By Elie Mutangana
Three conservation officials from DR Congo have been sanctioned by The United States over trafficking Gorillas and Chimpanzees unlawfully to People’s Republic of China.
According to the statement announced on Thursday, August 16, the officials are accused of “involvement in significant corruption” and they are barred from entering the United States.
The punishments concern Cosma Wilungula Balongelwa, the former Director General of Congolese Institute for Conservation of Nature (ICCN), Leonard Muamba Kanda, the Congolese former head for Commitment under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species( CITES) and August Ngumbi Amuri, the CITES coordinator.
The restriction also applies to their spouses.
The US State department’s Spokesperson, Matthew Miller said the officials not only undermined the Congolese Laws of conservation but also ruined the global long-standing wildlife conservation efforts.
“As public officials responsible for wildlife protection, they abused the public positions by trafficking chimpanzees , gorillas, okapi and other protected wildlife from DR Congo, primarily to the People’s Republic of China,” said the spokesperson in the statement.
He added that they occasionally forged permits on an exchange of bribes to traffic.
It has also been learnt that in August 2021, one these officials, Wilungula, and his board were sucked from the ICCN, over “mismanagement” by the Environment Ministry of DR Congo.
For Wilungula, he had been in duties for almost 16 years as conservationist in DRC.
United States emphasized that is committed to continue working with DRC to disrupt trafficking networks and combat wildlife trafficking on the globe.
