Word: somalia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There is considerable mystery about how the ivory gets from Africa to the Far East. Over the past decade, as much as four-fifths of that ivory has been of illegal origin -- poached, then smuggled. Sometimes the poachers cross borders to hunt, as from Somalia into Kenya or Zambia into Zimbabwe, then carry the tusks back by night. Some poachers are tribal villagers, illiterate and poor, who stalk their prey on foot, walking for weeks, living off game. A poacher in Kenya says he believes tribal charms make him invisible to antipoaching units. He buries his tusks in the village...
...with the distraught Ahmed and alerted the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in London of Ahmed's plight. Ahmed was soon assured by UNHCR that he would receive assistance in Cairo, so he flew back to Egypt. But when the Egyptians tried to send him to Somalia, Ahmed kicked and screamed. The Somalian Ambassador was called in, and he acknowledged that Ahmed would be imprisoned if he landed in Somalia. So the Ethiopian was returned to Cyprus...
...poachers, and smugglers have little trouble getting the ivory out of Africa. Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi has reportedly financed his insurrection with ivory taken from more than 100,000 elephants. Some countries seem to be conduits for the illegal trade. With roughly 4,500 elephants of its own, Somalia has still managed to export tusks from an estimated 13,800 elephants in the past three years, evidence that the country has been providing false documents for ivory poached elsewhere. In response, the U.S. is expected this week to announce a ban on imports of Somalian ivory...
What is not so well known is that hundreds of grass-roots organizations in Africa are taking action to cope with environmental change. Somalia has launched a vigorous antidesertification drive that includes a ban on cutting firewood. In Burkina Faso villagers have responded to steadily dwindling rainfall by building handmade dams and adapting primitive water-gathering techniques. Even so simple a trick as putting stones along the contour lines of a field to catch rainwater can make the difference between an adequate harvest and no harvest...
Worst hit was the far northern province of Eritrea along the Red Sea, where the crop failure exceeded 80%. More than 40% of the harvest was lost in Tigre, 44% in Wollo and 35% in Harar, the Ogaden desert region that juts into Somalia. Altogether, nine of Ethiopia's 14 provinces are suffering food shortages...