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Thirty nine protesters in Pujehun District have
been arrested following tensions between the local population and a unit
of international agro-investor Socfin operating in that region. The
locals were protesting a multi-million dollar land deal in which the
government is leasing to Societe Financiere des Caoutchoucs (Socfin)
12,500 hectares for oil palm production in the Pujehun district. The
initial phase of the deal is worth $112 million.
Green Scenery, an NGO in Sierra Leone, said some
locals have complained they were not properly consulted and were not
given information concerning the deal signed in April. Farmland in
many developing countries has attracted foreign investors in recent
years, but a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation official last year
warned some big land lease deals might risk deepening poverty and ramping
up social tensions.
Green Scenery said in a statement that locals had
blocked Socfin operations in the area since Oct. 3 this year because they
were angry about not receiving information on the lease agreement, in
which a local chief was involved. The statement did not give details of
what information the farmers said they were deprived of.
Gerben Haringsma, the General Manager of Socfin
Agricultural Company Sierra Leone Ltd, told Reuters the company was
investing in social projects and the protesters were in the minority.
"We tried for weeks to reason with these guys," he said,
referring to the protesters. "The government decided to stop it,
saying this was getting out of hand," he added.
Socfin, part of France's
Bollore Group , owns more than 51,000 hectares
of palm estates in Nigeria,
Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
David Sesay, Assistant Inspector General of police for the Southern
region of Sierra Leone,
said officers arrested 39 people on Tuesday and took 27 to the country's
second city of Bo
for questioning.
"The people were continually rioting, blocking
the road, and impeding people from going to work," he said.
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