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[Paula Carino <paulamariecarino AT gmail.com>]

From the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi 
-0703020110mar02,1,6316683.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Gorilla's birth in Congo cheers conservationists
by Todd Pitman

DAKAR, Senegal -- Conservationists on Thursday announced the birth of a  
rare mountain gorilla in eastern Congo, where rebels have been accused  
of killing and eating the endangered animals.

The tiny gorilla, named Ndeze, was born Feb. 17 in Congo's Virunga  
National Park, home to some of the world's last 700 mountain gorillas,  
said Samantha Newport of the conservation support group WildlifeDirect.

"It's incredibly positive. These gorillas have managed to survive a  
10-year civil war," Newport said by phone from the park. It is "an  
absolute miracle and testament to the work of the rangers, who worked  
throughout the war without receiving a salary, and to conservationists  
from all over the world."

Last month, the London-based Africa Conservation Fund and local park  
officials accused rebels loyal to renegade army  
commander-turned-warlord Laurent Nkunda of slaughtering two of the  
animals for food. Nkunda commands thousands of fighters in the vast  
country's lawless east who have clashed sporadically with government  
troops.

Local park ranger Paulin Ngobobo met with rebel officials in late  
January and brokered an oral agreement to stop the killings, Newport  
said.

Ndeze is the 12th member of a gorilla family living in a sector of the  
park called Mikeno that is home to about 80 gorillas, though a precise  
census has been impossible to carry out because of unsafe conditions.

It was not known whether Ndeze was male or female, as it would be  
difficult to visually determine the baby's sex for several months,  
Newport said.

About 380 mountain gorillas live in Virunga Conservation Area, which is  
shared by Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The remaining 320 gorillas live in  
Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.