Congo Wildlife Authority Presses Charges Against Soco
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The Congolese Wildlife Authority filed charges with the country’s attorney general against London-based Soco International Plc after its employees allegedly forced their way into Virunga National Park, the park’s director said.
Soco employees entered the park near the Democratic Republic of Congo’s border with Uganda accompanied by 12 Congolese soldiers on Feb. 14, director Emmanuel de Merode said by phone today. The company, which has rights to an oil exploration block that overlaps Virunga, was told in a letter from the wildlife authority in December that it couldn’t conduct oil exploration activities in the park.