Dear President Kabila,
First, I want to extend my congratulations on the occasion of your takeover
of Congo/Zaire. Here in America, we civilians don't know much about
you. We know that some 30 years ago, you met with one of "our"
revolutionaries, Che Guevara, and that you were essentially "laying low"
in the jungle ever since. Now suddenly, you've emerged from the
equatorial mist onto center stage in the international arena, having run that
dreadful Mobuto out of town, along with just about everyone involved in
his notorious bloodstained kleptocracy (unfortunately, Pat Robertson got
out a few years ago, after he and his "missionaries" had already helped
Mobuto to ransack your country's diamond mines). We don't know what
kind of government leader you'll be, but you've got to be better than that
leopard-headed swindler who robbed Congo/Zaire of resources, cash, life
and hope.
I know you've got a lot to worry about, now that you're running one of the
geographically largest and financially poorest countries in the world.
There are so many people to feed and roads to build, not to mention
constitutions to create. But I want to bring to your attention the precarious
plight of some of our closest relatives who live in the very jungle where
you and your comrades found sanctuary and plotted your revolution all
those years.
No, these are not Hutus or Tutsis, Angolans or Kenyans. Actually, they're
not even human, though they're very very close. They are bonobos, a rare
and special species of chimpanzee whose only known native habitat is in
the Cuvette Centrale region of the province of Equateur, bound by the
Zaire River to the north and west, to the east by the Lomami River, and to
the south by the Kasai and Sankuru rivers. Maybe you saw a few of them
during your lengthy jungle sojourn. Maybe you heard about these
marvelous, sensitive creatures that the local villagers call "our brothers."
DNA studies show that, like common chimpanzees, bonobos share more
than 98% of their genetic material with humans. Unlike common chimps--and humans--bonobo society is extremely peaceful. No bonobo has ever
been seen killing another bonobo in the wild or captivity. Interestingly,
these mammals use creative sexual activity to diffuse violent tension. If
bonobos have a "motto," it is "make love, not war."
This is only a fraction of what makes bonobos so fascinating and so
important for us humans to preserve and study. We have so much to learn
from them regarding our shared hominid ancestry, as well as our potential
to be more peaceful, empathetic and positively sexual, ie., more "bonobo-like." But the prognosis is not good for our kissin' cousins. Bonobos are
an extremely endangered species. There are less than 10,000 in the world
today, almost all of whom live in that warm misty rain forest (only about a
hundred live in zoos around the world), and their numbers are dwindling
fast.
In the past few years, things have gotten even worse for the bonobos.
Long considered sacred by local villagers, hunting them was forbidden.
But as Mobuto perpetrated the slow devastation of your country, far too
many people have gone hungry. Hunger leads to desperation. Some hunt
and kill bonobos for food, despite the ancient prohibition, and they haven't
stopped. Some lay traps and snares for other animals that bonobos fall
into. Some even capture infant bonobos to sell as pets, though these
babies almost always die quickly due to malnourishment and inadequate
living conditions. If this keeps up, there will be no bonobos left in just a
few years.
As long as Mobuto was in charge, there was very little hope. He didn't
care about the fate of his own people, let alone another species. I wouldn't
be surprised if that louse had a stuffed bonobo on his mantle.
But now you're in charge, President Kabila, and though you're virtually
unknown to us here, you give us reason to hope. I beg you to consider the
fate of these gentle special creatures. Please do what you can to help
preserve them against imminent extinction. As you try to stem the
violence across your country, as I hope that you will, try also to stop the
killing of the bonobos. Try to have the roads to Wamba and Lomako
repaired, so the villagers can get food and other supplies and aren't
desperate enough to go bonobo-poaching in the jungle. Do what you can
to prevent the degradation--due to mining, as well as hunting--of the
bonobos' natural habitat. Help the bonobo researchers, especially
primatologist Takayoshi Kano in Wamba and ethologists Barbara Fruth
and Gottfried Hohmann in Lomako, to keep their sites going and to
develop a bonobo sanctuary.
President Kabila, I imagine that you are a man of great ambition. You
perservered so long in the jungle, and now your old enemy is defeated, last
seen running out of town with his tail between his legs. You have an
opportunity to do important things in your country, and there is much to do
to give your people a better life. If your ambition is to be known as a great
leader, not as a dictatorial thief, you will do good for the bonobos as well
as the people of your "reborn" Democratic Republic of Congo. Why not
go down in world history for preserving what many scientists consider to
be the closest living creature to the almost legendary "missing link"? I
know that my fellow Americans, as well as concerned individuals and
organizations all over the world, would greatly appreciate any positive
action you take to protect our beloved bonobos.
If you'd like to know more about the bonobos (and, having heard that you
are a man of sizeable sexual appetites yourself, I'm sure you'd find them
quite interesting and well-worth saving, just from a personal point of
view), please don't hesitate to contact me. My telephone number in the
United States is 213.883.1950, and my e-mail address is
drsusanblock.com.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent ecological matter.
Peace with pleasure,
Susan Block, Ph.D., director
BLOCK BONOBO FOUNDATION