By Daniel Wallis NAIROBI, May 10 (Reuters) - Asian-run organised crime syndicates based in Africa are pushing the illegal trade in ivory up to unprecedented levels, conservation groups said on Thursday. Based on a study of nearly 12,400 seizures of tusks in 82 nations since 1989, wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC said big seizures of a tonne or more grew both in number and in size -- from 17 between 1989 and 1997 to 32 between 1998 and 2006. China, Japan and Thailand were the most important markets for the illicit shipments, and Chinese nationals had been arrested, detained or had absconded in at least 126 major seizure cases in 22 African elephant range states, it said. "It is imperative China reaches out to the growing Chinese communities in Africa with a clear message that involvement in illegal ivory trade will not be tolerated," Tom Milliken, director of TRAFFIC's Africa programme, said in a statement. Scientists say the killing of elephants for their tusks has reached levels not seen since a treaty banning the ivory trade took effect in 1989. There are about 400,000 of the mammals remaining in the wild, most in Africa and the rest in Asia. Experts say the ivory trade came to a virtual halt after the treaty, but has since revived. TRAFFIC said, on average, there were three seizures of tusks every day worldwide. Its study said the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria were the three nations most heavily implicated as the sources of illegal ivory. "With myriad conflict zones, Central Africa is currently haemorrhaging ivory, and these three countries are major conduits for trafficking illicit ivory from the region to international markets, particularly in Asia," Milliken said. Susan Lieberman, a director at conservation group WWF, said one African nation to emulate was Ethiopia, which she said had effectively clamped down on its domestic ivory market. "It shows what other countries could do if only they had the political will to do it" she said in the joint statement.
