Mozambique incinerated 2.5 tons of confiscated ivory and rhino horn this week, but will it end the illicit trade fuelling rampant wildlife poaching? Not unless corruption on the ground is dealt with, writes Estacios Valoi Mozambique’s Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development Celso Correia puts the flame to 618 elephant tusks and 86 rhino horns Aided by official complicity, Mozambican, Tanzanian and Somali poachers slaughter the elephants with high-calibre weapons and smuggle the ivory through Mozambican ports, airports and borders, destined mainly for China and Vietnam. In 2014 the Wildlife Conservation Society warned that between 1,500 and 1,800 elephants are being slaughtered annually in Mozambique, saying that “elephant poaching has been industrialised” along the northern borders of the country. According to Cornelio Miguel, administrator of the Niassa National Reserve, an average of five elephants is being slaughtered each day. As a result, the population of elephants in Niassa reduced dramatically from 20,374 to less than 13,000 between 2009 and 2013. In the Quirimbas National Park in Cabo Delgado province, administrator Baldeu Chande estimates the elephant population had crashed from 2,000 in 2008 to about 400 in January 2015. Recently 114 elephant carcasses were discovered at Taratibu inside the park. I witnessed this reality on the ground in Niassa National Reserve in October 2014, driving almost 400 kilometers each day, going for hours without a glimpse of tarmac, sometimes with the fear of becoming lunch or dinner for wildlife, or the target of poachers or corrupt authorities. I also covered Quirimbas National Park in Cabo Delgado province, where the scenario was not much different. Speaking to rangers in both parks, it was clear they felt undermined by a legal system which enables poachers to be released and does not punish the criminal syndicates backed by Mozambican officials involved in the illicit trade. At the Mecula Police Station in Niassa, I spoke to elephant poaching suspects António Bernardo and Paulo Nhenge. A Niassa ranger displays the tusk of a poached bull elephant. Photo: Estacios Valoi Bernardo, also linked to rhino horn smuggling from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, had been arrested by Niassa rangers in possession of AK-47 rifles. Nhenge was arrested in possession of firearms, but claimed he only killed elephants on orders from a local military commander. The two suspects appeared serene, as if they were biding their time while waiting for the day of their release. This did not take long, because a week later they “escaped” while being transferred from the police holding cells to prison. Bernardo was recaptured on January 23 2015. He told people in Niassa National Reserve that he had paid a bribe of $16,129 to the Mecula prosecutor and the police chief of operations to release him and Nhenge who is still on running. Before their escape, I asked the Mecula police commander, Alberto Manuel Imede, about the alleged involvement of the local civil police, border patrol, and legal and judicial systems in supporting poaching syndicates and the illicit trade. He avoided answering directly, and instead ran into a police cell where poaching suspects were locked up, to show the commitment of his department. “They are not released, we have no corruption,” he said, pointing out several poachers being detained in Mecula police station who were due to be transferred to the court in nearby Marupa. Later Imede laid the blame for the escape of Bernardo and Nhenge on the local prosecuting authority. But Mecula prosecutor Danilo Tiago refuted this: “It seems to have been planned,” he said. “I spoke with Bernardo after he was recaptured and he told me that he did not escape. We are still investigating about the money.” Tiago would not say if the police chief of operation had received the bribe money, and said he was surprised to hear that Benardo mentioned his own name in connection with the $16,129 bribe. In Cabo Delgado province, home to the Quirimbas National Park, there was a similar situation of high-ranking officials being involved and the legal system facilitating the release of people involved in poaching syndicates with the “silence of the Mozambican general attorney”. No investigation was conducted into the role played by prominent figures in the ruling Frelimo government, such as the chief secretary of Muaja village, Horaio Radio. Police commander Dora Manuel Manjate received a bonus and was transferred to Inhambane Dora Manuel Manjate, the former Cabo Delgado provincial police commander, was implicated in facilitating the smuggling of ivory, illegal timber and rubies by Chinese company Mofid.