Rare gorillas eaten by rebels
The remains of one of the gorillas, which are from a sub-species of which there are thought to be only 335 left in the wild, was discovered in the bush cooked and half eaten, after a Hutu militiaman defected to government forces and reported the killings. At least one other gorilla is thought to have met a similar fate.
Innocent Kaganga (29) the renegade Hutu militiaman, said that he was shocked by the killings. He decided to defect to the government's side and report the incident after realising that his companions might decide to kill and eat him as well.
Kaganga said: "I heard three shots in the forest before my colleagues came back with gorilla meat. I asked them: 'How could you dare to kill and eat those peaceful old men of the mountain?' They looked almost like human beings. I thought that these people could easily eat me, and that is when I began my plot to surrender."
The rebels are understood to have infiltrated from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Rwandan government forces have been pursuing the remnants of the Hutu militia which carried out the 1994 genocide in which some 800,000 people were massacred.
Although killing wild animals for food is widespread in central and western Africa, it is extremely rare in the Great Lakes region.
(The Times London)
- Michael Dynes
