SURVIVOR RANGER MOVES MOURNERS TO TEARS

A Kenya Wildlife Service ranger who recently survived a fierce shootout moved mourners to tears when he recounted his encounter with heavily armed poachers.

Mr. Ben Karienkei, 23, told mourners at the burial of Mr. Bernard Makhisa in Kenya’s Kakamega District, how he narrowly escaped death in the incident that claimed the lives of his three colleagues.

The KWS rangers, Mr. Nur Abdi Ali, Mr. Ali Thabir Mohammed and Mr. Makhisa, were gunned down by a gang of poachers during an operation in Tana River District in mid May 2007.

The three were part of a seven-member ranger force that was on patrol at 1.45 am in the Idsowe Area of Tana River after getting intelligence reports about the movement of the poachers.

KWS director Julius Kipng’etich assured mourners that the death of the rangers would not be in vain and called on more protection of wildlife for posterity.

At the same time, Mr. Abdikazir Dahir Ahmed, the ranger who was injured in the fierce shootout and taken to Karen Hospital, has been discharged and is out of danger.

Meanwhile, the three killed rangers are being considered for a posthumous award, said Mr Bill Clark, the chairman of the Interpol Working Group on Wildlife Crime. He said the international security agency would make the rangers the pioneers of the roll of honour scheme.

Mr. Clark added that officials of the group had in principle agreed to create a roll of honour in memory of security officers who sacrifice their lives in protection of wildlife. They would be honoured alongside three Chadian rangers killed by poachers recetly while guarding elephants.

He was speaking at the Wilson Airport in Nairobi where he joined KWS staff in seeing off the bodies and the bereaved families who were flown to Wajir and Garissa for burial.

Mr. Clark, who was part of the delegates attending the African Consultative Workshop on CITES in Nairobi, called on other countries to support Kenya’s proposal for extension of the ban in ivory trade.

He said trade in ivory had become “vicious and money-driven”, noting that two years ago, 1kg of ivory cost US$200 in Japan and China but had risen to US$850 at the moment, providing a financial incentive for poachers to kill elephants for tusks.

Mr. Clark called on countries in the Far East to start closing down their domestic markets in ivory. The ivory ban has been in force for the last 18 years but its trade has been in Japan and China.

The bodies of the three rangers were flown to Nairobi and taken to the mortuary for a postmortem examination.

Two of the bodies were flown to Garissa and Wajir for burial while the third was buried in Kakamega District in Western Kenya.

During the fierce exchange of fire, the rangers killed four poachers while others escaped with injuries. Two AK 47 assault rifles, 440 rounds of ammunition, two axes and several other assorted items were recovered. The poachers were crossing the Tana River from the East bank to the western side and are suspected to have been targeting a rhino sanctuary in Tsavo West National Park.

Poachers usually cross over from Somalia into Kenya every rainy season.

An intensive hunt for the poachers who escaped is currently under way. It involves the Kenya Wildlife Service rangers, the police and the local administration.

Mr. Kipng’etich and other senior security officers flew to the site of the incident a few hours after the incident and coordinated the operation.

Wajir South MP Abdirahman Hassan, who was at the airport to see off the body of one of the rangers who was his constituent, called on other countries to support the Kenya-Mali proposal on the suspension of trade in ivory. He wished Mr. Ahmed, the injured ranger, who is also his constituent, quick recovery.