NAIROBI, Kenya —Kenya’s president set fire Saturday to 105 tons of elephant ivory and more than 1 ton of rhino horn, believed to be the largest stockpile ever destroyed, in a dramatic statement by this East African country against the trade in ivory and products from endangered species.

Uhuru Kenyatta put a flame to the biggest of 11 pyres of ivory tusks and one of rhino horn in a chilly afternoon. Overnight torrential rains had threated to ruin the event but stopped midday, leaving a mud field around the piles inside Nairobi National Park.

A ranger from the Kenya Wildlife Service stands guard as pyres of ivory are set on fire in Nairobi National Park on Saturday to protest the poaching of ivory. Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta lit the flame representing the tusks of more than 8,000 elephants, saying that "ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants." The Associated Press

“A time has come when we must take a stand and the stand is clear … Kenya is making a statement that for us ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants,” Kenyatta said.

The stacks of tusks represent more than 8,000 elephants and some 343 rhinos slaughtered for their ivory and horns, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenya will push for the total ban on trade in ivory at the 17th meeting of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species to be held in South Africa later this year, said Kenyatta.

The pyres were fueled with about 20,000 liters of jet fuel and oxygen, said Robin Hollister, the event’s fire master, as a thick plume of white smoke billowed over the flames consuming the ivory. Hollister earlier said it’s not known how long the fire will take because burning such a quantity is unprecedented.

Kenya decided to destroy the ivory instead of selling it for an estimated $150 million. Some critics suggested that the money raised from the ivory sales could be used to develop Kenya and protect wildlife. But Kenyatta said that Kenya wants to make the point that ivory should not have commercial value.

Others said the burning will not end the killing of elephants because international gangs take advantage of Kenya’s porous borders and corruption to continue the illegal trade.

Kenya Wildlife Service chairman and paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey said the burning of the ivory should encourage African countries to support a ban in ivory trade. He said a group of countries which is advocating for the sale of ivory in the continent should be ashamed.

Africa had 1.3 million elephants in the 1970s but has only 500,000 today.

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