British soldiers have flown to West Africa to help step up the fight against elephant poachers.
A 14-strong team, including a tracker from the Royal Gurkha Rifles, will train around 60 men and women in anti-poaching patrols. Led by Northern Ireland-based 2 Rifles, and supported by specialist staff, they will be deployed for six weeks in the Minkebe region, a large area of Gabon with rainforests and few roads.
They will train park rangers and trackers in ambush drills, weapon handling and safety, live firing, navigation skills, patrolling techniques, evidence gathering, first aid, injury prevention in the jungle, fitness and teamwork, and lessons on Gabonese law and rules of engagement.
The British Army will be supporting the Gabon National Parks Agency and will also impart expertise in sharing operational experience, surveillance and analysis, and the collection and use of criminal intelligence to support the prosecution of poaching gangs.
Armed poachers are not only targeting elephants, but also villages and park rangers. Defence minister Julian Brazier said: “We have put our full support behind the Gabonese government in the battle against the scourge of ivory poaching.”
The UK mission, which started last week and follows a similar deployment last August, will be carried out alongside a US military team, and in partnership with the Gabonese government, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and the Department of Environment.
