Sierra Leone

Report calls on SOCFIN to comply with the request by affected communities and MALOA for a fair, transparent, effective and independent conflict resolution mechanism to review the land lease agreements and find a long-term resolution to the land conflict.

Sierra Leone Land Rights Defenders say SOCFIN's land acquisition in Malen has resulted in serious conflict with local landowners, who face intimidation and harassment for defending their land rights and challenging the company.

Un reportage d'Umaru Fofana dévoile l’étendue des troubles dans la chefferie de Sahn Malen au sud de la Sierra Leone. Les conflits continuent entre des propriétaires fonciers locaux et une société agroalimentaire européenne, SOCFIN.

Ces violences ont fait réagir mercredi un collectif de la société civile luxembourgeoise qui avait averti dès octobre le ministère des Affaires étrangères sur le risque de violences que fait peser le conflit foncier opposant certains villageois à Socfin.

Proponents of land rights in Sierra Leone note with grave concern the human rights violations against members of the Malen Affected Landowners and users Association who were dispossessed of their land by the agro–based multinational SOCFIN.

The company claims that "closure of the Socfin operation in Sierra Leone was debated and was to be carried out within weeks" if nothing was done to stop "mass organized theft" and "criminal gangs"

Details are just emerging of the scale of the recent disturbances in Sahn Malen chiefdom in Southern Sierra Leone. There are disputes between local land owners and a European agribusiness company, SOCFIN. BBC reporter Umaru Fofana went to the area with a group of human rights activists and sent this special report from Pujehun.

Au moins deux villageois ont été tués et nombre d’autres sont cachés ou ont été détenus par la police à Malen, en Sierra Leone, suite à l’intervention brutale de la police et de l’armée visant à supprimer les protestations surgies localement contre les opérations de la plantation de palmiers à huile de SOCFIN.

At least two villagers killed and dozens of others are in hiding or being held by police in Malen, Sierra Leone following a brutal intervention by police and military to suppress local protests against SOCFIN's oil palm plantation operations.

The courageous victory of the villagers of Port Loko to get their lands back is an inspiration to communities affected by oil palm plantations from across Africa and the world.

The SOCFIN land acquisition in Malen Chiefdom reads like a collusion between the government and the investor—an alliance of the powerful and wealthy—to strip a community of their most valuable resource.

The decision marks the first time in Sierra Leone's history that a community has been able to win back land leased to a foreign company