Envoy requests US help to fight poaching

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Photo | White House Ambassador Elkanah Odembo (right) and US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office  WHITE HOUSE

By KEVIN J KELLEY
Posted  Saturday, November 10  2012 at  06:36

IN SUMMARY

• Speaking during a panel discussion on wildlife trafficking that Mrs Clinton hosted at the State Department, Ambassador Elkanah Odembo noted that eight Kenya Wildlife Service officers have been shot dead in recent months
• As part of this requested assistance, the Obama administration should send the US Marines to help KWS with its training of recruits, the ambassador said
• Mr Odembo further called on the United States to support Kenya's efforts in an international forum to secure a moratorium on the ivory trade until at least 2017

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NEW YORK

Kenya's ambassador to the United States urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday to send US Marines to help counteract the increasingly "vicious boldness of the poaching gangs" that are decimating Kenya's wildlife. (Read: KWS scales up war on poaching)

Speaking during a panel discussion on wildlife trafficking that Mrs Clinton hosted at the State Department, Ambassador Elkanah Odembo noted that eight Kenya Wildlife Service officers have been shot dead in recent months. Five of the KWS rangers died in ambushes planned by criminals according to the envoy.

Mr Odembo also asked Mrs Clinton to revise the longstanding US warning against travel to Kenya, pointing out that foreign tourism is the principal source of revenue for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which serves as "Kenya's principal arm in the fight against poaching and trafficking." (Read: Kenya differs with US on travel alerts)

Speaking with bluntness unusual for a diplomat, the ambassador added that Kenya does not seek a "level playing field" in the fight against wildlife poaching and smuggling.

"We want as many advantages as we can secure in this struggle against criminal syndicates that are destroying an important element of Africa's natural biological diversity," said Mr Odembo. "We want the 'high ground' in this contest, and we encourage the United States to help provide that."

As part of this requested assistance, the Obama administration should send the US Marines to help KWS with its training of recruits, the ambassador said.

"KWS wants Marine-style training, which helps to build initiative, team spirit and cohesiveness, confidence and determination," Mr Odembo explained.

He further called on the United States to support Kenya's efforts to secure a moratorium on the ivory trade until at least 2017.

On her part, Secretary Clinton observed that wildlife trafficking relies on “porous borders, corrupt officials and strong networks of organised crime, all of which undermine our mutual security."

Saying she would seek US spy agencies' help in assessing the scope of the threat, Mrs Clinton framed the intensifying criminal war on African wildlife as a security issue.

"We have good reason to believe that rebel militias are players in a worldwide ivory market worth millions and millions of dollars a year," she said.

The United States is urging governments around the world to join the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking in order to share information on poachers and smugglers.