BOTSWANA has been given the go-ahead by the Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) to sell 20 tons of stockpiled ivory but has clamped down on the release of any details of the sale. Wildlife officials said the ivory will be auctioned to Japanese buyers. “We have decided not to disclose any details of the sale,” Botswana’s wildlife director, Sedia Modise, said on Wednesday. Asked whether the secrecy of the Botswana government was motivated by any desire to avoid possible action by animal rights groups, Modise said the issue was a sensitive one. “Reports might be distorted. We do not want to excite anybody,” notably poachers, she said.