August 27, 2007
TO: ICCN Executive Director
L'Administrateur-DŽlŽguŽ GŽnŽral,
Past. Cosma WILUNGULA BALONGELWA
ICCN ICCN <pdg.iccn@yahoo.fr>
Dear Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa:
I have read about the recent targeting of ICCN Conservator
and Senior Park Warden Vital Katembo Mushegezi. I am writing to express my
concern and to formally request that you support Mr. Katembo and insure his
livelihood and safety.
I request that you insure that Mr. Katembo is able to
perform his duties, reinstate his position, and provide him with whatever he
needs to do the job which he has dedicated his life to.
I am aware that you have issued a formal letter distancing
the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of nature from Mr. Katembo. I want
you to be aware that if any harm comes to Mr. Katembo I will hold you and the
other people to whom you communicated your position personally responsible, and
I will support calls for an investigation and justice in an International
Court.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS HERE
Sincerely,
SIGNED