Two months ago, Tanzania launched a highly controversial, anti-poaching campaign in an attempt to crack down on the surge of killings of elephant and rhino in the east African nation. Dubbed ‘Operation Tokomeza‘, or ‘Operation Terminate‘, the campaign was reported to be operating under a shoot-to-kill policy and made sweeping arrests in areas where poachers were believed to be hiding.
Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Khamis Kagasheki is reported as saying:
‘Soft measures, which we witness today, especially with sentencing for those caught poaching, will not deter poachers … Our own teams in Kenya can arrest a poacher one day and then the next week come up against the same poacher, who having paid a small fine was released by the courts – where’s the deterrent? … I am very aware that some alleged human rights activists will make an uproar, claiming that poachers have as much rights to be tried in courts as the next person, but let’s face it, poachers not only kill wildlife but also usually never hesitate to shoot dead any innocent person standing in their way.’
During the course of the anti-poaching campaign more than 397 suspects have been arrested with 308 of those appearing in court and being charged. The sector had also seen five deaths and 11 injuries.
Recently, the anti-poaching operation was shut down by Tanzanian Parliament due to reports that the lawmakers had committed a litany of human rights abuses, including torture and killing of suspected poachers and illegal seizures of property.
According to a report on Tourism Update, last week Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, told Parliament that the campaign would be relaunched after a review. “We are going to rectify such mistakes and take to task culprits, and later continue with the mission to fight poachers and protect elephants from imminent extinction,” he said, adding that abandoning the operation was tantamount to letting the poachers win,warning that animals were being slaughtered at alarming rates.
A UN report released this year found that Tanzania and Kenya had the worst rates of elephant poaching internationally, accounting for 70% of global ivory trade. The report, titled Transnational Organised Crime in Eastern Africa: A Threat Assessment, warned that the level of poaching in Eastern Africa could significantly threaten the local elephant population.
Main image by Chad Cocking
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