International News

NAIROBI, (APP/AFP): Eleven giant pyres of tusks
will be set on fire Saturday as Kenya torches its vast ivory
stockpile in a grand gesture aimed at shocking the world into
stopping the slaughter of elephants.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who will be the first
to light the semi-circle of tusks expected to burn for days in
Nairobi’s national park, on Friday demanded a total ban on trade
in ivory to end trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants
in the wild.
“To lose our elephants would be to lose a key part of the
heritage that we hold in trust. Quite simply, we will not allow
it,” Kenyatta said at a meeting of African heads of state and conservationists. “We will not be the Africans who stood by as
we lost our elephants.”
The historic bonfires will be the largest-ever torching
of ivory, involving 105 tonnes from thousands of dead elephants,
dwarfing by seven times any stockpile burned before.
Another 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn will also be burned,
representing the killing of some 340 of the endangered
animals.