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I woke up early this morning.  One of our officers called me to inform me that two Rangers had been arrested at the refugee camp in Goma.  Why were they arrested?  For not having their id cards.  They lost them when they lost almost everything they own after the attack on Rumangabo.

The officer clarified the issue.

“They are being held on suspicion of being with the enemy.  Oh… and their cell phones and money were taken by the men who arrested them”.

My blood was boiling.  Our two Rangers had stayed at Rumangabo, after the attack on 8th October.  They remained, knowing the risk they were taking to protect the station from looters and to try to protect the park.  On Sunday, they suffered the full brunt of the CNDP’s incredibly violent attack on Rumangabo and began their four-day ordeal.  They were shot at, held up by armed men, and had no food and virtually no water for days.  They covered almost 50km through thick forest.  After all of that, they find themselves under arrest, which is a dangerous situation to be in under the current circumstances in Goma.

A phrase from one of our campaigners sprung to mind.  Keep calm and carry on.  And so I called Maitre Mathieu.

We are incredibly lucky to have Maitre Mathieu on our side.  He is our legal counsel and knows the system like nobody else.  Our Rangers were released within the hour.  We are now working on producing employee id cards, that should help them against this kind of offence.  We are also making a formal complaint to the authority concerned. All of this to stop it happening again.

By remaining very vigilant, we can protect some of our staff and their families, at least those who are with us in Goma.  But our thoughts remain with those that are still in the forest.  They have no protection against the excesses of armed men of little integrity.  They share the suffering of hundreds of thousands of defenseless people caught up in the nightmare that has taken over our lives in recent days.

I have been assigned the task of locating the missing Rangers.  We maintain a list so that can try to get news and inform their worried families.  We are down to 23 who are completely missing.  We get very broken information from the Rangers who survived the journey, and an occasional call from the Rangers who stayed behind in Rumangabo.  They are able to charge their phones on the generator of the cell phone tower, but that will probably run out of fuel some time, and the phones will stop working.

This is the journey that the rangers make through the forest.  As you can see, the conflict zone (in red) has spread across much of the southern half of the province and most of the park has been engulfed.  Laurent Nkunda’s troops have moved north, beyond the station at Kabaraza, which was badly bombed two days ago.  The Rangers have to walk through the forests and lava fields for over 40km to get to where we are.  Some of them managed to go north to Rutshuru and Kiwanja, but those areas are now occupied by CNDP rebels, and they have taken down the cellphone network, so we are unable to make regular contact with them.

The 9th case of cholera has just been found at the Ranger Refugee camp in Goma that is now home to almost 900 displaced Rangers and their families. Just a few days ago there were 670 people there, so the number is growing as we imagined. Emmanuel told me that the camp has not had water in 2 days due to the insecurity and this of course is a massive problem.

So Emmanuel and Maitre Mathieu - the lawyer who works with ICCN that we have blogged about (for eg he is leading the judicial process against those accused of the July 2007 massacre) spoke to the Pallotin Mission and Father Thaddee about 1km from the camp. Father Thaddee agreed to provide water to our displaced Rangers and their families that is already purified. That is good news.

Emmanuel and Maitre Mathieu happened to be together because 2 Rangers were arrested in Goma this morning by some police who appear to be acting alone. Bottom line is the police wanted to steal their cell phones, so Emmanuel and Maitre Mathieu got them out.

THANK YOU for all the donations at this extremely critical time. I am in Gisenyi just over the border in Rwanda, having left yesterday afternoon.

Innocent just called me to say that Bushe Nzabonimpa has arrived at Rusayo, on the edge of the forest just north west of Goma.  He is in a state of exhaustion and dehydration having walked for five days with very little water and no food.  We will pick him up in the morning with a motorbike, as it is now dark in Goma and too dangerous to be outdoors.  One of the families in Rusayo has invited him to stay and will look after him for the night.

Bitege Rwangano arrived earlier, with his wife.  He had been badly beaten up, and his wife was not well, from having walked the agonizing 40 km through the forest.  We have taken them both to the clinic for treatment.

There is a bit of sporadic firing in the streets but it is much less intense than yesterday.  The tension is beginning to diminish.  Tomorrow, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa is supposed to be coming to Goma to help with the negotiations.  Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for International Development is in Kinshasa and the Belgian Foreign Minister Carol de Gujt, is supposed to arrive in Kigali.  Let’s hope…

Fighting was very intense yesterday, and we have struggled to make significant progress in bringing our staff to safety.  14 Rangers who made it to Goma are resting at the camp with their families.  The 2 that were badly dehydrated are now under observation at the local health centre.  It’s an incredible achievement on their part to have made it.

