Kampala - Despite years of warfare causing the deaths of mountain gorillas and forcing them to move, the number of primates in the world's only remaining population of mountain gorillas has increased over the past 10 years, ecologists said Wednesday. The huge rare primates dwell on the slopes and valleys of the mountains in the sprawling bamboo-forested enclave shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Although there have been intermittent wars fought by the numerous rebel armies in the volatile region, the primates have survived and their numbers have miraculously increased over the past decade, ecologists say.
There are about 740 mountain gorillas in the enclave crossing the three countries border lines and they have increased by about 100 over the past 10 years, environmentalists say.
"Fighting in the DRC has particularly affected them. But despite the insecurity faced by the mountain gorillas,there are now 740 of them, with half in Uganda. But 10 years ago, the number was about 650," said Sam Mwandha, Director of Conservation of the government- run Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
For years gorillas have been caught in the crossfire as several armies, which often clash with each other, operate in the areas in and around the three countries' game parks which are home to the mountain gorillas.
These include the Rwandan rebels who belonged to the former national army that was ousted in 1994 and militias of the Interahamwe who fled to the east of the former Zaire after masterminding the Rwandan genocide.
Others are the Ugandan guerillas of the Allied Democratic Forces and rebels belonging to a dissident Congolese army general Laurent Nkunda who is currently battling both the government forces and the UN peace-keeping army in eastern DR Congo.
Active fighting is now being mounted by General Nkunda's forces in the Congolese North Kivu province and the rebels sometimes stray into the country's Virunga National Park where the gorillas dwell.
The rebels sometimes run into the forests where the mountain gorillas live and upset their habitat. They also clear sections of the forests which unsettles the gorillas. Other groups hunt the gorillas for food and to sell.
"This is disastrous because when the hunters get one gorilla, 14 others die because the gorillas fight back," Mwanda told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Despite the insecurity surrounding them, the gorillas have been increasing in numbers over the years, partly because they run for safety into other areas across the three countries borders once the fighting breaks out on one side, ecologists say.
