Security review to take place
after 12 rangers are killed and two Britons are abducted
Jason BurkeAfrica
correspondent
Mon 4 Jun 2018 15.29 BSTLast
modified on Tue 5 Jun 2018 07.58 BST
Africa’s oldest national park
will close its gates to visitors until 2019 following the death of a ranger and
the abduction of two British tourists by local rebels this year.
Virunga national park in the
Democratic Republic of Congo is home to a world-famous population of mountain
gorillas but has been hit by rising instability and violence in the country.
At least 12 rangers have been
killed in clashes with militia and smugglers in Virunga in the last 10 months,
one of the bloodiest periods in the park’s history.
In May, one of the many local
militia – known as Mai Mai – attacked a vehicle that had been carrying tourists
from the city of Goma, about 30 miles from the park headquarters, to their
accommodation. A park ranger, Rachel Makissa Baraka, 25, was shot dead, a
Congolese driver was wounded and the
two British tourists, Robert Jesty and Bethan Davies, were held by
militia overnight.
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