05 October 2012 | Yaoundé,
Cameroon - Cameroon on Thursday arrested
Symphorien Sangha, one of Central Africa’s
most notorious elephant poachers and ivory
smugglers, a significant step in the region’s
fight against wildlife crime. WWF strongly
urges relevant authorities to follow up
on this important step and prosecute Sangha
to the fullest extent of the law.
According to local officials,
Sangha was arrested on Thursday evening
by the Cameroonian Gendarmerie in the town
of Yokadouma in South East Cameroon, where
he is currently being held.
“WWF congratulates the
Cameroonian government and its law enforcement
authorities for having caught one the most
notorious elephant poachers in the Central
African region,” said Bas Huijbregts, head
of policy for WWF Central Africa.
“But Sangha has a history
of disappearing following his arrests.”
“This is a chance for
Cameroon to show it is serious about tackling
the wildlife crime that undermines security
and economic development in the region,”
Huijbregts said.
Originally from the
Central African Republic but a naturalized
Cameroonian citizen, Sangha, who specializes
in the killing of elephants for their tusks,
has also been accused of serving as a guide
to Sudanese poachers, who in 2010 crossed
the Central African Republic and massacred
25 elephants before being stopped by local
authorities.
“Symphorien Sangha is
our Kony,” Huijbregts stressed.
Sangha was mostly active
in the le Tri-national de la Sangha (TNS),
the Sangha trinational protected area complex,
a network of protected areas straddling
the countries of Cameroon, the Central African
Republic and the Republic of Congo. In July
2012, this 7,542 square kilometer complex
rich in biodiversity and with major populations
of forest elephants was declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
As one of Africa’s last
remaining intact tropical forests, the TNS
is an important sanctuary for the protection
of threatened wildlife.
Under a trinational
agreement, law enforcement officials are
allowed to operate in all three countries
that encompass the TNS. An arrest warrant
issued by a Central African prosecutor says
Sangha “operates on Central African soil,
from Cameroon.”
Locally know as le braconnier
légendaire du TNS (the notorious
poacher of the TNS), Sangha is also accused
of opening fire on ecoguards, seriously
crippling one in 2010. He has already been
arrested at least two times, including once
in 2007, when he managed to escape before
fleeing from the Central African Republic
to Cameroon.
“This individual has
evaded justice for many years. It is essential
authorities do their utmost to ensure he
remains in jail,” said WWF Cameroon Country
Director Basile Yapo.
“People like him undermine
the economic benefits which can accrue from
the ecotourism potential linked to the abundance
of elephants and great apes in the TNS.”
“We urge the Cameroonian
authorities to prosecute this individual
to the fullest extent of the law,” Yapo
added.
Illegal wildlife trade
– valued at between $8 billion and $10 billion
per year – ranks as the fifth most lucrative
illegal transnational activity in the world.
This profitable criminal
activity has put tremendous pressure on
the wildlife of the Congo Basin, with poaching
and ivory seizures reaching record levels
in 2011. Heavily armed groups do not hesitate
to cross international boarders to obtain
ivory, threatening the territorial integrity
and security of the countries in the region.
At the United Nations
at the end of September the United States,
in a written statement, said that wildlife
poaching and trafficking harmed “conservation
efforts, (the) rule of law, governance and
economic development.”
WWF and its partner
TRAFFIC, the wildlife monitoring network,
are campaigning for greater protection of
threatened species such as rhinos, tigers
and elephants. In order to save endangered
animals, source, transit and demand countries
must all improve law enforcement, customs
controls and judicial systems. WWF and TRAFFIC
are also urging governments in consumer
countries to undertake demand reduction
efforts to curb the use of endangered species
products.
