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Feb 19,
2014 Human Rights Watch blasts African Minerals in Sierra
Leone ‘”Then, the paramount chief visited Ferengbeya in 2009 and told us that we would be
relocated. The chief said we should not ask any questions.”’ ‘We were told, “Where you are is hell and where you
are going is heaven.”’ ‘A statement released by his (President Koroma's) office said:… Anyone
caught trying to deliberately under[mine] the
company’s activities will face the full force of the law…’ ‘…one
village elder from Ferengbeya told Human Rights
Watch, “The company [AML] has used President Koroma’s
statement to justify everything, including our relocation.”’ ‘Afterward,
a truckload of police arrived at the scene and started shooting teargas into
the village and at people not involved in the dispute.’ ‘Six days later, AML bulldozers began working on
this parcel, destroying local crops…’ ‘”The land could have fed our families for 100
years. We had no alternative but to
leave. We saw that Ferengbeya had already gone. We
are powerless
against the PC [paramount chief] and the government.”’ ‘“…the chiefs are accountable to nobody.”’ “What they told us they would do, they have not
done...It was a trap. They said, “It will be paradise for you, but it’s
completely different”” ‘A holdover from the precolonial
and colonial eras, ‘Private investors...exploit...the lack of clarity
around land title…’ ‘In 1961 the Colony and Protectorate together gained
independence from Britain as a single nation, but maintained different sets
of rules, particularly around land ownership.’ ‘Clarify the role of paramount chiefs in questions
of land administration’ ‘“Regarding land valuation and payment transactions,
negotiations were conducted directly with the host community, with active
involvement of the Paramount Chief. All AML land payments were effected
through the Paramount Chief to the respective families. In terms of land
valuation, the land was assessed according to ‘...retribution
against sources...’? |
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