Conservationists to report their findings to an endangered species meeting in The Hague this week, writes Rob Crillyin Omdurman
The shopkeeper brushes aside a handful of cream-coloured bangles, pendants and assorted knick-knacks. "No, no, no, these are not ivory. These are the wrong colour - they are cow bone," he says, before opening a draw stuffed with dozens of milky-white chopsticks, delicately crafted for Khartoum's growing population of Chinese oil workers. "This is what you are looking for."
Thousands of elephants are being slaughtered across Central Africa - in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Sudan - to supply Khartoum's market, according to conservationists.
In a report to be presented to this week's meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), Traffic, a conservation group monitoring the illegal trade in wildlife, will present evidence that east Asian crime syndicates are fuelling an increase in ivory trafficking.
Its report shows that the size of seizures is increasing, suggesting smuggling gangs are becoming more sophisticated, and that domestic markets such as Sudan's are to blame.
Once again, the illegal trade in ivory is dominating proceedings which began in The Hague at the weekend.
On Saturday, delegates gave final approval to a 2002 decision for the sale of 60 tonnes of African ivory to Japan - an agreement condemned by many conservationists. Southern African states, led by Namibia and Botswana, are pushing for more. They want further sales of ivory from elephants which die of natural causes or which have to be killed to protect people or crops. They believe their populations of elephants have recovered sufficiently to allow a controlled trade.
The move is opposed by more than a dozen African states led by Kenya. They want to set a 20-year minimum on sanctions arguing that the constant debate on lifting restrictions stimulates demand. Tom Milliken, director of Traffic's Africa programme, said conflict in central Africa was having a devastating impact. "In southern Africa, even in Zimbabwe which is facing severe economic meltdown, we have an increasing elephant population," he said. "But it is central Africa which is seeing the biggest impact and it is really haemorrhaging ivory."
His study found that an average of 92 seizures of ivory were being made around the world each month with an increasing number weighing in at more than a tonne.
He said that the Sudanese trade was linked to conflict in Darfur. "It is really the Janjaweed - those Darfur forces which are attacking civilians - that are precipitating the crisis, taking long journeys into Chad and the Central African Republic to slaughter elephants and bring the ivory back, maybe to trade for weapons," he said.
"A lot of that is definitely going on to China."
The famous markets of Omdurman - across the Nile from the modern capital Khartoum - contain all manner of curiosities from colonial era pocket watches and Bakelite telephones to lion claws and leopard teeth. But it is ivory that attracts many of the shoppers.
"The government came around to tell us to stop selling the ivory," said Mohammed El Ttiap, proprietor of the Folklor Sudane shop, crammed full of dusty silver trinkets, carpets and, of course, ivory.
"They said they would come back to buy up the unsold items, but they never did so we just kept selling it." Now he says most of the raw ivory is coming from southern Sudan.
"The war there has ended and the elephants are returning so there is plenty of ivory."