Paul Sadala, a poacher-turned-militia leader known as “Morgan”, accused of kidnap, rape and cannibalism in Democratic Republic of Congo was killed on Monday alongside four other people during a firefight as he sought to escape his army captors, the government said.
Morgan, who operated in Congo’s Orientale province, surrendered on Saturday with around 40 of his followers.
A government spokesman, Lambert Mende, told Reuters that Morgan was being brought by the army to the town of Bunia when he attacked the soldiers escorting him.
“He caused a shootout which resulted in the deaths of two army soldiers and two of his own men. He tried to flee but suffered a serious injury,” he said.
Mende said that Morgan was taken by helicopter for treatment but died on the way from excessive bleeding.
Morgan has repeatedly attacked populations in the Okapi Fauna Reserve, a World Heritage site, since 2012.
U.N. experts said in December he switched his focus from poaching elephants to attacking gold mines.
They accuse him and his men of kidnapping people to carry looted goods and of forcing women into being sexual slaves for militia members.
Morgan’s militia is just one part of a complex and deadly network of armed groups in Congo’s lawless east. Most of these groups finance their operations by competing for control of Congo’s vast deposits of minerals, including gold, diamonds, tin, copper and coltan.