A confrontation between pygmies and rangers sanctuaries of the gorilla of the DRC leaves a dead | News from the world

One person was killed and 14 others wounded in clashes near a gorilla sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where frictions between park guards and Pygmies intensified, sources said Friday.

The violence took place near Kahuzi Biega National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in eastern DRC, a haven for the world's largest gorilla species.

"A protection patrol that was pursuing two poachers was ambushed on Wednesday by Pygmies armed with machetes, bows and arrows," Park spokesman Hubert Mulongoy said.

"Thirteen park wardens were wounded in the conflict, three of them seriously," he said. "One of the seriously injured had his fingers sliced ​​by a machete."

In addition, Ntavuna Cizungu, representing a community of pygmies living on the edge of the park, said that a Pygmy named Lwaboshi Simba was shot dead during the confrontation "and died immediately".

Another pygmy was injured, he said.

Mulongoy said that there had been a "resurgence of tension in recent days between indigenous peoples and the park".

In April, a guard was killed in a clash, said the park, denying the fact that this episode was badociated with the death of a pygmy the day before.

Pygmies are unhappy to be denied access to Kahuzi Biega.

The park claims that they entered the shrine illegally between August and October last year and that they have been committing acts of "deforestation" since then.

Park wardens are mainly recruited from former soldiers and police and include a number of Pygmies.

Kahuzi Biega, which owes its name to two extinct volcanoes, is the only place in the world where visitors can see gorillas from the plains of the east in the wild, says the park on its website.

The 6,000-square-kilometer (2,300-square-mile) safe haven, created in 1970, attracts tourists and is a major source of revenue for the DRC.

In March, a ranger was killed in Virunga National Park in the DRC, weeks after the reopening of the reserve to tourists. The park, located in the province of North Kivu, has the reputation of being one of the most dangerous conservation projects in the world, in a region plagued by current political instability.