US imposes travel ban on Cameroon official for wildlife trafficking
The US has banned the most senior official in Cameroon’s paramilitary force, Col Jean Claude Ango Ango and his wife Engono Akomo from entering the country over “his involvement in significant corruption related to wildlife trafficking”, a US statement says.
The US State Department said the ban “sends a strong signal that the United States is committed to fighting corruption and combating the transnational crime of wildlife trafficking to preserve our world’s iconic species”.
It is not clear exactly what Col Ango Ango is alleged to have done. He has not commented on the allegations.
Col Ango Ango was appointed inspector general of Cameroon’s gendarmerie in March.
The central African country is home to some of the world’s endangered species like the pangolin, but the UN says lax penalties for wildlife crime, encourages illegal hunting of animals in the region.
