- An environmental rights defender in the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing five years in prison in connection with his fight against illegal logging.
- Yahya Mirambo Bin Lubangi has campaigned against the illegal logging of threatened species of rosewood; now, one of those alleged loggers has accused him of issuing death threats and damaging property.
- The administrator of the district where illegal logging has taken place expressed surprise at the lawsuit.
- Mirambo did not appear in court as scheduled on Oct. 18 due to illness.
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LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — An environmental activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo faces five years in prison over allegations that he threatened a logger allegedly engaged in illegal deforestation in the country’s eastern Maniema province.
In a summons issued by the bailiff of the high court in Kasongo, an important commercial town in Maniema, the plaintiff, identified only as “Moïse”, accused Yahya Mirambo Bin Lubangi of having seized some of his timber, threatening to destroy any vehicles sent to transport logs from a village called Wamaza, in Kabambare district, and making death threats against him.
Reached by Mongabay, Moïse’s lawyer declined to provide his client’s full name or to respond to allegations that the plaintiff’s timber operations in Kabambare are illegal and environmentally destructive.
Mirambo is a staff member of the NGO SOCEARUCO, or Congo Environmental and Agro-Rural Society. Josué Aruna, the head of SOCEARUCO, said the accusations are an attempt to intimidate environmental activists in the region who are opposed to illegal logging. “Wood is being cut down in all the forests. This wood is transported by truck through Uvira and Kamanyola [in neighboring South Kivu province], destined for Chinese and Arab markets.”
According SOCEARUCO and others, for nearly two years, a group of loggers has been felling large quantities of mukula, the regional term for Pterocarpus tinctorius and related species commonly called African rosewoods, in Kabambare district, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) west of Kasongo.
Between 2013 and 2018, P. tinctorius was massively overharvested in Haut-Katanga, another province in the DRC. This led the DRC authorities to ban its harvest in 2018 and, thanks to campaigning by environmental activists, the species is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
A mukula forest in Katanga province, DRC, in 2016. Image © Lu Guang / Greenpeace.
However, the DRC Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development lifted the ban in November 2023, according to local media outlet Desk Nature. Felling of this valuable, slow-growing hardwood has accelerated in Kabambare, SOCEARUCO says, adding that loggers aren’t complying with environmental regulations.
This exploitation is reportedly supported by some DRC authorities. The administrator of Kabambare district, Albert Walubangi Katuta, issued a statement suspending all logging activities in the region on Sept. 20.
Walubangi confirmed the suspension order to Mongabay and expressed his surprise at the legal case against Mirambo. “Why are we attacking individuals? As a state authority, I don’t like the way they exploit the forest resources. If it continues at this rate, we won’t have any forests left in Kabambare. This is why I have taken the measure to stop exploitation.”
Walubangi told Mongabay local authorities had seized timber and a truck and its owners have not appeared to claim them despite an intervention by the “provincial authorities” on their behalf.
Mirambo was due to appear in the Kasongo High Court on Oct. 18 to plead his case, but did not attend, according to his family, as he was ill at the time.
Asked about the legal proceedings, the provincial environment minister, Eddy Francis Lutaka, said he had only heard about the case through social media. He told Mongabay he would look in to the matter.
This story was first published here in French on Oct. 21, 2024.
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Banner image: Workers loading a truck with mukula (Pterocarpus tinctorius) in Katanga province, DRC, in 2016. Image © Lu Guang / Greenpeace.
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