This is one of the best news coming out of Congo and the bloody war that has plagued the nation and its borders now for long. Africa is a continent of amazing natural resources and some very special animals which are rare and amazing. It is only stupid for the nations of the continent to engage in never ending, meaningless conflicts when the whole of Africa has greater demons to deal with- Poverty, disease and ignorance. In a positive move in all this, Congo’s government chose to withdraw more than 1,000 troops from an area in eastern Congo near Virunga National Park.

There are only about 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild, and Virunga National Park is thought to provide homes to around 72. The threat to their survival is ever-present as ten mountain gorillas were killed last year. While the rebels still take shelter in these forests, it is a giant step by the government in an attempt to demilitarize the land and protect some of the most magnificent animals of the African jungles. The rebel group, led by Nkunda, still roams these lands and its time they took a step from their side to help save the rare species.

The Congo government receives plenty of slack for lot of stuff and rightfully so, but in this case credit must go to them for thinking of the larger cause. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the park will be demilitarized very soon so that the park staff can get back to protecting and studying the rare Mountain Gorillas.

Via Ecoworldly