Ex-poachers turn the tables on their former fellow contempories
November 2013: Two victories in the battle against elephant poaching in the Congo have been achieved by the Odzala-Kokoua National Park’s eco-guard unit, which now has former poachers in its ranks. The first involved the arrest and conviction of a Congolese regional ivory kingpin in July, and the second involved the arrest of an alleged major Chinese ivory trader in October.
The Odzala eco-guard unit comprises of former poachers who applied for the park’s ground-breaking amnesty programme at the end of last year. The inaugural “poacher-to-protector” amnesty programme was launched last December with a word-of-mouth drive via existing eco-guards and with official notification letters to the chiefs of villages surrounding the park. Poachers who entered the amnesty programme were required to hand in their illegal weapons and provide written statements detailing their poaching crimes. As part of the amnesty programme, they were entitled to take part in a selection and training programme for new eco-guards in the park.
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