Appendix

APPENDIX 1: Chronology of a decade of crisis

*January 1991*	*Onset of the guerrilla war in the Virunga Volcanoes*
January 1991	RPF offensive in the volcanoes region. Fighting takes place in and around VNP. The RPF begins its attacks from Uganda and crosses a portion of the Mgahinga Gorilla NP, located on the other side of the border, adjacent to VNP (CBSG, 1991).
From January 1991 to July 31, 1992	Guerrilla war in northern Rwanda (Butaro region). Regular skirmishes in VNP. Movements through the Zairean portion of the Virungas as well.
July 31, 1992	Tentative cease-fire and start of negotiations between the warring parties (Percival, Homer-Dixon, 1995).
February 8, 1993	The RPF launches a major offensive in northern Rwanda and occupies a large portion of VNP, as well as the park headquarters in Kinigi (Kalpers, 1992). After violent fighting, ORTPN personnel responsible for protecting VNP must be evacuated to safer areas, leaving much of their equipment behind. Two ORTPN agents are killed during the attack; several other agents lose family members. On February 18, the Karisoke Research Center is invaded by rebels who pillage and loot the recently rebuilt facilities.
March 9, 1993	A cease-fire goes into effect.
August 1993	The Arusha peace accords are signed. A demilitarized buffer zone is established in northern Rwanda (Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, 1996).
*April-June 1994*	*Genocide in Rwanda*
April 1994	President Habiyarimana's airplane is shot down. Onset of genocide throughout Rwanda (Karhilo, 1995). Around April 11, 1994, all foreign nationals working in Rwandan parks and reserves are evacuated. Siege of Kigali.
April 1994	Evacuation of Akagera NP by ORTPN personnel. VNP staff continues to work until early July 1994.
July 4, 1994	Kigali is taken by the RPF.
July 17, 1994	The entire country is occupied by the RPF, except for western Rwanda (including the Nyungwe Natural Forest), which lies within the humanitarian zone established by French troops in Opération Turquoise, lasting from June 23 through August 1994 (Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, 1996).
*July 1994 - November 1996*	*Refugee camps in Zaire*
July 1994	Some 2 million Rwandan Hutu refugees flee to countries neighboring Rwanda (Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda, 1996). More than 800,000 people settle in northern Kivu in the immediate vicinity of Virunga NP (ViNP). As soon as they arrive, intensive deforestation begins, particularly near the Kibumba and Mugunga camps. See map showing the location of refugee camps. During the same time frame, VNP personnel leave the Kinigi region en masse to take refuge in Zaire (Plumptre, Bizumuremyi, 1996). VNP, Akagera NP and other protected areas in the country are left without surveillance. The activities of Zairean personnel of IZCN in ViNP are limited to areas outside the forest.
*November 1996 - May 1997*	*First civil war in Zaire* Following a rebellion that pits the ADFL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) against the ZAF (Zairean Armed Forces) which begins in October 1996, the various camps located in the northern Kivu region are completely emptied of refugees (André et al. 1996). In November 1996, between 400,000 and 500,000 refugees return to Rwanda. Some IZCN staff members are killed at Virunga National Park, and facilities at the Rumangabo station are pillaged or destroyed.
*August 1998*	*Onset of the second civil war in Zaire* A new rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, begins a new civil war in eastern Congo in August 1998. This war rapidly intensifies and draws in numerous armed rebel groups, as well as several governments from countries neighboring DRC (ICG, 1998). From this time forward, there is virtually no security in almost all the eastern portion of the country. A lack of security also prevails in adjacent regions of neighboring countries, particularly northwestern Rwanda and southwestern Uganda.
July 1999	The Lusaka Peace Accord is signed, but implementation poses many problems for the various parties involved in the conflict (UNHCR, 2000). Not until April 2000 is the semblance of a cease-fire observed in the field, although it remains very fragile and has been frequently violated. Under the terms of the Lusaka accord, a United Nations watchdog contingent must be set in place once security conditions have been met.
January 16, 2001	P President Laurent-Désiré Kabila of DRC is assassinated in Kinshasa. He is replaced by his son, Joseph Kabila
February 2001	Joseph Kabila agrees to join an Inter-Congolese Dialogue facilitated by the former President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire, and welcomes a quick deployment of MONUC, the UN military observer mission for the Congo. The UN Security Council responds to these gestures with the passage of Resolution 1341 on 22 February 2001.
August 2001	Preparatory talks are held in Gaborone, Botswana, gathering all the Congolese parties involved in the DRC conflict. It is decided that the inter-Congolese national reconciliation dialogue will be held in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, beginning on 15 October 2001

