Word: mens
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Between Africa, littered with the bloated carcasses of elephants, and the huge stockpiles of the Far East is a trail marked by secrecy and deceit. It is a trail traveled by ruthless poachers, cunning smugglers, corrupt and inept officials, and the barons of the trade: a handful of men who have never seen an elephant in the wild. They and their wealthy customers do not understand -- or choose not to -- the high cost of this trade. They do not see the herds mowed down by automatic assault rifles, the tusks frantically hacked from the skulls and the orphaned and wounded...
...many of Africa's poachers operate with the cold precision of a crack military unit. They are well armed and organized into gangs of up to ten men. Their weapons, often AK-47 assault rifles, can pepper a herd with 30 rounds in less than five seconds. Frequently they are ex-army men. When they run into antipoaching units, they respond as trained soldiers would, withdrawing and firing, then scattering and rendezvousing hours or days later at prearranged sites. In Angola rebels help finance military operations with ivory. Among the larger bands of poachers, some men are designated as cooks...
Hong Kong's traders, retailers and carvers -- about 3,000 people in all -- are already suffering from the U.S., European and Japanese bans. Kwong Fat Cheung Ivory once employed 100 carvers. Now there are five, all old men, who at night can be found sitting around a table eating a silent dinner of silvery fish, cabbage and egg. Behind them is a wall of ivory tusks in burlap sacks that were destined for Taiwan until that country declared a ban in August. "There is nothing to give them to do," says Eddie Huen, one of five brothers...
...many as 30,000 Japanese draw their living from ivory -- as traders, carvers and merchants. But the import trade is controlled by a few. Two men, Takaichi in Osaka and Kitagawa in Tokyo, have accounted for as much as half the ivory entering Japan in recent years. Kitagawa, 47, is a stern man who presides over an industry in turmoil. He was twelve when he was introduced to what has been his family's business for nearly a century. His showroom, scanned by video cameras and kept moist by humidifiers, features a towering ivory pagoda and cases filled with ornate...
Washington says the rebels requested only that U.S. forces prevent two units of about 200 men with light infantry weapons from reaching Noriega at his headquarters. The Americans at Fort Amador obstructed the movement of the P.D.F. 5th Infantry Company, which shares the Amador base. American units from Howard Air Force base were positioned to block the nearby Bridge of the Americas over the canal to prevent the arrival of the P.D.F. 7th Infantry Company from its base some 60 miles southwest of the capital. In neither case were U.S. forces challenged...