Murder In The Forest
In the post titled "Monkoto" I spoke of forest guard who was killed by a poacher. Today I learned some more about that incident.
A patrol of 10 forest guards found 5 poachers and managed to capture 2, one of whom got away later despite his hands being tied. The patrol then headed back to post with their one poacher.
On the way back, as they were breaking camp after the night, the patrol leader ordered his men to free the prisoner of his restraints. He also ordered them to unload their weapons, all except one. The poacher got possession of this weapon and emptied the magazine (probably an AK-47, 30 rounds) into one forest guard then ran into the woods and escaped. The dead man happened to have been a hated enemy of the patrol leader for years. It was very hard carrying the dead man's body back to post. It wouldn't stay together.
The patrol leader is now in the hands of a military tribunal. They spirited him out of town by pirogue in the dead of night. Military tribunals in the Congo are not punctilious about the conditions in which they keep their prisoners. The patrol leader may survive until trial and sentencing, he may not.
The morale of the forest guards is poor now.
That is what I know of this story.
December 5, 2005
I found out today that the one weapon left loaded was that of the patrol leader. The guard that was killed had arrested one or more of the patrol leader's relatives in the past.
The dead guy was from Kasai, a area of the Congo rather far from the park. That makes a difference in this country.
A patrol of 10 forest guards found 5 poachers and managed to capture 2, one of whom got away later despite his hands being tied. The patrol then headed back to post with their one poacher.
On the way back, as they were breaking camp after the night, the patrol leader ordered his men to free the prisoner of his restraints. He also ordered them to unload their weapons, all except one. The poacher got possession of this weapon and emptied the magazine (probably an AK-47, 30 rounds) into one forest guard then ran into the woods and escaped. The dead man happened to have been a hated enemy of the patrol leader for years. It was very hard carrying the dead man's body back to post. It wouldn't stay together.
The patrol leader is now in the hands of a military tribunal. They spirited him out of town by pirogue in the dead of night. Military tribunals in the Congo are not punctilious about the conditions in which they keep their prisoners. The patrol leader may survive until trial and sentencing, he may not.
The morale of the forest guards is poor now.
That is what I know of this story.
December 5, 2005
I found out today that the one weapon left loaded was that of the patrol leader. The guard that was killed had arrested one or more of the patrol leader's relatives in the past.
The dead guy was from Kasai, a area of the Congo rather far from the park. That makes a difference in this country.
posted by Carl at 12:17 PM
3 Comments:
a note from a police standpoint:
aside from the betrayal, the fact that a patrol of 10 could only catch 2 of 5 poachers and then allowed one to escape says much about their proficiency as rural policemen, none of it good.
Hi there,
I've just discovered your blog and I like it a lot...
Keep up giving us information about DRC and aviation, by the way, your pics rock!
Cheers,
Promethee
Royal, I remember you. Were you the F-8 guy? (how's that for one sentance vitiating the other.) Send all the questions you want and i will answer as best i can.
you can get my email address from the people at hq.
thank you promethee.
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