APPENDIX 2: Projects and organizations that took mitigating actions during the refugee crisis in Zaire, 1994-1996 (Kalpers, 1996)

GTZ - German Cooperation

Title	Support for IZCN, ViNP southern sectors
Activities	Direct financing earmarked for employee bonuses, fuel, medicine and other operating expenses. This funding was provided from December 1994 to October 1996.
Target budget	US $14,250 per month

UNHCR - Environmental Coordination

Title	HCR-Goma, Environment Unit
Activities	One year after the massive arrival of refugees, an environmental program was set up at HCR. This program financed a large number of activities designed to limit the impact of the refugee camps on the environment. Most of these activities were carried out with the collaboration of local or international NGOs. Section M (Forestry) carried out programs to build enclosures and shelters, erect warning signs, marshal logistical resources, and reforest. Section C (Household fuel/goods) installed collective kitchens; distributed wood, charcoal and improved cookstoves; sought to improve charcoal production, and set up programs raising awareness of energy-saving techniques.
Results	Through May 1996, degradation of the southern sectors of ViNP was slowed down significantly. It is estimated that woodcutting in the park declined from 350,000 kg per day to about 4,500 kg per day (these figures are based on tallies of woodcutters leaving the park along all paths). Near Kibumba, the most sensitive zone because the refugee camp was very close to the park boundary, deforestation decreased by 98.5 percent. Currently, 70 percent of total firewood requirements are covered for the entire Goma region. In addition, as a result of firewood-saving techniques, per-capita wood consumption fell from 2 kg per day to approximately 1 kg per day.
Target budget	Approximately US $16 million for 1996

Source: M. Leusch, UNHCR - Environment Unit.

EDF/PSRR - ViNP project, protection of forest cover

Title	Special Rehabilitation Program for Countries Neighboring Rwanda (PSRR), environmental component Virunga National Park Project, forest cover protection component (ViNP)
Financing initiative	European Union (EU)
Implementing NGO	Aide au Développement Gembloux (ADG) (Gembloux Development Assistance)
Period of intervention	From May 1995 to October 1996
Objectives	Initially designed as an emergency program for the environment, this project sought to help stop the damage to ViNP. It had three components, with the following objectives: Controlling deforestation: directing efforts to limit deforestation damage within the park; Improving wood use: limiting wood consumption in the area surrounding the park; Raising awareness; improving neighboring populations' perceptions of the park.
Activities	Deforestation control: in the southern forest sector, monitoring deforestation perpetrated by refugees and local populations; guiding park protection by orienting IZCN patrols and prioritizing identification of forests to be protected); supporting park administration by mapping the southern sector of the park (via remote sensing studies in collaboration with UNHCR) and creating a master plan/rescue plan; assisting the fuel supply effort by exploring, making inventories, planning and organizing cutting operations and studying how to implement reforestation projects. Improved wood use: in the forest sector, distributing massive numbers of improved cookstoves in the Kibumba refugee camp; establishing an improved cookstoves center to distribute the stoves in villages and towns in the Rutshuru area and at ViNP stations; disseminating various energy-saving techniques; surveying the energy habits of refugee camps and local villages. Awareness-raising: in villages bordering the southern and central sectors of the park, conducting sociological surveys; raising awareness about protection of the park; implementing microprojects benefiting populations adjacent to the park: establishing a green belt in the buffer zone. (Delvingt, 1996).
Target budget	ECU 800,000 (USD ~$850,000)/ 2 years (source: Nicolas Blondel)

