The government says South Sudan will soon join a continental program to protect elephants.

The Elephant Protection Initiative is an African-led conservation program to eradicate the ivory trade and stop the continued slaughter of the continent’s elephants by poachers.

The program calls for elephant range states, partner states, NGOs among others, to work together to deliver a comprehensive, cohesive response to the elephant crisis in African countries.

The Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, says the Council of Ministers has approved the proposal…

“In the course of protection of our wildlife, our people are also warned – those who trade in elephant tusks, and those who carry them as sticks – are advised not to use them again,” Mr Makuei the media on Friday.

He said the government will enact laws, “laws that will very serious with those who would continue to trade on these elephants and their tusks”.

The EPI was launched by leaders from Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Gabon and Tanzania during the London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014, with the support of the British Government and the UK-registered charity Stop Ivory.

Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and the Gambia have since also joined.