For the first time in 20 years, lions will now return to Rwanda after the majestic endangered animal was wiped out during the nation's human genocide.
On Monday, seven lions that include two males and five females will arrive from South Africa to Rwanda. They will be taken and released into the eastern region of the Akagera National Park after spending two weeks in quarantine.
The Rwandan human genocide occurred in 1994 where it left an estimated 800,000 people dead. It was led by its government and ethnic militias involving Hutus which started on April 7, 1994 and lasted for 100 days. Tutsi minorities and Hutu people were killed among the 800,000 victims. Ending the genocide, Tutsi rebels seized political power in July 1994 where the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted political, military and religious figures who are blamed for the killings.
Refugees who are fleeing from the onslaught of the massacre were displaced in a certain area of the park where the lion has been driven out or killed for people to protect their livestock and sources of remaining food.
According to the head of African Parks, Peter Fearnhead who also manages the 112,00 hectare Akagera that is located at the Tanzanian border, this reintroduction of the lion to the nation is a groundbreaking conservation effort for the park and Rwanda.
In order to prepare he lions for their re-introduction to their new habitat, the Akagera park team is now working with local communities for the promotion of harmonious co-existence with the lions.
According to the head of tourism of the Rwanda Development Board, Yamina Karitanyi, the return of the lions will encourage the natural balance of the local ecosystem.
The lions will be originating from relatively small and confined reserves where it can be necessary to remove surplus lions on occasion in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province in South Africa.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature also announced that the lions remain on the "red list" of threatened species which means that the animals are vulnerable at a global level.
Lion population decline has been recorded in eastern parts of Africa due to illegal trade in bones and other body parts that are being sold for traditional medicine across Africa and Asia, making this a serious threat to the species. Also, the west African lion subpopulation is also listed as "critically endangered" which is caused by overhunting and scarcity of prey.