It a huge relief for us that some of our Rangers are beginning to trickle back to relative safety in Goma, but we remain deeply concerned for those that have been left behind.  They stayed in Rumangabo to protect the station.  Their lives are at risk because they are in a conflict zone and have no food or medical supplies.  Those that escaped into the forest are in even greater danger as they have no water and are vulnerable to the militia groups that are dispersed throughout that area.

We are trying to put pressure on the warring parties to ensure their safety, establish their whereabouts, and to try to bring them supplies, but the intensity of the conflict since Sunday morning is a huge challenge.

We are very concerned that the missing Rangers do not remain anonymous, and that we keep up the rescue efforts as best we can.  So we have listed them below with the latest information.  We will post their names and update the information until they are found.

RANGER NAME & STATUS

BAHATI BAVUKAHE - Remained at Rumangabo

BAKUNDAKABO BAZIYAKA - Remained at Rumangabo

BUSHE NZABONIMPA - Unknown

NEZEHOSE NDIBAHEBA - Unknown

KANYAMANZA BASERURA - Unknown

BARIBUTSA HAKIZIMANA - Unknown

BANGA SEBAZUNGU - Unknown

BITEGE RWANGANO - Arriving Goma

KALVANDA MAFENDE - Arrived Goma

NGIZWENIMANA SEBISAGA - Unknown

RUGANYA RURIBIKIYE - Rumangabo

NZABONIMPA BAHAMISI - Unknown

NTUYENABO BISHIMWE - Arrived Goma

SEBAGABO MATESO - Unknown

KANYARWUNGA HATEGEKIMAN - Arrived Goma

SEKIBIBI NZABONIMPA - Unknown; Bareke’s Father

SAFARI SEBIRARO - Unknown

KABAJI MUHIMA Rumangabo – Detained by rebels

RUZUZI DUSABE - Arrived Goma

SEMAHORO HISHAMUNDA - Arrived Goma

SEBIREMBO BWOBA - Rumangabo

BAKAME MATABARO - Unknown

NZITURIMANA GASIGWA - Unknown

SEBUTIMBIRI KOMAYOMBI - Rumangabo

BANYURWA BIRINDIRO - Rumangabo

KAMBALE MAKASANI - Unknown

BIRUNDA KAMANANGA - Arrived Goma

NDAYUMUJINYA NDIMUBANZI - Unknown

MAGAYANE BAZIRUSHAKA - Arrived Goma

SEBINYENZI BAVUKIRAHE - Arrived Goma

KAPOSO HAMULI - Unknown

NTAHORUGIYE HABYARIMANA - Arrived Goma

BAVUKAHE BAZIYAKA - Rumangabo

NGURINZIRA KAMORI - Unknown

MWANGA BIN ASSANI - Unknown

MANGIRANE BARANYOBEYE - Unknown

BAZIHERAHO BAVURIKI - Unknown

MBERABAGABO RUKUNDA - Unknown

KAMBALE SYABUTAMUVI - Kiwanja

SEKIBIBI BAREKE - Arrived Goma

KAHINDO BWANANDEKE - Kiwanja

BIRIKO NZABAVANYUMA - Rumangabo

BIRIKO NGUNZA - Arrived Goma

SEBASHI GAHURANDA - Rumangabo

BITEGE RWANGANO - Arriving Goma

NTAHORUGIYE MUGABUSHAKA - Arrived Goma

GAHAYA RWANGO - Unknown

SERUGENDO BARIYANGA - Unknown

HAGA CHACHINGI - Arrived Goma

SEBINYENZI BUSIMBA - Unknown

NDASHIBU - Unknown

HABARUREMA KAJEMUNDIMWE - Arrived Goma

NDAMAHEREZO SINDANI - Arrived Goma

SEBAGENZI HABIMANA - Arrived Goma

I am now back at home after an uncomfortable night in a car with William and Eddy at the UN compound in Goma where 650 other people were also taking refuge.

The shooting carried on until about 1am and then it was quiet. It was a clear night, the stars were out, and you could clearly see the Nyiragongo volcano that shone like a beacon over the city. I cannot remember the last time it was so orange and so bright - a real ball of fire, which of course it is quite literally.

This is the Nyirangongo volcano this morning. I of course did not think to take a photo last night. But imagine this glowing with lava - it was like the Olympic torch. That was where any similarities with Bejing end however.

You could also see the bullets in the sky, shining red. Apparently they paint the end of the bullet and that is what makes it shine like that. So you can tell when you get to the end of a round, without actually having to count.

If we had not been in the midst of all the fighting and looting, it would almost have looked like a firework display.

This morning we woke also to clear skies, and left the compound at about 9am.

