British troops are being sent to central Africato aid hitch elephant poachers , in a tender to tackle international terrorism . The soldier will educate local eco - guards in how to gather evidence , practice firearm , and enlist with poacher , who are using the funds raised from selling the pearl of slaughter elephants to buy artillery used by extremist across the continent .
Sixteen UK soldiers , chiefly from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles , are being sent to the thick rain forest of Gabon , where elephant poaching has annihilate the lesser - known African forest elephant . They will train the local Mungo Park rangers in how to cover the poachers through the challenging terrain , as well as how to deal with any groups of hunter they may encounter , who are frequently armed with rocket - propel grenades and AK47s .
While some elephant populations in African are on the rise , the smaller forest elephant is suffering heavily from poaching . It is recollect that in Gabon alone , their numbers havedecline by over 60 percent in just a decade . It is now in full known that the profits from this slaughterare funding terrorists groupsthat impersonate an external threat .
With the global pitch-black market place for illegal wildlife production thought to be deserving somewherein the region of $ 23 billion annually – thrum only by the deal in arms , drugs , and people – it is no wonder that terrorist organizations have moved into the market place dominated by criminal gangs .
Poachers believed to be associate to the Nigerian terrorist chemical group Boko Haram , responsible for for the kidnapping of 270 school little girl in 2014 , are thought to be responsible for for the cleanup of 25,000 elephant in a single area of Gabon alone in the last 10 years . Another investigating found that ivory from elephants slaughtered in the primal African rainforest made its way into the hands of the Lord ’s Resistance Army , a Christian furore famed by its drawing card Joseph Kony and their use of child soldiers .
This is not the first time that UK soldier have been deployed overseas , or even to Gabon , to help African Carry Amelia Moore Nation deal with concerning levels of elephant poaching . The army hope that by helping to protect elephants , they will in release help to shut off a major root of tax revenue for these groups , which have been fan out their influence and their violence further and further afield .
