FT941-5453 _AN-ECGC1AAWFT 940307 FT 07 MAR 94 / African task force to combat wildlife traffickers By LESLIE CRAWFORD NAIROBI Law enforcement officers from nine African countries are meeting in Nairobi this week to create a regional task force to fight international crime syndicates dealing in ivory, rhino horn, diamonds, arms and drugs. 'We need a highly mobile team of officers with the authority to operate across borders to penetrate. . . increasingly sophisticated smuggling networks,' says Lt Col Pieter Lategan of the South African police force's Endangered Species Protection Unit. 'With an African task force, we could place wildlife traffickers under surveillance as they move across borders, so that entire networks, and not just individuals, could be apprehended,' he said. Trafficking in wildlife is on the rise, and has become linked to illegal trade in weapons and drugs across southern and eastern Africa. Mr Lategan's unit impounded 2,200 tusks last year - hacked into 22,000 cubes to facilitate smuggling - compared with 130 tusks in 1992. Kenya seized more than 1,000 kg of ivory in 1993 in a case involving five Koreans and one Ethiopian smuggler. Officials from Kenya's Wildlife Service, who have won plaudits worldwide for their anti-poaching efforts, say they need freedom to cross borders when pursuing poachers and smugglers. They would also welcome extradition treaties to trap ring leaders of international networks. Zambia arrested 1,500 poachers in 1993 and seized more than 2,000 automatic weapons. Uganda is concerned with the growing trade in chimpanzees and rare birds. Swaziland says it has lost 60 per cent of its white rhino population since poachers invaded the landlocked kingdom in 1988. 'Hardened criminals are what we are often up against,' says a Swazi police officer. 'They deal not only in poaching, but in gun-running, drugs, grand larceny and murder.' Mozambique, which is emerging from a 17-year civil war, has become a free-for-all for poaching gangs, including foreign armed forces who regularly invade Mozambique from neighbouring countries. According to the law enforcement officers at the Nairobi conference, it is known that Zambians and Malawians hunt elephants in Tete province, while Tanzanians and Somalis operate along the Rovuma river in northern Mozambique. Officers believe an African Task Force would give them more power to address corruption within their own customs, police and armed forces. The delegates, from Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia hope the anti-smuggling task force will be operational in 12 months. Countries:- KEZ Kenya, Africa. ZMZ Zambia, Africa. MZZ Mozambique, Africa. Industries:- P9512 Land, Mineral, Wildlife Conservation. P9221 Police Protection. Types:- NEWS General News. The Financial Times London Page 4