Park wardens, journalist kidnapped

ELEVEN park wardens and a US journalist in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo are missing amid signs they were kidnapped by a local militia, sources said on Saturday.

“Eleven guards and an US journalist working for the Okapi Wildlife Reserve (RFO) were abducted on Friday by the Mai-Mai Simba,” Mambasa district in the province of Ituri administrator Alfred Bongwalanga said.

In Washington, a US official said the State Department was “aware of reports” that a US citizen had been kidnapped.

“The US Department of State has no higher priority than the protection of US citizens overseas. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,” the official added.

Vice-governor of Ituri Pacifique Keta said the armed forces and every service had been informed of the incident.

The names of the missing wardens and female journalist were not given.

The DR Congo is a vast country rich in minerals and timber but wracked by decades of war and poverty.

The east of the country is especially troubled. It has been gripped by more than 20 years of armed conflict among domestic and foreign groups.

The RFO, a World Heritage site, covers nearly 14 000km², protecting much of the forest near the borders Sudan and Uganda.

The park is notably home to the okapi, an endangered zebraspecies that is a cousin of the giraffe.

It is also home to the Mbutu and Efe pygmies, hunter-gatherers who are “among the last true ‘forest people’ on Earth”, according to the Okapi Conservation Project website. — AFP Ituri with