By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Namibia and Zimbabwe failed on Monday to convince a U.N. body that they should be allowed to export elephant ivory, while Swaziland lost a bid to sell rhino horn - moves they all argued would protect the animals rather than endanger them. "African elephants are in steep decline across much of the continent due to poaching for their ivory, and opening up any legal trade in ivory would complicate efforts to conserve them," said Ginette Hemley, head of conservation group WWF's CITES delegation. "It could offer criminal syndicates new avenues to launder poached ivory." A global ban on ivory sales was imposed in 1989 to curb a wave of poaching but, in one-off rulings, CITES allowed Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell stockpiles to Japan, and South Africa to sell to China and Japan in 2008.
