Latest news with #EdwinWaita
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Yahoo
Kenyan agents bust plot to smuggle giant ants for sale to foreign insect lovers
By Edwin Waita and Monicah Mwangi NAIROBI (Reuters) - Four smugglers caught trying to transport thousands of live ants out of Kenya for sale on exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia will be sentenced for trafficking wildlife in a case being hailed as a milestone by the Kenya Wildlife Service. The KWS said authorities had intercepted live queen ants, including from the sought-after Messor Cephalotes species also known as the Giant African Harvester Ant, concealed in modified test tubes and syringes. "Investigations revealed that the test tubes had been designed to sustain the ants for up to two months and evade airport security detection," the KWS said in a statement, describing this as "premeditated and well-executed". While some people may see ants as a picnic-ruining nuisance, aficionados enjoy keeping them in formicariums, transparent cases where they can watch them building complex colonies. A court document seen by Reuters stated that the authorities had intercepted about 5,000 queens packed in 2,244 containers, with a street value of about 1 million Kenyan shillings ($7,800). Two Belgians, one Vietnamese and one Kenyan pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of illegal possession and trafficking of live wildlife and appeared again on Tuesday at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Court. "We did not come here to break any laws. By accident and stupidity we did," said David Lornoy, one of the Belgian smugglers, as he asked the court to show leniency. The court adjourned the case until April 23, when it will consider pre-sentencing reports from the KWS, National Museums of Kenya and the probation officer. The smugglers are in custody. One source in the ant trade, who asked not to be named because it is a small world and they did not wish to speak for others, said suppliers needed a licence from the KWS and a health certificate in order to export Messor Cephalotes. The source said the species, native to Kenya, was much in demand and hard to obtain. The KWS trumpeted the case as a landmark in the fight against biopiracy because it involved the attempted export of Kenya's genetic resources without prior informed consent or benefit-sharing, in direct violation of the law. "This unprecedented case signals a shift in trafficking trends - from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species," it said in a statement. The specialist British retailer AntsRUs described the species as "truly amazing to visually observe". "Messor Cephalotes are many people's dream species. Queens are around 20-24mm long and have a beautiful red and brown/black coloration," it said. AntsRUs lists the price of a live queen from the species as 99.99 pounds ($132.44), although they are currently out of stock. (Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Congo's defeated foreign mercenaries head home with 'big relief'
By Edwin Waita and Hereward Holland GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Nearly 300 foreign mercenaries hired by the Democratic Republic of Congo government to counter a swift offensive by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the east have surrendered and were on their way home on Wednesday. Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, was captured by M23 earlier this week, cornering the mercenaries, remnants of Congo's army and its allied militias against Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. With nowhere else to retreat to, they handed themselves over to United Nations peacekeeping troops in Goma, who then arranged for their transit home through neighbouring Rwanda. "We are just relieved because we can go finally home ... it's a big relief," said one, identifying himself as a Romanian who had been in Goma for about two years. "Goma is devastated because of the war between the Rwandans and the Congolese," he told Reuters as he crossed the border to Rwanda, declining to give his name. Rwanda denies backing the rebels but says it has taken what it calls defensive measures, and accuses Congo of fighting alongside perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Hired to bolster Congo's underpaid and disorganised army, the mercenaries operated high-tech military drones that had long been effectively grounded by Rwandan air defences, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group. Congo employed the services of Agemira RDC, a subsidiary of a Bulgarian-based parent company, for logistics, as well as Congo Protection, led by a former member of the French Foreign Legion, for training, said Henry-Pacifique Mayala from Kivu Security Tracker (KST), which maps unrest in eastern Congo. With almost no coordination between the two military contractors, or other actors on the ground, the mercenaries' role made the conflict even worse, Mayala said. LONG HISTORY OF MERCENARIES IN CONGO Their record adds to a long history of Congo hosting hired guns whose efforts often ended in failure. Some older Congolese remember the use of mercenaries in the 1960s, including a group led by "Mad Mike" Hoare, who supported the failed attempt of the mineral-rich southern state of Katanga to secede from Kinshasa. Before crossing the border, one of the mercenaries was upbraided by M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma in front of a gaggle of journalists, telling him he should not "have come for adventures in Congo," according to a video shared by Rwanda's New Times newspaper. "We have a very rich country. But with greedy leaders. They recruited you, you receive $8,000 per month and you are fed, while (Congolese soldiers) receive less than $100," Ngoma said. Asked where he trained, the mercenary said it was with the French Foreign Legion, a unit of the French army that accepts volunteers from around the world. France's foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the border crossing between Goma and its Rwandan twin city of Gisenyi, Reuters reporters saw dozens of burly men, many bearded, some in fatigues, lining up to be patted down by police and have their luggage examined by sniffer dogs. One man wore a shirt emblazoned with "REGIMENT ETRANGER DES PARACHUTISTES", the French Foreign Legion's parachute regiment, which successfully fought in Zaire, Congo's former name, in 1978 to rescue European and local hostages held by a rebel group. Rwanda's army said it took in over 280 Romanian mercenaries on Wednesday and would transport them to the capital Kigali. The men boarded the buses in silence. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Hereward Holland; writing by Hereward Holland; editing by Mark Heinrich)
