Tax body to create special unit for illegal wildlife trade

Uganda Wildlife Authority law enforcement officers collect some of the ivory that was impounded at the Entebbe International Airport early this year. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

What you need to know:

Ivory confiscations. East African countries accounted for 80 per cent of the major ivory confiscations in Africa in 2013.

Kampala. Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is set to start a specialised unit in the customs department to handle illegal wildlife trade.
The move to combat wildlife trafficking comes at a time when Uganda and its neighbours of Kenya and Tanzania, have been cited as transit routes for huge stocks of ivory headed to Asian countries.

Reports from the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and Interpol indicate that in 2014, global large-scale ivory seizures reached record levels, and many of these seizures occurred in East Africa, or in transit in Asia with an East African origin.

Speaking at the closure of a five-day training on preventing wildlife trafficking on Friday, organised by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Mr James Kisaale, the URA assistant commissioner enforcement, noted: “We are going to create a specialised unit in customs to deal with wildlife trafficking.”

According to Mr Kisaale, a tripartite agreement between URA, Uganda Wildlife Authority and Interpol will be signed through a Memorandum of Understanding to create strong operations on illegal wildlife trade.

“Over 70 enforcement officers from Customs, UWA, Criminal Investigations Intelligence Department (CIID), and Interpol were trained and awarded with certificates of building wildlife law enforcement,” said Kisaale.

Earlier at the opening of the training, URA Commissioner General, Ms Doris Akol said East African countries accounted for 80 per cent of the major ivory confiscations in Africa in 2013.

Mr Kelvin Alie, the IFAW director of the Wildlife trade programme, said the whole idea is aimed at combatting illegal wild life trade especially in the Central, East Africa and the Horn of Africa region through networks and collaborations.

“The major challenges contributing to wildlife trafficking are the porous borders and limited ability to detect wildlife products. Uganda is not a source of ivory but a transit route for this illegal trade,” Mr Alie observed.

Mr James Isiche, the regional detector of IFAW, said: “As the East Africa Community gets stronger, we hope the results will translate to wildlife conservation in the region.”

ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS WORLDWIDE

Statistics released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), show that more than 20,000 elephants were killed worldwide by poachers in 2014 for their ivory tusks. However, the number of elephants killed was slightly down from the 22,000 elephants killed in 2012 and the 25,000 poached in 2011.