Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Amnesty International has said the “Gold Rush” in Senegal violates the human rights of communities.
The verdict is contained in a report compiled after research undertaken since 2011 on the exploitation of gold by Sabodala Gold Operations (SGO), a Canadian company that operates in the gold-mining region of Kédougou in southeastern Senegal, located over 700 km from Dakar.
According to Amnesty International “the government grants concessions to mining companies without guaranteeing respect for human rights”.
Seydi Gassama, executive director of the Senegalese section of Amnesty International, said before the start of its operations in 2011, it was to resettle all people of Dambankhoto.
According to the study, the population had not been relocated and 15 families, about 60 people were directly affected.
“People have lost much of their livelihoods. They lost farmlands …,” Mr. Gassama said, adding that the displaced people no longer had sufficient land and water for their agriculture.
The head of Amnesty International, Senegal, who presented the report said that the state concentrated all its efforts on a policy primarily intended to attract investors without thinking of protecting residents of mining sites.
“In the coming years, mining will intensify in Kédougou and if the state does not take protective measures legally for the communities, evictions will multiply and discontent will grow. This can have serious consequences for human rights and on the country’s stability,” Gassama warned.
Djiguiba Cissokho, the chief of Dambankhoto village, also attended the ceremony during which the report was published.
Evicted like other families in 2010, he says he personally experienced the facts highlighted by the report.
“I found myself with two-and-a-half hectares of land whereas I owned a field of five hectares,” he said.
The village chief says the Sabodala Gold Operations, which is always in search of new land for its activities, took over the field he cultivated. In the area, agriculture and gold mining are the only economic activities for the population.
“The recent decision of the Head of State banning gold (washing) is tragic for the villagers,” Djiguiba Cissokho said. “We have no more fields to plant and we are banned from carrying out gold (washing) activities. We wait for the state,” the village chief insisted.
Mady Cissokho, President of the rural community (Pcr) of Sabodala where Dambankhoto is located, said that the main problem was that the fertile lands badly needed by the populations were snatched from them.
“When the company needs a place, it asks the sub-prefect to hold talks with the President of the rural community to hold a forum. But this forum leads sooner or later to land surrender,” said Cissokho, who added that the central government was not fulfilling its duties towards the villagers.
He wants some of the royalties paid to the government by SGO to be given to the people.
