Nairobi — A showdown looms between Kenya and Tanzania at an ongoing international meeting in Doha, Qatar.

At the centre of the controversy is a petition by Tanzania and Zambia to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to "downlist" the status of elephants so that the two can sell stockpiled ivory on the open market.

Kenya has opposed this position and has enlisted the support of the United States and the European Union to push its opposition to lifting the ban on ivory trade.

Kenya and 22 other like-minded African countries argue that lifting the ban would open a floodgate for poaching that could decimate the African elephant.

As an indication of how seriously Kenya is taking the matter, President Kibaki has exempted the minister for Forestry and Wildlife, Dr Noah Wekesa, from the recent blanket travel ban imposed on ministers and their assistants.

Dr Wekesa is leading a strong Kenyan delegation to the two-week Cites meeting which started on Saturday. He has been deeply involved in lobbying for the Kenyan position which a month ago took him to Brussels, Belgium, to seek support from the EU.

These last few days, a team of Kenyan technocrats led by Mr Patrick Omondi, the head of species conservation and management at the Kenya Wildlife Service, has been camping in the US, lobbying for support from the world's most influential government.

Kenya and Mali co-chair the Africa Elephant Coalition (AEC) which comprises 37 elephant range states. Twenty three of them are opposed to the ivory trade.

The proximity of Tanzania to Kenya, both sharing the Mara-Serengeti elephant range, explains partially why the latter is so aggressive in the campaign. Mr Omondi argues that since elephants carry no passports, they cross the border freely.

Debate in Doha is expected to be vicious and furious, with Botswana having fired the first salvo at the weekend.

The country's minister for Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Onkokame Kitso Mokaila, who will be in Doha, says the position taken by Kenya and her allies is against the spirit of international cooperation.

He says Kenya is undermining all efforts invested by African countries and donors in past meetings held in Mombasa and Gigiri to discuss the elephant, according to the Sunday Standard of Botswana.

Even before the meeting took off, the convener has had to step in and ask the Kenyan allied groups to play fair.

"I was saddened to see that recently this has degenerated into some unwarranted and unjustified attacks upon the objectivity of Cites," a secretariat official says in a statement.

Tanzania wants to be allowed to sell 90 tonnes of ivory, while Zambia is looking to dispose of nearly 23 tonnes. The two states are supported by the 13-member Southern African Development Community bloc, to which they belong. They are also supported by Japan and China.

Although Kenya and her allies may count on powerful local and overseas European groups, which have huge commercial interests in the local tourism sector, they are not leaving anything to chance.

A letter cited by Reuters and alleged to have been leaked by the 23-country group last week, has told the EU to support their elephant position in exchange for similar support for Europe's call to ban trade in the giant bluefin tuna (fish).

"Please do not force our collective hand to cast our 23 votes against the EU on any of the issues it is supporting, such as the high profile proposed ban on bluefin tuna," said the letter seen by Reuters.

The 23 countries argue that despite a nine-year ivory trade ban, poaching has been on a steady increase, including in Tanzania and Zambia, but pro-sale groups claim elephant herds have recovered significantly.

"It is time for our people to benefit financially from this resource which could become a nuisance to local communities," argues the Botswana minister.

Not until last week did the anti-poaching group claim to have hard evidence that indeed poaching is still occurring in Tanzania.

On Thursday a study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and published in the Science journal said the Tanzanian petition should be denied.

The study is indicated to have been carried out by researchers from the United States, Norway, Kenya, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Tanzania and Canada.

Their DNA-based research indicates that Tanzania and Zambia, the two countries petitioning to downlist their elephants, are among the most significant sources of, and conduits for, illegal ivory in Africa.

"None of the countries involved in this petition are adequately controlling their country's illegal ivory trade," says Dr Sam Wasser, lead author of the paper and director of the University of Washington.