REPUBLIQUE GABONAISE UNION-TRAVAIL-JUSTICE

Dclaration de
Son Excellence Monsieur Ali BONGO ONDIMBA
Prsident de la Rpublique Gabonaise,
Chef de lEtat



Clinton Global Initiative - Elephant Protection Initiative meeting








New York, le 23 Septembre, 2014





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My Fellow Presidents,
Secretary Clinton,
Ministers,
Ambassadors,
Distinguished Representatives of NGOs and Civil
society,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last year, at the invitation of Hilary and Chelsea, I joined several
of my fellow African presidents, as well as NGO leaders, on
stage here at the Clinton Global Initiative. Our aim was to shine
the international spotlight on the ivory poaching crisis in Africa
and to make a commitment to work together to turn the tide.

In London in February of this year, at the invitation of Her
Majesty's Government and their Royal Highnesses Princes
Charles, William and Harry, we convened again to discuss global
solutions to wildlife crime.

It was at that event that Gabon, home to two thirds of the forest
elephants, joined with Botswana, home to two thirds of the
savanna elephants, as well as Chad, Ethiopia and Tanzania, to
launch the Elephant Protection Initiative.

Our intention was three-fold:

Firstly, to create a platform that would stimulate African
Governments to come together and develop African solutions to
save our iconic elephant.

Secondly, to encourage consumer nations to take action to close
all illegal markets for ivory - specifically, calling for at least a 10-
year moratorium on ivory trade, with the intention to maintain
the moratorium until elephant populations have recovered.
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And thirdly, to encourage partner governments and NGOs to
mobilize the technical and financial support, in tandem with our
own commitments, that will be necessary to secure a viable
future for elephants throughout their range.

It is very promising that we have been able to bring EPI and
CGI together today, and I take this opportunity to encourage
you all to join with EPI and CGI in calling for a moratorium and
to work with us to undertake concrete actions to save Africa's
elephants.

Our collective actions will determine the future of Africa's
savanna and forest elephants.

In the past decade we have seen resurgence in poaching. Indeed,
in many places it has become a massacre and the elephants have
become refugees, forever on the move in their attempt to dodge
the poachers' bullets.

The brutality of the poachers can be shocking - sometimes firing
Kalashnikov rounds into elephants' legs to immobilize them and
then hacking the tusks and trunk off as their victim writhes in
agony. If they were humans this would be classified as war crimes and
genocide.

These same poachers do not hesitate to fire upon our wildlife
rangers, leaving literally hundreds of conservation widows and
orphans mourning their husbands and fathers.

The killing has to stop now.

Thank you.