Enhancing law enforcement collaboration in the fight against wildlife crime in Cameroon

Like countries across the globe, law enforcement agencies in Cameroon face ongoing challenges in sharing timely information on transnational wildlife smuggling networks. Cameroon is a significant source and transit country of illegally trafficked goods such as tropical timber.

The AFRICA-TWIX (Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange) is an online tool developed to facilitate the exchange of information and cooperation between enforcement officers in Central African countries to intercept the illegal trafficking of wildlife.

The analysis of risk using the route mapper on AFRICA-TWIX platform, as demonstrated during this session, will be incredibly useful for our officials posted at airports and seaports in planning controls in fighting against illegal wildlife crime.”

Mr Boniface Meke, Inspector General of National Police.

The success of the two-day workshop attended by Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), INTERPOL,  the World Customs Organization (WCO), and WWF will lead to a long-standing integrated approach to tackling wildlife crime. Cameroon law enforcement agencies decided to establish a Memorandum of Understanding and an evaluation system based on collaboration between law enforcement administrations by December 2021. Under the AFRICA-TWIX programme, TRAFFIC has agreed to facilitate quarterly collaborative meetings.

As an immediate outcome of the workshop and part of the engagement process, 24 new users were added to the AFRICA-TWIX platform and 60 others were proposed by different attending agencies.

 “TRAFFIC will continue the momentum created through this national workshop for better coordination and collaboration between law enforcement agencies in Cameroon for an efficient and effective response against illegal wildlife trade. We expect the agencies to implement the actions they agreed on during the discussions.” Denis Mahonghol, TRAFFIC Director for Central Africa.