On an article just published on TreeHugger.com, Elephant Action League (EAL) is mentioned as the first that found out already 3 years ago the link between ivory and the activities of the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab.
In 2010-2011, EAL’s director Mr Andrea Crosta and advisor Mr Nir Kalron (Founder & CEO of Maisha Consulting) conducted a 18-month-long undercover investigation between Kenya and Somalia.
They found out that al-Shabaab’s trafficking of ivory through Kenya “could be supplying up to 40% of the funds needed to keep them in business”.
As the author of the article, Chris Tackett, wrote:
“The slaughter of elephants is no doubt a tragedy, but as the deadly attack at the Westgate mall in Kenya shows, the bloodshed fueled by the sale of ivory does not stop with the elephants. Buying ivory helps pay for the bullets and bombs used by terrorists to kill innocent people, including park rangers and now these shoppers in Nairobi.
Highlighting this connection between the sale of ivory and violence is important because a powerful tool in combating the demand for poached ivory is to so thoroughly taint the image of ivory goods that potential consumers are shamed and discouraged from ever buying ivory again”.
TreeHugger.com http://www.treehugger.com/endangered-species/how-elephant-poaching-helped-fund-kenyan-terrorist-attack.html
Here you can find our original report:http://elephantleague.org/project/africas-white-gold-of-jihad-al-shabaab-and-conflict-ivory/
Photo: KWS
