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Kenya president burns ivory to highlight poaching crisis Mwai Kibaki sets
fire to more than five tonnes of elephant ivory worth £10m in attempt to
stem growth of illegal trade
Kenya's president ignited several tonnes of ivory
stockpiled in the country since being seized in Singapore nearly a decade
ago. Kenya's president has set fire to more than five tonnes of elephant
ivory worth £10m to draw attention to poaching deaths.
Mwai Kibaki was almost burned as he lit the mound of 335
ivory tusks and 41,000 trinkets, which had been confiscated in Singapore.
"Through the disposal of contraband ivory, we seek to
formally demonstrate to the world our determination to eliminate all forms
of illegal trade in ivory," Kibaki told several hundred people at a rural
Kenya Wildlife Service training facility. "We must all appreciate the
negative effects of illegal trade to our national economies. We cannot
afford to sit back and allow criminal networks to destroy our common
future."
read more in the Guardian |
