Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Game rangers in Western Equatoria State have recovered seven guns and arrested six poachers in Southern National Park. The acting Director of Wildlife in the Western Equatoria State Ministry of Wildlife Conservation, Major Gen. Joseph Mathew Waure, said the suspects will soon be arraigned.
He emphasised that South Sudan’s transitional constitution prohibits the killing of wild animals. The South Sudan Wild Life Conservation and National Parks Act, 2003, states that areas defined in schedule IV are declared to be national parks. And it says no person shall hunt, cut a plant or capture any animal within a national park.
“No bush meat should be seen in the market, and we made a section on December 1, 2021, that no-poaching should take place in Western Equatoria in general,” Maj Gen Waure stated. He said anti-poaching operations have already begun in the Western Equatoria State, mostly in the protected areas.
“In Maridi we have confiscated two guns, in Bera Potio. We also seized two guns and in Bangangai Game Reserve we seized three guns, and we arrested six in the Southern National Park because that area is restricted and no one should enter the national park without permission,” he stressed.
“These people are a threat to the animals. We did not harm them; we did not do anything to them, but we will take them to the court, ” he said.
“We are appealing to the people of South Sudan and all armed forces not to enter the national park and kill our resources because wildlife resources are more important than the crude oil,” Maj Gen Waure said.
Bengangai Game Reserve is located on the border between South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the west of the town of Yambio. The game reserve was established in 1939 and covers about 170 square kilometres.
In 2019, the government of South Sudan said plans were ongoing to establish special courts to try suspected poachers. However, up to now, no changes have been made.
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