" Harry's Africa charity rangers 'raped and beat tribespeople': Rainforest families claim years of abuse at the hands of guards who work for conservation body which has Prince as a director - and beg him to intervene" 27 January 2024

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has discovered horrifying evidence of intimidation in the rainforests of the Republic of the Congo by guards managed and paid by the African Parks charity. Prince Harry was its president for six years until elevated to the governing board of directors last year. The fast-expanding charity, backed by a billionaire who is part of the consortium which owns Chelsea Football Club, manages huge swathes of forests and national parks in 12 African countries in partnerships with governments, and boasts that it saves wildlife by working with local communities.

Yet the MoS found first-hand testimonies of atrocities inflicted on the Baka, an indigenous people once known as pygmies, to stop them entering forests where they have foraged, fished, hunted and found medicines for millennia. One man, who claims his head was forced under water while his hands were cuffed and his back whipped repeatedly with a belt, said: ‘Some guards are bad people and their activities should be stopped. What they are doing is cruel and inhumane.’ A community activist told us a Baka man died after being beaten and jailed without getting treatment for his injuries. One woman told of being raped by an armed guard while clinging to her newborn baby. And a teenage boy claimed he was groomed for paid sex by another guard. There are claims that medical staff were subjected to intimidation to cover up abuse. The raped mother also says she has not received the majority of the £1,300 compensation a court ordered her attacker to pay after he was briefly jailed