BORN FREE USA NAMES SEVEN MOST NOTORIOUS POACHING COUNTRIES IN AFRICA
(Posted 24th April 2014)
Born Free USA and C4ADS have just published their list of shame, when they named 7 countries in Africa with the worst poaching records and the least serious government action against the menace which has been spreading like a cancer through the continent, fueled by relentless demand for ivory and rhino horn from in particular China and other Far Eastern countries.
On the list are Mozambique, Congo DR, Sudan (supposedly also including the South Sudan), Gabon, Zimbabwe and notably from East Africa Kenya and Tanzania.
A hard hitting and no word mincing report launched earlier this week, titled ‘Ivory’s Curse: The militarization and professionalization of poaching in Africa’ has named not just countries but also individuals alleged to be involved up to their necks in poaching, facilitating poaching and shielding poachers, financiers and traders from the law. Born Free USA in a statement explained their reasons to commission the report which was done by specialist organization C4ADS on their behalf, saying they needed to know the mechanisms in place in the various countries and the individuals allegedly involved to finally exposed them in the public arena and move away from the vague references other conservation organizations have been relying on to describe wildlife crimes.
Tanzania was also named in an Interpol report which was launched earlier this year, raising uncomfortable questions why verbal commitments have not been followed up by serious action and arrest of the god fathers behind the worst slaughter of elephant in human history, costing the country over the past 10 years nearly 100.000 of the animals to get hold of their tusks. Kenya and Uganda were also named in the Interpol report, the latter mainly for the increased use of the country as a transit route for ivory from Eastern Congo and the South Sudan, though it has been acknowledged that poaching inside Uganda is at a very low level as a result of perhaps better enforcement and also a presidential directive to shoot poachers on sight without mercy.
Government officials in Dar es Salaam are said to be stunned by the forceful contents of the report which leave little doubt that nothing much has been done beyond words and chasing the small guys while the big fish still swim free. No immediate reaction has been received from either Tanzania or Kenya, where equally the conservation fraternity has been expressing their growing concerns in recent months, which, while acknowledging the difficult working conditions of KWS, left no doubt that they blamed government for letting the situation deteriorate to such lows while politicking over mergers and parastatal reforms instead of throwing all its resources into the war on poaching.
Other regular contributors question why South Africa was not named among the top 7 as that country has seen a relentless slaughter of rhinos over the past several years with little if any visible effort and success seen to stem the tide. Last year alone 1.004 rhinos were butchered in South Africa with some animals still alive as their horns were hacked off.
The question is how much longer can the dwindling elephant herds and remaining rhinos wait before mankind comes to their rescue before they are wiped out altogether? Fodder for thought no doubt as we all expect the howls of outrage to come from the corridors of the powers that be, issuing denials and demands for apologies, while artfully dodging the reality on the ground, which we all know what it is like. Watch this space.
