Jornal de Angola
Carlos Paulino,
July 18, 2018
Four poachers, Angolan, Namibian, and Zambian, were sentenced in the province
of Cuando Cubango to five years in prison for the slaughter of more than 40
elephants in the municipalities of Rivungo and Dirico, per the director of
the Service of Criminal Investigation (SIC).
Subcommittee Miguel Arcanjo Sumbo said it was a crime against the
environment, recalling that the slaughter of the animals took place between
January of last year and June of this year, with SIC seizing 84 tusks,
corresponding to 42 elephants.
Miguel Arcanjo Sumbo condemned the action and recalled that Cuando Cubango
is still the preferred location for poachers, especially those of Namibian
and Zambian nationality, due to the vulnerability of the border between
Angola and its respective countries.
?Unfortunately, as long as the borders remain vulnerable and still
aggravated by having a reduced number of environmental inspectors
combatting this practice, there is a risk of similar situations occurring,?
he warned.
Meanwhile, the director of the SIC ensured that he continues to work in
coordination with the other organs of the Ministry of the Interior, with
emphasis on the Migration and Foreigners Service, the National Police, and
the Border Guard, in order to reverse the current scenario, which it
considers to be a matter of concern.
As part of the actions carried out between January 2017 and June of this
year, the SIC also registered 4,046 crimes of a different nature, of which
2,404 were reported by the population and 1,642 by operational initiatives.
These criminals should get life sentences with hard time!!
Angola is awash with weapons dating back to the civil war. The south-east, where most elephants are, is poor and has no government investment because it was the rebel heartland. Poor Angolans are easy prey for the criminal syndicates that are behind poaching. They should be the targets.
The target is all: Who sent and who executed. The enforcement of appropriate penalties leads the warrants to better assess the possibilities of escaping unharmed from their criminal actions. Criminal networks are also volatile, their members will also be replaced when arrested – there is no vacuum of power. We must value all police and judicial actions that cause, even minimally, monetary damages, as well as causing negative impacts on the hiring of criminal labor.
Angola is losing its wildlife at an alarming rate. If the issue of conservation is conditioned to the resolution of the social and economic issues of its poorest population, local extinction will be inevitable. This country has undertaken to take effective measures against illegal hunting when it has formalized its participation in the Kavango-Zambezi TFCA.
Please STOP endangering this species. Poaching is out of style in today’s society.
Poaching is wrong but it is a fact of life in much of the world where Western inspired conservation policies stop local people gaining any value from wildlife other than through poaching.
Stop the madness
This is horrific, stop this senseless killing.