Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Rebels and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed more than a 10th of the elephants in one of Africa's oldest national parks as demand for ivory in China grows, said Emmanuel de Merode, director of the Virunga National Park.

Members of a Rwandan militia in the country's eastern North Kivu province killed seven elephants in the last two weeks, taking this year's total to 24, de Merode said today in an interview from the park's headquarters in Rumangabo.

``There is a large presence of military forces,'' de Merode said. ``There is a correlation between this and the growth in Chinese ivory sales.''

Elephant numbers in the 790,000-hectare (1.9 million-acre) park have dropped from 2,889 in 1960 to fewer than 200 today, as conflict in the region spurred poaching. During the past 12 years, 120 park wardens have died while trying to protect the park from armed groups, de Merode said.

Congo's national army, a Rwandan Hutu militia, a Congolese Tutsi rebel group and local militias are battling for control over the area.

This year's poaching wave was causing by the need for meat and income from ivory sales to China, de Merode said.

Even though poaching has risen, Virunga, which is home to more different species than any other African park, has not lost a species since 1950.

The African elephant is ``considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild,'' according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in Kinshasa via the Johannesburg bureau on abolleurs@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 25, 2008 05:55 EDT