Eighteen employees of a gorilla sanctuary in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been abducted by a militia group, sources said on Wednesday.

An official with an NGO said the abduction took place on Monday in the area of Nzovu, which lies in the huge Kahuzi-Biega National Park, and an armed group called the Mai-Mai Raia Mutomboki was responsible.

The victims comprise nine administrative employees, who were carrying out an inventory, and nine guards, the source said.

"(Eighteen) workers in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park were kidnapped by militiamen," Kashombana Bin-Saleh, administrator of Shabunda territory, confirmed to AFP.

"The 18 are alive and talks for negotiating their release will start as soon as a team from the (park) arrives in Shabunda," Kashombana added.

The abductors are demanding a large ransom, according to sources in local civil society groups.

They seized the group's luggage at the same time and forced local people to carry it. This group was released later, the sources said.

The park extends over 6,000 square kilometres of rainforest (2,300 square miles) -- more than twice the size of Luxembourg -- in largely mountainous terrain.

The designated UNESCO heritage site is one of the last refuges of the endangered eastern lowland gorilla, of which only about 250 now survive, as well as many other rare species.

The park was established in 1970 by Belgian conservationist Adrien Deschryver, taking its name from two dormant volcanoes that lie within its boundaries.

However, it abuts one of the most troubled regions in Africa, where armed conflicts have seethed for more than two decades.

Madagascar makes arrest after lemurs found dead
Antananarivo (AFP) March 7, 2018 - Madagascar's authorities said Wednesday they had arrested a suspected poacher after 12 lemurs, a highly endangered species, were found dead.

The bodies of the rare primates were found on February 28 in the forest of Antavolobe Iaroka, in the eastern district of Andasibe.

"We have placed in custody one person who was arrested and have identified the hideout of two other hunters," Environment Minister Johanita Ndahimananjara told a press conference in Antananarivo, the capital.

Lemurs "aren't just tourist objects or factors in the equilibrium of our ecosystem, they are animals which contribute to the preservation of our forest," Ndahimananjara said, speaking ahead of a meeting on how to combat poaching of the animals.

Lemurs are emblematic of Madagascar and its tropical forests.

Their numbers, now estimated to be just 10,000, have fallen because of habitat loss and poaching -- their meat is eaten by forest-dwellers and sold clandestinely to restaurants.

Arrests of those involved in the illegal trade are rare.

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Soldier killed in Senegal's troubled Casamance region
Dakar (AFP) March 4, 2018
A Senegalese soldier was killed Sunday and another wounded in a military operation targeting "criminal activities" by rebels in the country's southern Casamance region, the army said. Also during the operation "two rebels were taken prisoner... three fields of Indian hemp were destroyed," and "weapons of war and munitions seized," the army said in a statement released late Sunday. Tensions have mounted in Casamance following the massacre of 14 young men in execution-style killings in a protecte ... read more