Battle lines drawn in clash over lifting of ivory ban

• Debate at Doha forum expected to be vicious as Kenya takes on Tanzania

A showdown looms between Kenya and Tanzania at an ongoing international meeting in Doha, Qatar.

At the centre of the controversy is a petition by Tanzania and Zambia to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to “downlist” the status of elephants so that the two can sell stockpiled ivory on the open market.

Kenya has opposed this position and has enlisted the support of the United States and the European Union to push its opposition to lifting the ban on ivory trade.

Kenya and 22 other like-minded African countries argue that lifting the ban would open a floodgate for poaching that could decimate the African elephant.

As an indication of how seriously Kenya is taking the matter, President Kibaki has exempted the minister for Forestry and Wildlife, Dr Noah Wekesa, from the recent blanket travel ban imposed on ministers and their assistants.

Dr Wekesa is leading a strong Kenyan delegation to the two-week Cites meeting which started on Saturday. He has been deeply involved in lobbying for the Kenyan position which a month ago took him to Brussels, Belgium, to seek support from the EU.

These last few days, a team of Kenyan technocrats led by Mr Patrick Omondi, the head of species conservation and management at the Kenya Wildlife Service, has been camping in the US, lobbying for support from the world’s most influential government.

Kenya and Mali co-chair the Africa Elephant Coalition (AEC) which comprises 37 elephant range states. Twenty three of them are opposed to the ivory trade.

The proximity of Tanzania to Kenya, both sharing the Mara-Serengeti elephant range, explains partially why the latter is so aggressive in the campaign. Mr Omondi argues that since elephants carry no passports, they cross the border freely.

Debate in Doha is expected to be vicious and furious, with Botswana having fired the first salvo at the weekend.

The country’s minister for Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Onkokame Kitso Mokaila, who will be in Doha, says the position taken by Kenya and her allies is against the spirit of international cooperation.

He says Kenya is undermining all efforts invested by African countries and donors in past meetings held in Mombasa and Gigiri to discuss the elephant, according to the Sunday Standard of Botswana.

Even before the meeting took off, the convener has had to step in and ask the Kenyan allied groups to play fair.

“I was saddened to see that recently this has degenerated into some unwarranted and unjustified attacks upon the objectivity of Cites,” a secretariat official says in a statement.

Tanzania wants to be allowed to sell 90 tonnes of ivory, while Zambia is looking to dispose of nearly 23 tonnes. The two states are supported by the 13-member Southern African Development Community bloc, to which they belong. They are also supported by Japan and China.