Kenya lights world’s biggest ivory bonfire to show ‘strength of resolve’ to eradicate trafficking
Eleven giant pyres of tusks, and another of rhino horns, are arranged in a semicircle now expected to burn for days in Nairobi’s National Park.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire on Saturday to the world’s biggest ivory bonfire, after demanding a total ban on trade in tusks and horns to end “murderous” trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
“The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve,” Kenyatta said, before setting fire to the pyres.
“No one, and I repeat no one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage.”
Eleven giant pyres of tusks, and another of rhino horns, are arranged in a semicircle now expected to burn for days in Nairobi’s National Park.
Huge white clouds of smoke spiralled high into the sky, with thousands of litres of diesel and kerosene injected though steel pipes buried in the ground leading into the heart of the pyramids to fuel the blaze.
No one, and I repeat no one, has any business in trading in ivory
President Ali Bongo from Gabon, who lit one of the pyres, spoke of the “massacre” of forest elephants in central Africa, and said he backed moves to close all sale of ivory.