An SPLA colonel was caught earlier this week at the Juba bridge smuggling 250 kg of poached bush meat in a pick-up.
This was announced by the director of the South Sudan Wildlife Service, Maj. Gen. Philip Chol, on Wednesday.
Addressing journalists at the wildlife headquarters in Juba, Chol said it was the third such incident involving SPLA officers.
A week earlier, two colonels were caught at a checkpoint in Mangala, along the Juba-Bor road, with 26 sacks of bush meat.
“The colonels, who came from Boma, jumped out of their cars, threatened the security at the check point with guns and drove off,” he told the press.
In the third case, a colonel was detected in Bor with heaps of meat in his pickup and the wildlife service has filed a case against him.
However, he said, nobody has been arrested over the crimes. In the case of the catch at Juba bridge, his forces took the colonel to his army unit and reported the incident to his commander.
The commander then told them to keep the exhibit and promised to send the colonel when he was needed for the investigation, Chod said.
According to the wildlife director, killing wild animals has now become a business, as opposed to the past when it was mainly done to feed the troops or for home consumption.
He lamented that instead of defending the country and protecting its resources, the army was busy destroying the wildlife.
The director noted that the trade is taking place along the migration route of animals, from Boma through Gadiang to Toch, which also happens to be the frontline.
He listed white eared kobs and Tiang as the majority of the animals being killed, particularly those who stray near the army barracks north of Bor.
Chol estimates that soldiers may be killing up to 600 wild animals a day, warning that at this rate, wildlife will soon be eliminated in the coun-try.
“If you see this meat, it may amount to about 20 animals. And this was caught with only one colonel,” he said, pointing at this week’s catch.
“They sell the meat. Is this not destruction of South Sudan’s resources? Most of the people in-volved are in the organised forces.”
He said neighbouring countries like Uganda and Kenya are protecting their wildlife for the benefit of tourism, yet South Sudanese are busy destroying theirs.
“Why are we not keeping our wildlife? Why are we not protecting these useful resources?” he wondered.
Chol said he was surprised that colonels, who are supposed to protect the country’s resources and should understand the benefits of wildlife, were involved in the trade.
“If this is done by the organised forces, what should we expect from civilians? A civilian may not understand the importance.”
He also wondered who will stop ordinary sol-diers from poaching if their commanders, who are supposed to discipline them, are doing it themselves.
“Who will talk to the forces if their commanders, who are supposed to warn them that they are destroying the economy, are the ones doing so?”
He disclosed that he has written a lot of letters to the SPLA command but he has not received any response.
“The letters informed them that they were de-stroying the country but I don’t see any mobilisa-tion to protect the wildlife or put a halt to poach-ing,” he said.
He also said he has written to the interior minister, requesting him to raise the issue in the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Chod said they had information that people were camped in the parks for the specific pur-pose of poaching, adding that he has sent forces to locate the camps.
The director also announced that they have de-ployed more forces in the most affected areas but they lack transport means to patrol all the parks.
“We have deployed about 200 forces in Badin-gilo National Park. Our forces are walking on foot but they are not really effective since the area is large.”
He said poaching is also taking place in Sambe National Park in Western Equatoria state, and in parks in Bahr El Ghazel and Eastern Equatoria states.
Chol denied reports that his forces are them-selves involved in poaching, saying these are meant to tarnish the reputation of the wildlife forces.
Prior to the current crisis, Chol noted that animals were returning from Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Central Africa where they took refuge during the civil war with Sudan.
“During that short period of peace, there was a good population of animals returning. But now they are just running back due to the war and the poaching,” he said.
He warned of the risk of an ebola outbreak if people continue to eat meat of wild animals.
Already, he said, an unknown disease was killing warthogs in Nimule National Park which could spread to human beings.
“A lot of warthogs are reportedly dying in Nimule National Park. Until now there is no proper report of what disease is killing them,” he said.
Explaining the value of wildlife, Peter Manase, coordinator of Interpol’s wildlife department, referred to the Bible.
He said when Noah entered the boat to escape the floods, God asked him to take a pair of every animal species because of their importance to mankind.
The Interpol coordinator confirmed that poaching in South Sudan is everywhere. Apart from antelopes, he said poaching of elephants for ivory was another serious problem.
He identified Lantoto, Nimule and Sambe na-tional parks as the places where elephant poach-ing was the worst.
According to him Rumbek is the biggest market of ivory in South Sudan. “In Rumbek we caught an Egyptian and a Chinese man with a lot of ivory last year,” he said.
“When we brought them to Juba, they escaped from custody and their whereabouts are un-known.”
He explained that national and international traders use the local communities to do the ac-tual poaching by giving them money.
“The local communities go far in the bush, on foot, to poach the elephants. The traders then buy the ivory from the local market,” he said.
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