Poaching and piracy in Central Africa

Author(s)

AfriqueJet.com

Date Published
The United States supports Central Africa in the fight against poaching and piracy — The Director of Affairs Office for Central Africa to the US State Department, Robin D. Meyer, who was in Brazzaville, said that his country supported the countries of the subregion in the fight against poaching and maritime piracy, said Saturday public radio.
“The United States of America provide support to governments in the region to succeed in improving their anti-poaching capacity,” she said, during a press conference held at the Embassy of the United States of America in Brazzaville. For Ms. Meyer, poaching feeds not only terrorism but also armed groups. She cited as an illustration of the Lord’s army in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the former Seleka Central African Republic (CAR) which are involved in the illegal ivory trade. Mrs. Meyer urged the Central African countries to strengthen the fight against poaching in order to preserve the flora and fauna and develop eco-tourism. 
According to the project to support the implementation of the Wildlife Act (PALF ), the Congo—Brazzaville lost 5,000 elephants between 2009 and 2011, all slaughtered by poachers, especially in the northern part of the country. With regard to maritime piracy, she said that “we are working with the countries of the Great Lakes region to provide them support in the fight against maritime piracy. Our assistance has helped reduce maritime insecurity in the region of the Horn of Africa.” According to Ms. Meyer, head of US Marines conducted working visits to some countries in the region as part of the development of a strategy against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. In the case of the Republic of Congo, the US Coast Guard regularly stays in the country to assess the implementation of the International Code provisions on ship safety and Port Facility.