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Actress Anna Friel has said she was still “completely in shock” at the unexpected decision last week of British oil and gas company Soco to pull out of exploration plans in Africa’s oldest national park, something she has been campaigning for on behalf of the wildlife charity WWF.

But while delighted at the decision, she warned vigilance was needed over what happened next in the park, situated in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She vowed to step up her own efforts as a conservation campaigner, saying: “It’s still not safe and we really can’t rest on our laurels.”

In the weekend that actress Angelina Jolie was given an honorary damehood, Friel defended celebrities using their fame to promote causes they care about.

“Well-known people are given a profile in the media and it seems to me to make sense to use that profile responsibly to highlight the causes closest to their hearts. In my case it concerned the unnecessary exploitation of Virunga and helped, for the time being at least, to preserve a precious world heritage region.