CITES welcomes United Nations Security Council call to investigate links between elephant poaching,

ivory smuggling and illicit financing of the LRA

The CITES Secretariat ready to support joint investigation
PRESS RELEASE

Geneva, 24 December 2012 – The Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) welcomes the United Nations Security Council’s call for an investigation into the alleged involvement of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the poaching of African elephants and smuggling of their ivory.

Through a statement read out by the current president of the body, Mr Mohammed Loulichki from Morocco, the Security Council called “on the United Nations and African Union to jointly investigate the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) logistical networks and possible sources of illicit financing, including alleged involvement in elephant poaching and related illicit smuggling”.

Welcoming the presidential statement CITES Secretary-General, Mr. John E. Scanlon said “The historic call made by the UN Security Council reinforces concerns about the links between illicit wildlife trafficking and regional security in Africa”. “The CITES Secretariat is ready to work with its partners to support efforts to investigate the involvement of rebel militias in wildlife crime”, he added.

Range States are currently experiencing a serious spike in the illegal killing of African elephants and rhinos...

Source: CITES welcomes United Nations Security Council call to investigate links between elephant poaching...
Author: CITES