Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army poaching elephants for cash

The Enough Project, the Satellite Sentinel Project and two other groups said in the report that the LRA has turned to elephant poaching (Reuters)

Members of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a militia run by the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, are killing elephants across Central Africa to raise funds, according to a report by watchdog organisations.

The Enough Project, the Satellite Sentinel Project and two other groups said in the report released yesterday that the LRA has turned to elephant poaching “as a means to sustain itself”.

“With prices at record-high levels, trading illegal ivory offers the LRA another way to sustain itself,” the report said. “Former senior fighters who defected from the group report that the LRA trades ivory for arms, ammunition and food.”

The report said former captives claimed that LRA groups in Central African Republic and Congo “trade ivory with unidentified people who arrive in helicopters”.