Some of the latest news reaching us reveals that Mr. Jakaya Kikwete the president of Tanzania has not long ago sworn in members on a commission of inquiry that is to investigate claims of abuse by the police during the anti-poaching operations that were made by the government.
Hamisi Msumi a former ambassador as well as Retired principal judge is going to lead the commission comprising of four members charged with claims that are still being investigated by the pastoralists that the police abused them as they were carrying out anti-poaching operation. However the time frame for their work has not been announced yet.
Atotal of Six officials, among whom were 4 ministers, were last year in the month of December dismissed over these very same allegations. In January President Kikwete declared that efforts to fight poaching would resume.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism On Tuesday revealed that the Government of Germany has promised 2.3 billion shillings / $1.4 million to help in the battle against the poaching of elephants inside the renowned Selous Game Reserve, which is among Africa’s most loved wildlife reserve.
The Selous reserve or Nyerere National Park is among the largest wildlife Habitats and it is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site, covering an area of 50,000 sq km and it is estimated that more than 1308 elephants live inside this habitat.
The number of elephants over the past few years has decreased by almost 70% and this is mainly as a result of poaching.
It is usually not easy to ever see elephants in the northern section of the Selous Reserve which is principally visited for photographic tourism. Today the estimated number of elephants within the country is only 50,000, meaning that more than 50% of them have unfortunately been lost to poaching in the last ten years.
The country has over the final years seen an unusual increase in the size of poaching business and it has lost thousands of elephants taking into consideration the figures obtained from the last main census that was carried out 2006/ 2007
Sad to mention is that these poachers are merely male youthful Tanzanians without shoes, in possession of old firearms, a handful of bullets, poison and a couple of pumpkins. A few of them are given heavier guns as well as several bullets
In the statement released by the ministry, it was stated that the decreasing quantity of elephants inside this reserve compelled the government to take strategic efforts to fight this unbecoming vice of poaching through increasing manpower as well as material support to tackle poaching.
