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Uganda’s Museveni Shows Other African Leaders How To Save Elephants

Uganda’s Museveni Shows Other African Leaders How To Save Elephants

At the height of Idi Amin’s dictatorial rule in Uganda in the late 1970’s government soldiers roamed the wilderness tossing grenades at helpless herds cowering behind bushes of what was estimated to be about 35,000 elephants.

The troops will then hack out the ivory from the carcasses with machetes and axes and transport them to Kampala where they were packed into containers and shipped off to Asian and Middle Eastern countries to be forged into ornaments.

It was total anarchy and chaos until 1979 when Amin was disposed by the Tanzanian military. The jumbo massacre did not however stop immediately and by 1985 there were only 1,000 elephants left roaming the landlocked East African nation, according to a report by The Independent.

“There was a total breakdown of conservation,” Akankwasa Barirega of the Ugandan wildlife ministry told The Independent. “Elephants were being killed to trade the ivory; for food. There was no governance. It was chaos.”

But that has changed for the better over the last three decades after longstanding President Yoweri Museveni took over and put in place a total ban to ivory trade in Uganda.

After Idi Amin

“After Idi Amin many species were almost extinct,” President Museveni said at his official residence in Kampala, where he signed up to ‘The Giant Club’ that committed Uganda to a total ban on ivory trade for at least 10 years.

Uganda now joins Kenya and Gabon in the new pan-African project.

“Now we are working to improve things. We arrested the poachers. The national parks are now teeming with elephant, buffalo and other animals,” Museveni added.

It is estimated that elephant populations in the country has now grown to 8,000 and keeps increasing, as the government keeps up with a zero tolerance policy on poaching of any kind.

The country is now planning to amend the wildlife Act to introduce a 20-year sentence for anyone caught trading in animal parts within its jurisdiction.

Conservationists say this is one of the best success stories in a continent known for not paying much attention to conservation efforts and say that Museveni’s policies should be emulated by other African leaders.

Poaching in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to kill about 100 elephants a day, which if not stopped could see the continent’s quickly shrinking jumbo population wiped out by the year 2030.

“Uganda demonstrates the critical role African leaders can play,” said Dr Graham of Space for Giants after the signing ceremony.

“When there is leadership from the top wildlife can be saved. President Museveni’s joining the Giants Club is a major milestone in the battle to save the continent’s elephants.”