Traffickers in Elephant Products Prosecuted (Cameroon)

Cameroon Tribune

14 May 2009

Mamfe (Manyu)- The Court of First Instance in Mamfe, Manyu Division in the South West Region on April 15, 2009, ordered 3 dealers in ele phant products to collectively pay to government the sum of over CFA 6 million as da mages and CFA 200 000 as fines each. The wildlife traf fickers are Iza Abraham, Mbu Take Pius and Eyong Mbi Pe ter.

The court equally ruled that failure to pay any of the fines and damages; they will each serve a prison term of two years. These traffickers were arrested in Mamfe in Septem ber 2007 while trying to sell 4 ivory, 14 elephant tails and 1 elephant tooth.

The arrest and prosecution of the dealers in elephant pro ducts are part of the on-going nationwide programme on effective enforcement of the 1994 wildlife law which the government of Ca meroon launched in 2003 with technical assistance from The Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA). On how the South West Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife has put in place to crackdown wild life crimes in the area, especially around protected areas such as the Korup National Park in Ndian and the Takamanda National Park in Manyu Division, the Regional De legate, Mrs. Mbah Grace explained, "We are reinforcing patrols to ensure that we carry them out regularly. In the national parks we have game guards who are working on a per manent basis".

Cameroon has been hailed within the circles of the Conference of Par ties to the Convention on Interna tional Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) as a world leader in wildlife law enfor cement for the successful imple mentation of the programme which took off from zero prosecution of the law breakers.

Consequently, the pilot pro gramme is now being repli cated in other Central African countries, at the request of their governments with poli tical support from COMI FAC. The first country in Central Africa to replicate the programme with a huge suc cess is the Republic of Congo.

Like the rush for gold in America in the 19th Century, today's quest for wildlife re sources in Central Africa is fraught with problems of lawlessness. But the govern ment of Cameroon is giving no room for traffickers to de plete her wildlife heritage. "Our country has put in place strict laws on wildlife. Came roon is seen more and more by the international commu nity as a land of wildlife conservation and as a land where the wildlife law and policy are good and well balanced", says Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, Minister of Forestry and Wildlife. The Ministry of Forestry and Wild life works with a number of non governmental organizations to make sure that through some tech nical assistance, the exploitation of wildlife in an illegal manner is stop ped or at least reduced to minimum.

Vincent GUDMIAMFONFU (CAMNEWS)