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ECOLOGY
Elephants are a protected species. However, in the north they’re being savagely massacred
Poaching is taking place all the time in Congo. Poaching is a tradition in this country, especially poaching elephants which are supposed to be protected by law. Odzala National Park lies in the Saghna region, northern Congo. This is an animal reserve protected by the State with the financial help of the European Union. But here, more than a hundred elephants have been brutally massacred by poachers using kalachnikov rifles. This is 5%-10% of the park’s total elephant population. A recent report published by the European Union dealing with protection of the fauna and conservation areas, indicates that elephants are becoming rare within a radius equivalent to two days walking distance in the Nouabalé-Ndoki Forest in the north. Such was not the case ten years ago.
According to Domenica Nsoso who is in charge of fauna protection, the number of elephants has decreased from 50,000 in the 1990s to 30,000 today. And ever since the lifting of restrictions in 1997, trading in ivory has become more active than ever. For example, in the beginning of October 2002, game wardens seized between 15 to 20 elephant tusks in Odzala Park.The Environment Minister admits he’s completely powerless to make any headway against the poaching. He says: «These statistics are but the tip of the iceberg. It’s impossible for our game wardens to recover most of the tusks».
A real «gold-mine» for ivory
In spite of the fact that elephants are in danger of extinction, the demand for ivory remains as strong as ever, and the poachers go out of their way to respond to this need. Investigations reveal that during the last three years, poaching has been constantly increasing. In 1997, a kilo of ivory could fetch between 2,000-4,000 CFA francs in Mbomo, Cuvette region, northern Congo. Today, the price is between 4,000-8,000 CFA francs a kilo. The transactions are carried out by poachers and hunters in the villages. In Brazzaville, ivory is even more highly priced. A kilo of ivory can fetch anything between 15,000-20,000 CFA. Part of the ivory is exported to the Asian market; also to West Africa where most countries have completely decimated their elephant population a long time ago.
In order to maximise their profits, go-betweens in the ivory trade prefer to operate outside the capital instead of waiting for ivory to arrive in Brazzaville (where they have to pay more). A senior official in Brazzaville who works with the Parks’ Department (and who prefers to remain anonymous), puts it this way: «In Mbomo, for example, there’s only two West Africans who have shops dealing in ivory; in 2001, there used to be more than fifteen West Africans in the trade». The same situation exists in other localities in this area.
Accomplices
Why can’t the Congolese authorities protect the elephants? Are they working hand-in-glove with the poachers, as some suggest? There’s a number of facts which can’t be ignored. The police have several times surprised people who are working with poachers or who are conducting their nefarious activities on behalf of one or other authority, be it national or regional. Frequently, weapons seized from the poachers are then taken to those authorities who are in cahoots with the poachers. (Obviously to be used again). However, maybe things are looking up from one point of view, in that an ever-increasing amount of illegal ivory is being taken off poachers.
Poverty is the root cause of non-stop poaching by local people. Be they stockbreeders or farmers, most of these people live below the poverty line of 500 CFA francs (less than one dollar) a day. A successful hunting expedition can net them anything between 40,000 CFA francs and 80,000 CFA per elephant, in addition to the sale of its meat. From one hundred elephants killed in Mbomo, each family could received anything between 4-8 million CFA francs per family. This is peanuts compared to the 20 million CFA francs the accomplices and intermediaries living it up in the fleshpots of Brazzaville receive. In urban centres such as Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, a pair of tusks costs anything between 150,000-200,000 CFA francs. With money like that, there’s prosperous days ahead for poachers.
- J.-Valère Ngoubangoyi, Congo-Br., Feb. 2003 — © Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment