DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s president yesterday ordered the security forces to go after top criminals financing organised networks behind elephant poaching, saying no one was “untouchable”.
The East African nation, home to the famous Serengeti which is packed with wildlife and Africa’s highest mountain Kilimanjaro, relies on revenues from tourism and safaris but has been blighted by poachers chasing ivory to sell mostly in Asia.
Since coming to power in 2015, President John Magufuli has promised root out corruption and mismanagement.
“I am behind you … arrest all those involved in this illicit trade, no one should be spared regardless of his position, age, religion … or popularity,” Magufuli said in a statement. “Go after all of them … so that we protect our elephants from being slaughtered.”
Magufuli issued the directive after visiting the Natural Resources and Tourism Ministry in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where he saw 50 tusks seized from poachers.
“This is unacceptable,” he said during an inspection of the haul. “We cannot allow our natural resources to be lost because of the greed of a few people.”
Magufuli said he would continue to support the work of Tanzania’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (NTSCIU) to fight elephant poaching.
Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa, where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants for tusks and rhinos for horns that are often shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines.
