Notorious poacher sentenced after shoot out with Salonga rangers

On May 16, 2016, park rangers of the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo surprised a group of poachers inside the park along the river Lotanga, in the administrative sector and territory of Dekese, province of Kasai. Among them was Didier Konga Bodjoko aka Mopao in possession of an assault weapon who refused to be disarmed by the park rangers. This was followed by a shoot-out during which a poacher was killed on the spot and Mopao seriously wounded at his hand.
After managing to escape, Mopao went on to seek for medical treatment in the village of Looto, administrative territory of Kole in the neighboring province of Sankuru where the police arrested him. On 13 July 2016, he was finally sentenced, by the Lodja garrison military court to 20 years of prison for illegal possession of an assault weapon (offense under military law) and illegal possession of a firearm inside a National Park (offense under the law on conservation of nature).
Mopao had already been arrested in 2012 for poaching in Salonga and sent to Mbandaka the capital of the Province of Equateur for his judgment, where he escaped from prison before his hearing. He specialized in elephant poaching.
As a result of improved cooperation between Salonga and local communities, individuals are beginning to respond to reports of poaching in their areas. A notable case was when an individual presented to one of the patrols with a small quantity of ivory from juvenile elephants. The guards were not able to find out where he found this ivory but it’s a good sign that demonstrates at this stage that the co- management of ICCN and WWF is moving forward to safeguard Salonga National Park with an effective cooperation of communities. 
On July 31st a villager 50km south of Monkoto in the village of Bongali gave Eco-Guards information of 3 poachers with AK47 in the Monkoto Corridor forest. Following up on this information the patrol apprehended the poachers in their camp. The poachers, from Mbandaka admitted to be looking for elephant and had a saw to remove the ivory.
These developments are an indication that anti-poaching initiatives are increasingly been understood as a collective effort involving all stakeholders including the communities and the institutions and not a duty of conservation organizations only. It is a new mindset that is taking shape and this is very encouraging for the future.
Park authority calls upon all communities living around the Park to kindly multiply the collaboration with Eco guards to permanently identify and dismantle all Salonga poachers networks and adhere to the strategic plan put in place.
Salonga National park is the largest national park in Africa and the second largest tropical forest park in the world. Since 2005 WWF has been working in collaboration with the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) to support the Salonga National Park. This collaboration has reached a new momentum with the signing of a joint management agreement in August 2015 and its formal launching last May.