this is state of the news africa coming up in the next 15 minutes to kill or not to kill want to has lifted a ban on elephant hunting but not everyone agrees we'll hear the arguments for and against the controversial move. and we'll also hear from the canyon's hoping the country's high court will strike down rules that herm's make homosexuality of pride if they wish kenya will be the 1st east african country to decriminalize gay 6. i'm christine wonderwall comes to news africa i'm glad you are 2 did which one has an if to ban on elephant hunting the government says there are too many elephants and farm will struggle to keep them out of the fields with each crops and can kill people now and then vote because one has the largest innocent population in africa

conservationists say it's home to 130000 in offense but the government says that number is much higher the ban on in effect hunting was introduced in the southern african country of $24.00 teeth by then president in comma a keen environmentalist but many of its one is innocence roam across borders into the movie and zimbabwe all 4 countries have called for a global ban on elephant ivory trade to be rich and that. my 1st day has written on elephant poaching and the ivory trade in africa keith some of will from the university of kent in england joins me now welcome to the africa professor do you think his government has made the right call here. i think it has for a number of reasons the 1st is that had it not decided to lift the ban on hunting i think it would've faced a really serious problem with the people who live in areas adjacent to large

numbers of wildlife particularly elephants but also lions hyenas wild dogs and other predators because the problem arose when the hunting ban was instituted was that local people lost a huge amount of being come from selling hunting quotas to safari hunting companies this could be as much as $600000.00 for a small village and that would be directing money for health clinics goals water pumps and that sort of thing and i gave you were very angry when they lost that ok so who are the people who are opposed to the lifting off the ban and what case i'd be making whether for present in karma who is the one who instituted the ban in 2014 he argues that killing elephants is bad for botswana's image will damage the tourist industry and one must say that he personally has large

investments in the tourist industry so he definitely has an axe to grind there he's very influenced to buy some western n.g.o.s animal rights groups who say the hunting is wrong and shouldn't happen under any circumstances and also the well known filmmaker derek your bear who is based in botswana who is strongly against hunting who argues that hunting doesn't do any economic good for local communities and damages elephants but all the people who argue against it don't seem to grapple with the basic problem that in some areas if you don't have hunting. then the wildlife would disappear because there is no other way of gaining income a lot of these areas are not suitable for eco tourism tourists won't go there because their own the facilities and so it will go to poor farming and wildlife will just disappear completely ok so how can this be done in

a way. that is allowing this idea how can it be done in a way that ensures that the elephants are not going to be killed to extinction well when you look at the history of thoughts one has conservation policies from independence in 1966 to the hunting down in 2014 the elephant population went up from under 50000 elephants to somewhere in the region of 132160000 elephants and that was while hunting was taking place so hunting far from damaging the elephant population create conditions in which local people tolerated other terms there was less there was still human elephant conflict but less local people were opposed to poaching because if they were selling the hunting quotas they didn't want poachers coming in killing their wildlife and so the system worked and

this is a return to a system where local people benefit from the presence of animals through the money they'll get from selling hunting quotas then you might actually get an improvement in the situation. all right professor keep some of them from the university of kent thank you for that. it's to kenya where the high court is due to issue a ruling that could strike down colonial era laws that criminalize homosexuality in 2016 gay rights organizations filed petitions austine the court to declare sections of the penal code and constitutional organizations argue the laws violate rights including the right to human dignity and the right to freedom from discrimination as it stands anyone convicted of gay sex in kenya can spend behind bars. the rainbow flag is a symbol of gay pride across the world but in kenya it's rarely seen flying. the national gay and lesbian human rights commission is one of the few places that

displeases proudly and it's here that the fight to repeal an anti homosexuals law in kenya is being fought the law it is somewhat vague given that it was taken from very very old laws which were previously formed from canon law so the law is very vague in its wording however what it intimate is that carnal knowledge against the order of nature that is same sex activities specifically between males is criminal and shall be punished with up to 14 years in prison. the kind of high court was expected to give a ruling on decriminalizing homosexuality in february but the judgment was pushed back. it's very tense as one would expect it to be we've been waiting for this for a long time and with the postponement in february where obviously we really hope that the courts will read and judgment and of course there will be in our view. the l g b t community is actually rating the ruling and the public's reaction to it the

lot is a big unknown can public opinion on this issue is really anyone's guess and that's because here in this country conversations about homosexuality or the queer community don't happen openly and one person is saying that violence is part of the problem. that person is telling what she wrote he hopes the upcoming court ruling will encourage constructive dialogue it could set a precedent for other countries that are trying to go to go down the drain and i say should. and i strongly believe it's the right thing to do and the right people can i ask him what it would mean to him personally if the courts ruled to repeal the law. what does he mean it would mean that. you'd be free to be yourselves. and i hope we'll be able as a community in kenya as a community in kenya to be free to carry. the minorities in with us who are

fighting to be recognized. at the national gay and lesbian human rights commission they're preparing for any outcome and they promise to keep fighting if this friday doesn't and incentive ration. in zimbabwe a 5 human rights campaign is have appeared in court on accusation off crossings to overthrow the government the men deny the charges and their lawyers refusal foresees off targeting human rights campaigners after protests in january triggered by a feel i can feel prices holding 100 percent president innocent on the war and federal courts he is would target rights groups deemed to be anti government. privilege and he has been following the case he joins me now from zimbabwe's capital had a high privilege good to see you tell us more about the charges these men are facing. there 5 activists facing charges of

plotting suffrage petition the elected government of zimbabwe the allegations are that the 5. motives on the 13th of may and that tended and which will be weeks the sh-t. have been. being taught how to. put it out to see who will be the answer going to the government and also all they were trained in the use of small arms according to the state this is watching their fight being charged and you know what is that this. crime it's one of the serious crimes according to the zimbabwean law if. one be. found to be given a sentence of between 20 years or a life sentence ok talk to us about the timing of all of this it comes as there are heightened tensions in the country. a wrist coming at

a time when yes they have tensions in the country because of their continued melting down of the economy people are going through. you know difficult challenges and difficult times in terms of economy. the cost of living keeps on going high particularly this week when government increased the price of fuel. this is the 2nd time after. the increase that happened in january of this year when. violent demonstrations erupted throughout the country so the timing is that you know you see that their wrist wanted list being pretty good. with suspicion that the government is just victim that they may be uprising because of the disgruntlement that is within the book pollution the price what is going with the economy ok privilege very quickly how as in bobby as reacting to their wrists

alfie's if human rights activists. the way it is being taken is that it is being taken as just one of those cases that used to have been like what we are witnessing during the former president will budge mugabe you know with activists and rights. defenders with being arrested one trumped up charges for protein are going to stay in this state so you speak to some rights of the activists there saying that it is this data that is afraid of the people this shows that the state is afraid of the people therefore the that's why this is happening and they're also saying that you know it shows also the coverage of the government that nothing much has changed from the era that was there in the past ok did obvious provisional shine you did reporting for us in how to thank you. and that is it for now from day to every news africa as always you can catch allows stories on our website and facebook page on

the news of lifting a ban on elephant planting we'll need you with some pictures of africa's great gyre see you next time i'm back.

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