This morning, over the mayhem of the impromptu camp, you could see Mikeno and Karisimbi volcanoes in the background. Mountain gorillas live on the flanks of both of those volcanoes. So close and yet so far. We of course have no way of knowing how the mountain gorillas are doing in all of this.

Water was brought in for everyone - and there were blankets and mats, but not really enough to go around. Fortunately it was not a cold night.

Emmanuel is fine in the office where he and the guard Jean-Pierre crashed for the night. Diddy is elated as he managed to locate his family in Kiwanja. They had fled 10km out of town into the forest, and returned early this morning as the situation has calmed. The CNDP rebels - Nkunda’s rebels - are in total control of Kiwanja and Rutshuru and have put in their own administration for the area. The national army, police and administators have all left - so a vast swathe of the province is now in CNDP control.

This morning at the UN compound people were just hanging around, waiting til it was deemed safe to leave.

Innocent had an uncomfortable night. His neighbor’s house was looted by fleeing military. Fortunately Innocent, his wife and 5 kids are okay and they were not robbed. But it was only last week that Innocent’s parents and sisters were attacked of course in their home in Rutshuru.

We were all getting ready to leave this morning by this gate!

Balemba is also fine, and I can confirm that the Rangers at the camp are also doing okay this morning.

Pierre is on holiday in Lamu - good timing.

So now the city is calm. There are pedestrians on the streets, but not much motorized traffic. There is much reporting in the news (including conflicting reports) about what is going on. Let’s see what today brings.

Finally, I just got emails from the Zoological Society of London that they are going to donate £10,000 to our appeal, and also from The Thin Green Line Foundation that they will contribute $10,000 (and maybe another $10,000 later on). That is fantastic news.

Confusion is probably the only way to describe the situation.  There is a lot of shooting in town, with some heavy weapons further away.  Everyone is staying at home.  There has been some looting, mainly armed men stealing cars and motorbikes. Laurent Nkunda made a statement on television and radio announcing a unilateral cease-fire, which is encouraging, but unfortunately does not translate into a peaceful evening.

We’ve suffered a barrage of rumours including the invasion of the Rwandan army, Angolan mercenaries coming in from the west, just about everything, none of which is terribly helpful.  I keep in regular touch with the team as the cellphone network is still working well.  They are all in good spirits.

Samantha is with Eddy and William, and they will be spending an uncomfortable night in the car, as they are at the UN World Food Programme Offices.  They are pretty safe there.  Delphin, our para-medic who is on night duty for the rangers’ families, is in a bit of trouble as the military are bringing him many wounded soldiers.  He is obliged to treat them.  Families at the camp are well, but quite stressed by the shooting.  For them, the ordeal continues.

There is still a Congolese military presence in town and for the time being, it seems that the town is not in rebel hands, but I can’t say that with any certainty.  No doubt we will know in the morning.  For now, I will do some more work, and then try to catch some sleep.  I’ll write to you in the morning.  Also, for those who asked, Drs Jacques and Eddy are watching over the orphaned gorillas.  Getting them out of the country at this stage is out of the question as it would put them at even greater risk.

I am in a different part of town to Emmanuel and I can hear the same shooting and the same silences. I am holed up at a UN compound with about 200 local and international staff.

Innocent is with his family in an area of town where the military are shooting and looting. Balemba is hiding under a bed in his house in Goma and Diddy is safe although I am not sure where he is.

It is impossible to know how the rangers at the camp are getting on as they are very exposed to pillaging and violence.

We continue to wait and see what is going to happen. But for now there is absolutely no way that anybody is exiting this compound. We need to remain together and stay safe.

The situation is degrading fast.  There has been a lot of shooting in town until about 40 minutes ago.  Since then, there is silence.  You could hear a pin drop.  Rumours are rife, but there are some confirmed reports of CNDP rebels on the outskirts of town.  MONUC is evacuating their staff to Rwanda.

It’s total chaos in Goma. I am being told, through various phone calls and text messages, that the army have now laid down their weapons at Kibumba, 12 miles north of Goma, and are fleeing the rebels. In other words they have totally given up.

Some of the soldiers are running/driving/zooming on motorbikes through town towards the west, Sake, and they are going past my house.

The governor of North Kivu has apparently also left town.

Now there is only the UN peacekeeping forces stopping Nkunda’s rebels from taking Goma.

There is lots and lots of speculation right now - and panic. I will keep you posted.

I just got back from the Ranger camp and was about to work with Innocent to report that we have found 3 more Rangers - which of course is fantastic news. One was severely beaten by the military and getting medical treatment, and the other 2 are exhausted - but at least we found them.

But now this has happened.

I know you are all reading the international news - and here is our contribution from Goma. Thanks.