Pounds 9m ivory offer

HARARE (Reuter) - Zimbabwe said several countries had offered to buy 25 tons of its elephant tusks worth pounds 9m which they would later go on to burn to try to enforce an international ban on the sale of ivory.

The Deputy Environment Minister, Opah Rushesha, did not name the countries involved, but said they wanted guarantees that Zimbabwe's ivory stocks did not include anything from poachers. He did not say if the government had accepted the offer.