LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — An environmental activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo faces five years in prison over allegations that he threatened a logger allegedly engaged in illegal deforestation in the country’s eastern Maniema province. In a summons issued by the bailiff of the high court in Kasongo, an important commercial town in Maniema, the plaintiff, identified only as “Moïse”, accused Yahya Mirambo Bin Lubangi of having seized some of his timber, threatening to destroy any vehicles sent to transport logs from a village called Wamaza, in Kabambare district, and making death threats against him. Reached by Mongabay, Moïse’s lawyer declined to provide his client’s full name or to respond to allegations that the plaintiff’s timber operations in Kabambare are illegal and environmentally destructive. Mirambo is a staff member of the NGO SOCEARUCO, or Congo Environmental and Agro-Rural Society. Josué Aruna, the head of SOCEARUCO, said the accusations are an attempt to intimidate environmental activists in the region who are opposed to illegal logging. “Wood is being cut down in all the forests. This wood is transported by truck through Uvira and Kamanyola [in neighboring South Kivu province], destined for Chinese and Arab markets.” According SOCEARUCO and others, for nearly two years, a group of loggers has been felling large quantities of mukula, the regional term for Pterocarpus tinctorius and related species commonly called African rosewoods, in Kabambare district, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) west of Kasongo. Between 2013 and 2018, P. tinctorius was massively overharvested in…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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