10 Oct 2018

President Mokgweetsi Masisi is in London to attend a two-day Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) conference slated for today and tomorrow.

The president and his entourage, who arrived in the United Kingdom capital Tuesday, were welcomed at London’s Stansted Airport by the Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Dr Unity Dow and Botswana’s acting high commissioner to the UK Ms Faith Daniel.

It is expected that the conference will present President Masisi with an opportunity to shed more light to both global leaders and conservationists on what really transpired in the so-called elephant massacre story that recently made headlines, particularly in the western media.

He is also anticipated to share with the world international best practices on conservation that has seen the country’s wilderness swarm with wild animals.

President Masisi and indeed the government of Botswana have used every opportunity to dismiss the Elephant Without Borders (EWB) reports alleging wholesale slaughter of elephants by poachers.

During his recent visit to the US, President Masisi described the alleged massacre of 87 elephants as a shocker and the biggest hoax of the century.

“Rest assured that not in Botswana will poachers have a field day; they may not come back, please warn them,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Dr Dow said in an interview on Tuesday that the purpose of the visit, marshalled by President Masisi, was a continuation of the discussion he had started in Botswana.

According to Minister Dow,  Botswana was bringing to the conference two clear messages; the fact that poaching was a policing issue that needed to be maintained and stepped up and that of conservation with a human face, where communities co-existing with wildlife were taken on board regarding issues of animal protection.

“We love elephants, but it has to be noted that every farm, ranch and land has a carrying capacity of human beings, animals and flora.

What do you do when the very herd that you are trying to protect outgrows their habitat?” she asked rhetorically.

Government, she said, was optimistic that the conference will come up with pragmatic solutions to deal with the issue of human-wildlife conflict once and for all. ENDs