"A White House plan to curb illegal trafficking in rhino horn, elephant tusks and body parts from other endangered wildlife could have the side benefit of helping to stabilize parts of Africa plagued by insurgent groups, military and political analysts say."

"President Barack Obama's announcement of the $10 million plan, made in Tanzania on Monday, was a watershed moment in the expanding field of environmental security, according to Kent Butts, who until May was the director of the national security issues group at the U.S. Army War College.

Paramilitary groups like the Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army and al Shabaab, which is allied with al Qaeda, have been using wildlife poaching to fund their activities in Africa, Butts said on Tuesday by phone from Pennsylvania."
 
Deborah Zabarenko reports for Reuters July 4, 2013. [2]