War-hit DRC national park turns to chocolate gorillas in conservation push

Threatened by armed conflict, volcanic activity and rampant deforestation, Africa's oldest national park is turning to a new product to raise its profile and boost conservation efforts: chocolate gorillas.

Virunga National Park in war-ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)  is marking its 100th anniversary this month by producing 25,000 handcrafted treats at a nearby chocolate factory to be sold in Europe, including Belgium, the DRC's former colonial power.

Spanning more than 7,770km², Virunga is home to many of the world's last mountain gorillas. Much of the park is under rebel control and fighting has accelerated forest loss.

M23 rebels have seized eastern Congo's two largest cities since January in an unprecedented advance that has risked igniting an all-out regional war.

Cocoa for the chocolate gorillas comes from farms created at the periphery of the park, part of a push to promote agricultural and industrial activities in the area so residents do not turn to logging and poaching. The chocolate factory is located 5km outside the park.

Profits from sales of the chocolates are meant to be reinvested in nearby communities.

Clarisse Kyakimwa has been working her small cocoa farm for three years.

“The cocoa has several benefits. It helps me send my children to school, feed them, pay my hospital bills,” she said.

Buyers take her crop to the Virunga factory, but she has not seen the finished product: a glistening chocolate rendering of a full-grown gorilla with its arms on the shoulders of one of its young.

“They say the chocolate is taken abroad.  I've never seen the chocolate since we're not used to eating it,” Kyakimwa said.

Instability has been a problem at Virunga since well before M23's latest advance.

“With the insecurity we're seeing in the region, it's sometimes difficult to access the raw material, which is cocoa,” said Roger Marora, master chocolatier and a native of North Kivu province.

The UN and Western governments said Rwanda has provided arms and troops to M23. Rwanda denied backing M23 and said its military has acted in self-defence against the DRC's army and a militia founded by perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

Mediation efforts by African leaders and Qatar have not yet yielded a ceasefire.

Virunga National Park director Emmanuel de Merode said: “The chocolate gorillas symbolise the park's resilience in the face of many threats.”

Reuters