By Ishmael Kindama Dumbuya
Green Scenery a local nongovernmental organization has held an end of year meeting on the voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of the tenure of land fisheries and forest resources. The one day refection meeting was organized at the Family Kingdom resort along Aberdeen Beach on Thursday 22nd December 2016 with the presence of key stakeholders on the environment and land related issues in the country.
The main objective of the reflection meeting is to help stimulate discussion and outlook of the implementation of the voluntary guidelines with key target on permanent sectaries, directors and key civil society representatives. The meeting aimed at bringing stakeholder discussions leading to the development and design of reforms involving the application of the voluntary guidelines on the governance of the tenure of land in the country. Key among the methodologies used during the meeting were strategic discussions and group work and plenary disc
Joaquin M. Sendolo and Alieu Sahid Tonkara
NIMBA, Liberia & LUNSAR, SIERRA LEONE – In December 2019, conflict broke out between an international mining company and the leadership of three forest-dwelling communities of Nimba County in north eastern Liberia. The communities accused the company of illegal entry into the 2,169-acre mountainous forestland. The company, Solway Mining Incorporated, expressed surprise. Liberia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy had issuedit, a license to explore for iron ore in the two forests, which border the East Nimba Nature Reserve and area leased to ArcelorMittal, the global steel giant and Liberia’s largest mining concession.
The dispute illustrates the ongoing battles communities, extractives companies and governments are having over the right to profit from forests and mineral resources across the Mano River region. Countries rebuilding from civil war have found themselves with weak institutions and conflicting laws that are causing conflict
Magistrate Court discharges eighteen accused MALOA members
On the 9th of December 2020, seventeen citizens of Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District, including a sitting Member of Parliament, Honourable Shiaka Musa Sama, appeared for the last time before the Magistrate Court No.1 in Freetown, after almost two years of a protracted process, with constant adjournment. Magister Hannah Bonnie declared that “the matter ceased to proceed” and that the accused “are all discharged”. The eighteen (one died seeking justice), now seventeen accused were all members of the Malen Affected Land Owners and Users Association (MALOA), a Community Based Organization, advocating for the land rights of their members in the face of the operations of the large-scale palm oil producer, SOCFIN. They were charged with incitement, riotous conduct, conspiracy to commit a felony, and malicious damage following demonstrations and skirmishes between local security forces and the Poro Society on the 21st of