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Republic of Congo burns 5 tons of ivory

Xinhua, April 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou N'Guesso and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby Itno on Wednesday burnt five tons of ivory seized from poachers.

The operation took place in front of Republic of Congo's Parliament in Brazzaville, in the presence of environment ministers from the Central African region and representatives of international environmental conservation NGOs.

"We have emptied our ivory stock piles which were seized from fraudsters, and we have drawn a line that from today, we shall be very tough on poachers," Republic of Congo's Forestry Minister Henri Djombo said.

"When compared to other countries, the phenomenon of poaching is minor in Congo. This is because of our conservation policy that has seen the number of our elephants increase from 10,000 in 1980s to 40,000 today," he affirmed.

Head of an NGO called SOS Elephants, Stephanie Voergniault, termed the president's move as "symbolic, since it halts movement of ivory."

"It is a message sent both to buyers as well as traffickers of ivory," Voergniault said.

The burning of the ivory tusks took place during an international conference on illegal exploitation and sale of African wildlife which is being held in Brazzaville under the theme "Securing African biodiversity for posterity and global peace."

Addressing participants, Sassou N'Guesso said the problem of poaching remains a major concern on the African continent where the number of elephants has dropped from over 1 million in 1980s to 450,000 today.

"It is the responsibility of the international community to stop man's predatory mentality, to make him understand the need for protecting plants and not eliminate any animal unless the need to do so is vital," the Congolese president said. Endi