WWF - World Wildlife Fund

Title	Virunga Education Program – Kacheche
Rationale and objectives	This activity was based on the results of the 1987 survey of the population living along the edge of ViNP, specifically the southern and central sectors, which revealed the negative perception of the park held by the local population. The study found many consider the park to be unused land that should be available to them for such activities as farming, woodcutting, hunting. As a result, the gorilla project started a new component in 1984 in Jomba with the goal of protecting mountain gorillas and protecting chimpanzees by educating and raising the awareness of local populations concerning the park; the latter activity led to the establishment of ViEP in 1987. The objectives of ViEP are conservation of mountain gorillas and ViNP; development of educational campaigns to explain the economic and ecological importance of the park; reduction of human pressure on the park, which results in such threats as deforestation, poaching, encroachment. The reforestation project initiated in 1988 was based on the third objective.
Activities	Active project since 1987. Education and awareness-raising: educational visits inside the park; production of educational materials (the Kacheche magazine); audiovisual screenings; organization of nature classes; organization of conferences, seminars, exhibitions, discussions; formation of ecology-based youth associations; training of nursery workers and staff. Reforestation: establishment of nurseries and village-level tree farms; development of the buffer zone around the park in the southern sector; autonomous management of nurseries (technical training and equipment for local nurseries); establishment of vegetable gardens. Integration of women: training of women's associations in the areas of awareness-raising and reforestation (establishment of nurseries for trees, vegetables, medicinal plants, development of tree farms).
Target budget	Approximately US $250,000 per year (Source: Bisidi Yalolo, Director of ViEP)

African Wildlife Foundation/Fauna and Flora International/World Wildlife Fund

Title	International Gorilla Conservation Program
Rationale and objectives	The mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) is found in three countries: Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire. There are two distinct populations, one located in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (approximately 300 individuals) and the other (also approximately 300 individuals, according to the most recent census in 1989) in the national parks of the Virunga Volcanoes. The strategic goal of IGCP is to guarantee the long-term conservation of the mountain gorilla and its habitat, the afro-montane forest. IGCP seeks to develop and strengthen technical cooperation among the three countries. It has been active in the region since June 1991.
Activities (in Zaire)	Developing regional coordination by organizing meetings and seminars with groups in the other countries. Providing institutional support to IZCN, as an advisor and facilitator, specifically in the areas of financial and tourism management, planning and training. Providing logistical support and equipment, as well as incentive bonuses for collaboration and performance.
Target budget (for DRC)	Approximately US $50,000 per year, including roughly US $15,000 in direct support.

Miscellaneous

The World Food Program (WFP) provides a portion of the rations distributed to guards and park rangers (concentrated in the southern sectors).

APPENDIX 3: Acronyms

ADFL	Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire
ADG	Aide au Développement Gembloux
AWF	African Wildlife Foundation
CARE	Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere
DRC	Democratic Republic of Congo
DTC	Development Through Conservation
DWB	Doctors Without Borders
EU	European Union
FFI	Flora and Fauna International (formerly known as Fauna and Flora Preservation Society)
GIF	Gilman International Foundation
GTZ	Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit
ICCN	Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature), formerly IZCN
ICDP	Integrated Conservation and Development Project
ICRC	International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC	International Federation of the Red Cross
IGCP	International Gorilla Conservation Program
IRF	International Rhino Foundation
IUCN	International Union for the Conservation of Nature
IZCN	Institut Zaïrois pour la Conservation de la Nature (Zairean Institute for the Conservation of Nature), which became ICCN in 1997
MGNP	Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
NGO	Nongovernmental Organization
NNF	Nyungwe Natural Forest
ORTPN	Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks)
PSRR	Programme Spécial de Réhabilitation des pays voisins du Rwanda (Special Rehabilitation Program for Countries Neighboring Rwanda)
RAF	Rwandan Armed Forces
RPF	Rwandan Patriotic Front
UNDP	United Nations Development Program
UNEP	United Nations Environment Program
UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFIP	United Nations Foundation for International Partnerships
UNHCR	United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
USAID	United Stated Agency for International Development
ViEP	Virunga Education Program
ViNP	Virunga National Park
VNP	Volcanoes National Park
WCS	Wildlife Conservation Society
WFP	World Food Programme
WWF	World Wide Fund for Nature
ZAF	Zairean Armed Forces