Pretoria - Animal rights activists and a renowned conservationist on Thursday slammed the sale by South Africa of 51 tonnes of ivory, calling four recent auctions of tusks to Asian buyers "irresponsible" and a "disservice to conservation."

Johannesburg - The last and the biggest of four special auctions of ivory stockpiles got underway in South Africa Thursday after a nearly two-hour delay caused when Asian buyers refused to bid for 51 tonnes of tusks in front of the media.

Around two dozen mainly Chinese and Japanese buyers threatened to boycott the one-off sale unless journalists were barred from the conference centre of the Reserve Bank in Pretoria, where the auction opened shortly after 10 am (0800 GMT).

The ivory was not on show in Pretoria. Instead, images of the tusks, which are being stored in Kruger National Park, were being displayed on a big screen.

Pretoria - An auction of 51 tonnes of ivory in South Africa was brought to a halt before bidding even started Thursday by Asian buyers, who demanded the media be excluded from the sale.

Around two dozen Chinese and Japanese buyers threatened to boycott the one-off sale unless journalists were barred from the conference centre of the Reserve Bank in Pretoria, where the auction opened shortly after 10 a. m. (0800 GMT).

Lot number one had just appeared on a big screen when the buyers, informed the organizers that they wished to keep their identities confidential and that no bid would be submitted unless the journalists were removed. The media was also excluded from the Namibia sale.

Johannesburg - The last and the biggest of four exceptional auctions of ivory stockpiles got underway in South Africa Thursday, with Chinese and Japanese buyers vying to buy up 51 tonnes of the so- called "white gold."

The sale takes place nearly a decade after the last authorized sale of ivory in southern Africa in 1999.

The ivory trade has been banned since 1989 but the 171 members of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have given the go-ahead for four countries with thriving elephant populations to sell off ivory accumulated in their national parks.

Johannesburg - Leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are to meet in South Africa on Sunday for talks on the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, South African officials said Wednesday.

South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the extraordinary summit of the 15-member regional grouping would hear the latest on negotiations for political power-sharing in Zimbabwe. South African President Kgalema Motlanthe is to chair the gathering.

Johannesburg - Former South African president Nelson Mandela said Wednesday Barack Obama's election to the White House was a triumph for hope.

In a letter of congratulation to the president-elect, Mandela, 90, said: "Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place."