Cameroon: Stopping Elephant Poaching in Southeast Cameroon

The Post (Buea)

18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008

Pegue Manga
Buea

Game rangers in Yokadouma, East Province of Cameroon, recently confiscated 13 elephant tusks and made some arrests.The tusks were tucked away in a timber truck.

After swerving through the 180-km bumpy road from Nguilili, a village situated on the outskirts of Lobeke National Park, East Province, where the tusks came from, the truck pulled up in Yokadouma. Rangers, acting on a tip-off, swooped on it and began conducting a search which resulted in the seizure of two bags containing tusks.

The driver, who said he never knew what was in the bags, gave information that led to the arrest of another suspect who was waiting to collect the tusks in Bertoua, still East Province. Police are searching for a third suspect, who loaded the tusks on the truck in Nguilili. The truck was impounded and the driver detained.

The 13 ivory tusks presupposed that seven elephants were killed. This incident fuels suspicion of a network of ivory traffickers that wildlife authorities are seeking to dismantle in Southeast Cameroon.

The Network

Despite relentless efforts, illegal ivory trade lingers on, especially around Lobeke, which has one of the highest densities of forest elephants (estimated at 5000), in the Congo basin. This illicit network is deftly established with a conveyor belt bankrolled by bigwigs who have agents dealing directly with poachers.

The poachers are supplied guns and bullets and paid to kill elephants and other animals. Usually the bigwig takes away the tusks leaving the meat to the poachers. The upshot is increased threats resulting in the fragmentation of the population of this flagship specie.

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network recently cited Cameroon among three countries in the Central Africa sub region most heavily implicated in trafficking illicit ivory to international markets.

Trade in ivory has been accentuated by the circulation of arms (especially war arms). In the last two months, eight guns, including a Kalashnikov and a grenade have been confiscated from poachers. Guns are smuggled into Cameroon from Congo Brazzaville and Central African Republic, both countries that have known wars.

"The circulation of war arms is boosting elephant poaching," says Pandong Eitel, Delegate for Forest and Wildlife in Boumba et Ngoko Division, East Province. "We recently confiscated a Kalashnikov and a grenade from poachers. This is a new phenomenon we are getting to grip with in this region," he states.

The delegation is working with the Ministry of Defense to address this problem. "Poachers should understand we shall not give up the fight. We intend to see it through with the support of the forces of law and order and our partners."

The Exploits

Confronting poachers in southeast Cameroon could be dangerous. Game rangers are poorly equipped. Sometimes 10 of them share one gun, usually an old rifle dwarfed by the Kalashnikov wielded by poachers. In March 2008, game rangers confiscated five guns, a grenade and arrested some 15 poachers in and around the three national parks (Lobeke, Boumba Bek and Nki) in East Cameroon.

Amongst the most dangerous poachers is one Atangana Roger, a parrot capturer. Atangana was caught with 167 decapitated parrots inside Lobeke National Park, but he succeeded in escaping after spraying a peppery substance on the faces of rangers and a driver who were transporting him to Yokadouma to be charged and tried.

Recently a grenade was discovered in Atangana's home in Kika, a logging town situated near Lobeke. The parrot poacher ended with bullets in his arm and chest when he attempted to machete one of the gendarmes who attempted to arrest him. Atangana is now receiving first aid treatment pending trial.

In Socambo, a village on the south east of Lobeke, where poaching is high, local villagers once besieged a vehicle transporting game rangers and forced the release of arrested poachers. One of the rangers was stabbed with a screwdriver.

These incidents have not doused the determination of rangers and conservation organizations to combat poaching. Rangers have been trained and reinforced, regular joint patrols are being organized with rangers from Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville under the auspices of a trans-boundary conservation initiative styled Sangha Tri-National (Tri-National de la Sangha).

Agreements have been reached with logging companies and sport hunting outfits in a concerted move to fight poaching.Elephants are totally protected specie (Class A) in Cameroon.

Thus anyone found guilty of killing an elephant can be sentenced to serve prison term with a huge fine. According to Laurent Some, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Regional Representative for Central Africa, "experience has shown that improved law enforcement can drive the ivory smuggling circuit further underground."

Some expressed optimism that with the present enthusiasm and determination exhibited by Cameroon's Ministry of Forests and Wildlife, with support from some NGOs, the country could be making progress out of the sourcing zone of illegal ivory trade.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804180663.html