Will President Obama’s demands for accountability in Africa help rhino conservation efforts overcome long-standing top-level corruption in the region?

President Obama’s “splash of cold water” address to Africa challenged the widely-held sentiment among Africans that colonialism is to blame for their problems, declaring that:

No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or if police can be bought off by drug traffickers.

No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt.

No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery.

That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there, and now is the time for that style of governance to end.

And considering the evidence that has come to light regarding Zimbabwe government officials getting paid off by Chinese poaching syndicates, conservationists hope that this call for accountability extends to the corruption surrounding rhino horn (and other illegal wildlife) traffickers.

China, however, has demonstrated that it has no problem investing in – and sustaining – corrupt governments, if it means rhino horn can be acquired.

According to Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force:

Zimbabwe’s trade links with China, where the rhino horn is highly prized as medicinal, are a driving factor. We’re now down to about 400 rhinos, black and white, since the opening of the Chinese market.

Normally the first thing the Chinese ask when they come here is, ‘Have you got rhino? Have you got rhino?’

It’s all linked to the top. All those corrupt ministers are trying to cream off as much as possible before the next election. But if the carnage continues over the next two years we’ll have nothing left. The devastation taking place is not sustainable.

The “open secret” is out. Now what?

President Obama has, for the moment, brought global attention to the open secret of corrupt institutions in Africa. Crime thrives in secrecy – let’s work together to keep the open secret of corruption in the spotlight. (Bloggers of the world – unite!)

Insist that these criminals are taken to task on the world stage – not privately, where it is easy to make bail and slip away.

In order to put an end to wildlife trafficking that has for so long been supported behind the closed doors of corrupt authorities, these closed doors must be flung wide open – and kept that way.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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