Burning barricades erected by angry populations in Ekouk © screenshot Gabonactu.com
The issue of human-wildlife conflict is still relevant and continues to claim lives and arouse the ire of the population. A mother named Sidiane Mougoundou was reportedly killed by a herd of elephants on July 26 in Ekouk chantier, a town located in Canton Bokoué, Komo-Kango department (100 km from Libreville).
This situation sparked anger among local residents who set up barricades on the national road number (RN1) to make themselves heard.
“We are blocking the road because, not only is the death of our mother just the straw that broke the camel’s back, we have been living this situation for over 20 years where the pachyderm is put forward and the human is put behind. This is the situation in which this family first finds itself. And now the rest of the women in the area are terrified.”said with dismay, Trésor Manfoumbi, spokesperson for the bereaved family.
Informed of this situation, Laurence Ndong, Minister of Communication and native of the region arrived at the scene of the tragedy to support the grieving family and calm the anger of the exasperated population.
“We cannot favour animals to the detriment of human lives, it is not possible, it does not exist anywhere. We want to protect the environment but we must find mechanisms to protect animals and first protect humans. This is what made that when there was a ministerial reshuffle in January, the President of the Republic set up a Ministry responsible for the fight against the human-wildlife conflict. Today it is a problem that is central in the government, so just give us time to do things, we heard you. On those, stop the fire, if we can open so that the flames can pass and everything that needs to be resolved we will do it”pleaded Mrs. Ndong who knew how to resolve the situation.
Darina Stone Mikala
2024-07-27 16:14:20
#Mother #killed #elephant #Ekouk #Kango
