Margaret Atwood, Ben Okri and JM Coetzee have joined more than 100 writers from around the world in calling on the Rwandan president to intervene in the case of the poet Innocent Bahati, who disappeared one year ago today.

According to human rights organisation PEN International, Bahati was last seen at a hotel in Nyanza district, in the Southern Province of Rwanda, on 7 February 2021. The poet, who is well-known in Rwanda and had published poetry on YouTube and Facebook, as well as regularly performing at live events, failed to return to Kigali, and his phones have been switched off since.

Media reports state that his disappearance was reported to the Rwanda Investigation Bureau on 9 February, with a spokesperson claiming that he was not in the agency’s custody, but that an investigation was “ongoing”. Bahati is also a teacher at the Green Hills Academy in Kigali.

Now more than 100 writers and artists have written to Rwandan president Paul Kagame to express their “grave concern” about Bahati’s life and whereabouts, stating their belief that Bahati’s disappearance is “in relation to his poetry and critical expression on issues affecting Rwandan society”.

“We are bringing this matter to your attention, with a plea for urgent action because, one year later, Bahati is still missing and his situation unknown. We note with concern that the Rwandan authorities are yet to disclose any progress or outcome of investigations on his case,” say the authors, led by PEN International president Burhan Sönmez, and also including major international names from Paul Auster to Gioconda Belli, Jonathan Franzen, Yann Martel, Elif Shafak and Michael Ondaatje.

They point to reports that Bahati disappeared in a similar manner in 2017 after posting a critical comment on Facebook, reappearing in police custody after several days, and subsequently being imprisoned without trial for three months, although he was not charged for any offence. Bahati was only freed after a court order.

And they highlight media reports of a speech in March 2021 attributed to the Rwandan secretary of state in charge of culture, Edouard Bamporiki, in which Bamporiki is reported to have said that “when poetry loses its way, it can mislead the public. It is for this reason that I ask you to forget the difficulties that Rwandan poetry community has known in recent times, but rather to do our part to advise and reprimand those amongst who stray from the right path.”

“Coming shortly after the disappearance of Bahati in 2021, these chilling remarks by an official of your administration are hardly coincidental. They suggest a pattern of intolerance to free poetic expression by officials, and they legitimately raise suspicions that Bahati may have been disappeared in relation to his poetry,” say the authors. “We believe that someone within the Rwandan administration knows about the whereabouts or fate of Bahati … Poetry is not a crime. The world awaits to hear the voice of Innocent Bahati, again.” - Alison Flood, The Guardian

The multi-acre, eco-friendly spread is designed to provide the Fossey Fund with a space that helps amplify its mission of protecting and studying gorillas. Photo The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

Here’s news to go ape over.

Ellen DeGeneres’ long-awaited dream has become a reality with the public opening of her gorilla campus in Rwanda.

Located outside Volcanoes National Park, the idea first came to fruition four years ago, when her wife, Portia de Rossi, gifted the daytime host with a gorilla conservation center to celebrate her 60th birthday.

The spread is named the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund after the late American primatologist and conservationist.

“Dian Fossey has always been a hero of mine, and so it’s been the honor of a lifetime to support this project,” DeGeneres said in a press release sent to The Post.

“To see my name alongside hers on the walls of this beautiful campus, and to know I’m doing my part to protect endangered gorillas and continue Dian’s legacy, is simply amazing.”

Initially founded by Fossey, whose life and ultimately death were portrayed in the movie “Gorillas in the Mist,” the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is considered the world’s largest and longest-running organization dedicated entirely to gorilla conservation, according to the press release.

“From the outset, the mission of this project has focused on creating a space to engage the many stakeholders in conservation — students, scientists, tourists, conservation partners, community members—to advance our collective goal of saving gorillas and more broadly, the planet,” said Dr. Tara Stoinski, the Fossey Fund’s president and chief scientific officer. “It is our hope that people who visit the Ellen DeGeneres Campus will leave inspired to make a difference, just as Dian Fossey did.“

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus opened to visitors for the first time on Tuesday after years of construction and is available for private tours.

“The Ellen Campus represents a huge expansion of our teaching and laboratory spaces, enabling us to not just increase but transform our programs to study gorillas and their critical forest habitat and bring educational opportunities to early career African scientists and members of the local community,” said Felix Ndagijimana, the Fossey Fund’s director of Rwanda programs.

The fund acquired approximately 15 acres of land for the projects and consists of eco-friendly facilities including housing for visiting students and researchers.

Support from numerous donors contributed to the project, including Leonardo DiCaprio, who named a theater for his mother, Irmelin, and a computer lab for his father, George.

Fossey feared that mountain gorillas would be extinct by the year 2000. But the population in the region grew from a low of 250 gorillas in the 1980s to more than 600 today, according to the press release, which attributed the “rare conservation success story” to the work of Fossey and other staff members. - Mary K. Jacob, NEW YORK POST