‘Rape, torture, beatings’: Horror claims of abuse by rangers with Prince Harry’s Africa charity

An African conservation charity that Prince Harry helps run is facing shocking allegations of beatings, rape and torture of indigenous tribespeople at the hands of its rangers.

WARNING: Distressing content

A charity that Prince Harry helps run is facing shocking allegations of beatings, rape and torture of indigenous tribespeople at the hands of its rangers.

The bombshell investigation by the UK’s Mail on Sunday has uncovered first-hand testimonies of intimidation and abuse in the rainforests of the Republic of Congo, by guards managed and paid by the African Parks charity.

African Parks manages huge swathes of rainforests and national parks in 12 African countries in partnership with governments — a total of 22 protected areas covering 148,000 square kilometres. Prince Harry was its president for six years and last year was elevated to its board of directors.

Mail on Sunday journalist Ian Birrell travelled to the Odzala-Kokoua National Park, where he spoke with members of the Baka indigenous group — once known as the pygmies — who recounted alleged atrocities committed by African Parks militia to stop them entering forests where they have traditionally foraged, fished and hunted.

One woman alleged she was raped by a ranger in the forest as she held her one-year-old baby, while a teenage boy claimed he was paid for sex with another guard. Another Baka man allegedly died after being beaten and jailed without getting treatment, a community activist told the newspaper.

Harry and Meghan in Johannesburg, South Africa. Picture: Michele Spatari/AFP

“The guy was wearing their uniform and had a gun,” said mother-of-two Ella Ene, who claims she was taken from her house and raped in the middle of the night by an African Parks guard as she clung onto her son Daniel.

“He was threatening me, saying ‘I’ll shoot you’ if I did not do as he said. He told me he wanted to take me to their camp. I was holding my baby while being raped and trying to protect him. My first reaction had been to protect my baby. It was very violent.”

Other Baka tribespeople recounted being too fearful to enter the forest due to the intimidation by guards.

“You pick a vegetable and the guards say it is food for an animal, so they beat you,” said Medard Mossendjo, a father-of-two from the village of Biessi.

Another man from the village of Sembe said he was tied up and beaten while collecting wood because elephants might want to eat the twigs and branches.

“They’re killing us slowly anyway,” he told the newspaper. “We’re suffering so much that we might as well be dead. I’m thinking of taking poison with my wife and children.”

A spokesman for Harry and Meghan’s Archewell foundation told the Mail on Sunday, “When the Duke became aware of these serious allegations, he immediately escalated them to the CEO and chairman of the board of African Parks, the appropriate people to handle next steps.”

Prince Harry on a trip to Africa in 2015. Picture: Care for Wild/X

Survival International, a campaign group that advocates for tribal indigenous peoples, says it has been warning of such abuses for years.

“African Parks, along with other big conservation organisations like WWF, takes Indigenous land to turn it into militarised parks or reserves — and then their guards attack people like the Baka just for trying to live their lives,” Survival International director Caroline Pearce said in a statement.

“Prince Harry can help stop this. We’re calling on him to step down as a director of African Parks. He needs to distance himself from an organisation that is complicit in evictions and the heinous abuse of Indigenous people. The organisation’s funders must withdraw their funding until the Baka are allowed to return to the park and their land ownership rights are recognised.“

Ms Pearce alleged that the “abuses that the Mail on Sunday has uncovered are being repeated across Africa and Asia — this is not a one-off”.

“The entire conservation model as practised by the big conservation organisations is built on the theft of Indigenous land, and the dispossession of the people who are its rightful owners — just as in the colonial era,” she said.

“It’s time to decolonise conservation.”

An elephant in the Lekoli River, Odzala-Kokoua National Park. Picture: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images

The Odzala-Kokoua National Park, which is home to gorillas and elephants, has been managed by African Parks since 2010 under a 25-year deal signed with the Congolese government.

“In village after village, I heard disturbing stories of Baka people too fearful to enter their forests after threats, violence and warnings to keep out from this militia — although tourists willing to pay almost £10,000 [$19,300] can fly by private plane from the capital Brazzaville to spend a week in luxury lodges and watch gorillas,” Birrell wrote.

African Parks is funded by the European Union, the US and UK governments, as well as rich philanthropists including a billionaire who is part of the consortium which owns Chelsea Football Club, according to the report.

Prince Harry became involved with the charity seven years ago after a visit to Malawi to assist an elephant project. “What I see in the African Parks model is exactly what conservation should be about — putting people at the heart of the solution,” he has previously said.

“Conservation can only be sustained when people living closest to nature are invested in its preservation.”

Survival International says it first raised concerns 11 years ago with African Parks but claims it was ignored. “The scale and volume of violent intimidation and torture make clear that this is not aberrant behaviour by a few individuals,” the group said in a letter last May.

African Parks said in a statement to the Mail on Sunday, “We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of abuse and are committed to upholding the rights of local and indigenous people. [We] work closely with the Congolese government, locally-based staff, and indigenous communities on these efforts. We take allegations of human rights abuses very seriously, and always investigate such allegations thoroughly.”