Southern African countries hosting the largest elephant populations in the world made a fresh pitch on Wednesday to be allowed to sell their $1 billion ivory stockpiles, amid calls to pull out of an international convention on endangered species. Five countries that make up the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) trans-frontier conservation area – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia – have been pushing for the lifting of a ban on ivory sales imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).