Animal adoptions, wildlife protection, wildlife conservation, stopping the illegal hunting trade: Care For The Wild International

An investigation carried out on behalf of UK-based charity Care for the Wild International (CWI) has revealed how the Sudanese military is at the centre of a highly organised poaching and trading racket in illegal ivory, with poachers reportedly using military firearms and ammunition, and government transport vehicles being used to transport illegally poached elephant tusks to Khartoum and the Arabic city of Omdurman.

This unregulated trade in ivory is having a devastating impact on elephant populations in Central Africa. CAR nationals and Sudanese poachers were responsible for decimating elephants in the eastern Central African Republic during the 1990s, and increasing evidence suggests that killing has now begun in the Democratic Republic of Congo

As well as feeding demand for tourist souvenirs in Khartoum, significant quantities of tusks are believed to be being exported to Egypt, another major hub in the illegal ivory trade.

Investigations undertaken by wildlife trade specialist Dr Esmond Martin, funded by CWI, in Sudan in early 2005 have established that the Sudanese military – and a smaller number of private traders – are selling tusks wholesale to the owners of craft workshops and souvenir outlets in Khartoum and Omdurman for between US$44 and US$148 per kilogramme. Ivory craftsmen are working six days a week to meet demand for wildlife souvenirs, jewellery and figurines.

A survey of 50 souvenir shops in Khartoum, Omdurman and Khartoum North carried out by Dr Martin in February 2005 revealed more than 11,000 ivory items on sale. Individual shops carried between 2 and 1,021 ivory objects. Animal figurines, pendants, rings, bangles, human figurines, earrings and chopsticks were amongst items observed on sale. Prices are low, illustrating the widespread availability of ivory and cheap labour. A ring costs the purchaser a mere US$2, a 4-cm pendant US$3, and a pair of chopsticks US$13

On-site research by CWI has discovered that Chinese buyers account for about three-quarters of all the ivory items purchased. South Koreans, Saudis and buyers from several other Arabic states have also been identified as major players. There are several thousand expatriate Chinese in Sudan working in the petroleum, construction and mining sectors. According to vendors, they are frequently in the souvenir shops, spending their leisure time choosing souvenirs, mainly ivory, to purchase.

Organised Chinese ivory trade networks are also purchasing tusks in Khartoum and the Central African Republic for illegal export to the Far East – since the 1990s China has been the world’s largest importing nation of illegal ivory tusks with many coming from Central African region. Dr Martin’s investigations have also revealed that an increasing number of elephant tusks are moving through Khartoum and Omdurman into Egypt where there is a flourishing trade in ivory. Previous research discovered that around 100 craftsmen in Egypt were processing Central African ivory, brought into Egypt in trucks or on camel-back through Sudan. The markets in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan were found to hold over 20,000 ivory objects, one of the largest in the world, and ivory products are still plentiful in Egyptian cities

Dr Esmond Martin, who undertook the research for CWI, and who is one of the world’s leading experts on the illegal ivory trade, today called for immediate action to combat the Central African-Sudanese ivory trade racket: “Sudan’s unregulated markets, using new tusks from Sudan and neighbouring countries, must be controlled to conform with CITES and protect the elephants from further illicit killings.” He called for a specific crackdown on the Chinese buyers and traders: “In order to battle against this illegal trade it is imperative to tackle the Chinese; both the buyers of trinkets in Sudan, and the traders who purchase the raw ivory for China’s domestic trade in ivory.”

Dr Barbara Mass, Chief Executive of Care for the Wild International, said: “Our investigations have revealed a disturbing new front in the illegal trade in ivory. Unless there is immediate recognition of this problem, and appropriate action is taken by all parties concerned, the region’s elephant populations face a bleak and uncertain future Dr Martin’s research indicates an increase in the volume of ivory goods offered for sale in Sudan. In 1997, his surveys revealed 34 craft and souvenir shops selling ivory in Sudan; the latest figure of 50 represents a significant increase.

And further compelling evidence points towards an increasing level of illegal elephant poaching in the region during recent years: in 2004, Baggara horseman from Sudan entered the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Garamba National Park, slaughtering an unknown quantity of elephants and northern white rhinos.

For Sudan itself, there are no reliable figures currently available on elephant numbers, as war in the south of the country has prevented surveys. But of a population of around 133,000 in 1976, previous studies found that numbers had fallen to about 40,000 by 1992. The sale of ivory items in Sudan is legal if the shopkeeper has a government licence, and if the ivory items have been carved from old ivory. But no items made from tusks from recently killed Sudanese elephants are permitted, nor items from imported tusks that date after the 1990 ivory ban of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Almost all the ivory items recently observed for sale in Sudan are from new tusks however. Dr Martin was told that government officials rarely inspect the shops to check whether the ivory is legal or not. As in the case for the world ivory trade, all ivory, whether tusks or ivory items (except antiques with official permits) bought by tourists or for commercial use cannot be exported or imported by countries complying with CITES. Virtually all the items that have been bought in Sudan since 1990 have therefore been leaving the country illegally.

At the 13th CITES Conference of the Parties held in Bangkok in October 2004, an action plan to control the trade in African elephant ivory was approved by all African elephant range states, including Sudan. They are obliged to report to the CITES Secretariat by 31 March 2005 and comply with CITES requirements over internal controls for ivory trade

Copyright for all photographs: Esmond Martin

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