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Figure 14:
Primary and secondary ivory smuggling routes in
Africa based on a wide range of sources including both ETIS
seizures and criminal intelligence.
the African continent, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are
presently the countries of greatest concern. More ivory is mov-
ing through and out of these countries at the present time than
any other countries in Africa. All along the trade chains in these
countries and territories, organised criminal syndicates are an ac-
tive force undermining international and national regulations that
prevent trade in ivory. In sum, these nine countries and territo-
ries are the players most heavily implicated in the illegal trade in
ivory at the present time according to the ETIS data.
Another ten countries and territories – Cameroon, Congo,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Taiwan and Uganda – represent a
secondary level of concern as they repeatedly play important
supporting roles in the illicit ivory trade. These players rep-
resent a mix of source, entrepôt/transit and exit countries
for illicit consignments of ivory from Africa, while Taiwan
is a potential transit point for ivory moving through Asia.
Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique
and Nigeria all have important unregulated domestic ivory
markets in their major cities, while Nigeria, Mozambique,
Uganda and Cameroon have been implicated in the large-
scale movement of ivory, which indicates the involvement of
organised crime syndicates.