The Tanzanian Ambassador to the
United States, Ms Liberata Mulamula, told the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ in an
exclusive interview that these proposals are in reaction to President Barack
Obama’s speech when he visited Tanzania in July, this year.
“I have held talks with drone
experts and they have helped clear the negative perception I had about them. I have
received theproposals and the
talks are ongoing,” she said.
On his visit to Tanzania in July,
President Obama discussed the possibility of using unarmed, unmanned aircraft
to help overstretched park rangers combat the growing problem of elephant poaching in the
country’s vast wildlife reserves andnational parks.
Amb. Mulamula said that the speech by President
Obama had generated a lot of interest among American conservationists and that
they are ready to continue the global campaign against wildlife poaching.
The White House announced that up
to 10 million US Dollars in new financial support has been set
aside to help tackle poaching for ivory and rhino horn.
This funding includes
approximately three million US
Dollars in bilateral assistance
to South Africa, three million US
Dollarsin bilateral assistance to Kenya and four million US Dollars in regional assistance throughout
sub-Saharan Africa.
According to a report in the
Global Travel Industry News, a global organisation,
Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), an estimated 17,000
elephants were illegally killed in 2011 – a figure likely to be over 25,000 in
the continent.
For many of the range states in
Central and Western Africa, the extent of the killings now far exceeds the
natural population growth rates, forcing their elephants into
widespread decline and putting them at risk of extinction in those countries.
The total African elephant
populations remain stable owing to effective protection in parts of Southern
and Eastern Africa, where there is the majority of the elephant population.
Rhino poaching is rampant in Tanzania,
but, most of these animals have disappeared, while few remained in
highly-protected parks.
About three years ago, wildlife
conservationists blamed Tanzania after one of 5 Eastern Black Rhinos from South Africa was gunned down
inside the Serengeti National Park.
Amb. Mulamula said that in the one month that she
had taken office as the new Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States, she has
seen for herself the level of interest among Americans to partner and invest
with Tanzania.
These interests include ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ and health
where towards the end of the month, ten top notch journalists will be visiting
the country on a fact finding mission, while journalists under the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation sponsorship will be coming.
“When the John Hopkins University advertised for the opportunity to
visit Tanzania, they had ten slots but believe it or not, over 400 applications
were received. It goes without saying that Tanzania is under the spotlight and
we will do all we can to positively stay there,” she said.
Ms Mulamula said that it was unfortunate that many
Tanzanians have the notion that foreign investors are coming to rip us off, but
stressed that without properly using the private sector and our friends, it was
next to impossible to meet and achieve out intended goals.
She said it was high time that Tanzanians who have been sitting
on potential wealth for too long woke up from slumber and start playing their
part in the development of the nation. “We now have the structures, the
frameworks, priorities and policies.
The US has everything and so people have to do away
with this notion that foreigners are coming to steal from us.
However, if we continue to sleep like it was the
case of the royalties in the mining sector, it is possible we will lose more
than we gain, a lot of times we are the causes of our problems,” she said.
Source Tanzania Daily News
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