Africa vs Africa conflict dominates CITES summit

Elephants PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG
Elephants PIC: PHATSIMO KAPENG

The Southern African region is having a tough time at the ongoing CITES summit in Panama, as a strong West African bloc has led opposition to several key proposals the region is pursuing for its wildlife.

Information coming out of the Conference of Parties (CoP), CITES’ (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) highest decision-making meeting held every three years, indicates that key proposals being pursued by Botswana and its regional neighbours have suffered setbacks.

The proposals include a once-off ivory sale of government-owned ivory stockpiles with the restriction that the funds are used for conservation initiatives. The last such sale took place in 2008 and before that, another sale was permitted in 1999.

Editor's Comment
Inspect the voters' roll!

The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...

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