Uhuru burns 15 tonnes of ivory in war on poachers

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday set ablaze 15 tonnes of elephant tusks in what he described a move to fight against ivory trade.

Uhuru torched the tusks and promised to clear the remaining stockpile within the year.

The event was conducted at a similar spot at the Nairobi National Park where then President Daniel Arap Moi (now retired) burnt 12 tonnes of ivory in July 1989.

In July 2011, President Mwai Kibaki also set on fire a mound of more than five tonnes of ivory which was made up of 335 tusks and 41,000 trinkets that had been confiscated in Singapore following the Lusaka Agreement Task Force.

"Poachers and their enablers will not have the last word in Kenya," said Uhuru as the ivory went up in smoke.

The fire was fuelled using jet fuel, paraffin and glue.