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
