A charity with Prince Harry as the director is investigating rape and torture claims against its guards in the Republic of the Congo.
African Parks has said the investigation is its “highest priority”, as it manages 22 national parks across 12 countries.
The Duke of Sussex has served as the organisation’s president for six years. He is also listed as a board member of the non-profit organisation.
Guards managed and paid for by the charity have been accused of beating, raping and torturing Indigenous people in the Republic of the Congo, according to allegations in The Mail.
Prince Harry has been the charity's president for six years
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A statement from the African Parks board and chief executive said it had a zero-tolerance approach to abuse and was committed to upholding the rights of local and Indigenous people.
An investigation was launched after an unnamed board member was alerted to the allegations by the charity Survival International.
However, Survival International was accused of failing to cooperate with its inquiry.
The statement said: “We are aware of the serious allegations regarding human rights abuses by eco-guards against local people living adjacent to Odzala-Kokoua national park in the Republic of Congo, which have recently received media attention.
Prince Harry working in Malawi with African Parks in 2016
PA
“We immediately launched an investigation through an external law firm based on the information we had available, while also urging Survival International to provide any and all facts they had.
"It’s unfortunate that they have chosen not to co-operate, despite repeated requests, and we continue to ask for their assistance.
“We encourage anyone with knowledge of any abuses to report them to us or to the Congolese law enforcement authorities, which will assist with the investigation and ensure that the perpetrators of any abuses are brought to justice.”
The charity was founded in 2000 to protect Africa’s national parks. Fiore Longo, head of Survival International’s conservation campaign, told the PA news agency that the story did not “come as a surprise”.
Prince Harry is listed as a board member of the non-profit organisation
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African Parks manages 22 national parks across 12 countries
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She added: “With the arrival of protected areas during colonial times many of the locals have already been evicted.
"But it’s specifically around 2010, when African Parks took over, that the locals said the violence started being worse than before, because their park rangers would beat them every time they tried to get in the forest – which is their home – to collect medicinal plants, hunt and feed their families.”
Regarding the claim that Survival International was not cooperating with the African Parks investigation, she said: “They are the employer of the rangers and the manager of the parks, and they had the money to conduct their own investigation.
"It’s not up to us to give them details. It’s their responsibility when we raise a problem to go there and investigate.”
Longo said Survival International had been raising such issues since 2013 and that the abuse allegations were “not a secret”.
