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| Babensi 2 Villagers Marching to the D.O's Office |
(NewsWatch Cameroon)-A demonstration the likes of which had never been
seen before in that locality was witnessed in Babensi 2 village last Friday
April 4 when more than 300 people staged a protest march against the American
agro-industrial company Herakles Farm (Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon -
SG SOC), a local branch of Herakles Farms in Cameroon. In a move that observers
described as a repeat of the land crisis that struck Bakweri indigenes and the
Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, the people of Babensi 2 village, in
Nguti sub division faulted the public authorities for turning a blind eye to
the encroachment into their land by the American agro industrial company.
Holding up placards
bearing messages such as; “SG SOC is out to kill the Babensi 2 man, they are cutting
down our cocoa farms as well as destroying our timber and non-timber
products….”, the villagers marched with petitions to the offices of the
Divisional officer, the Gendarmerie Brigade commander and the Chief of Public
security for the area, calling on them to stop Herakles Farms from carrying on
with their “nefarious activities”.
According to Afue
Divine Ejabi who led the protest march, the locals are insistent that the
American company quit their land for “they do not have any convention with the
Babensi 2 people”.
“The Babensi man has
never signed any convention with SG SOC”, Divine maintained. “Today however,
they are on our land, destroying our timber as well as all our non-timber
products. This is not correct”.
Although Divine is
aware that the American agro industrial company has signed a convention with
the government of Cameroon which underpins the establishment of an oil
plantation in some parts of the Southwest region, including Nguti, he is
utterly dismissive of an agreement which has no legitimacy in the eyes of the
locals. The leader of the protest told NewsWatch that they are calling on the
administration to find an immediate solution that would lead to the ousting of
the American company from their forest… without which they would be up in arms
against the company.
But the villagers are
also demanding that even before SG SOC leaves, the company should make
available compensation for the “damage” already caused to their forest. From
the messages displayed during the protest march, Babensi 2 inhabitants are bent
on having SG SOC pay for all the devastation that has been wreaked by Herakles
- the destruction of cocoa farms as well as timber and non-timber forest
products…
“We cannot even eat
bush meat; we don’t have good drinking water because SG SOC has polluted all
the water supplies, our shrines have been destroyed due to the cutting down of
our forest by SG SOC….have you forgotten that we are in Africa?” Divine
questioned further.
One of the protesters,
nonagenarian Mami Aginess Ejuba sounded a note of warning over the fate of
their children should SG SOC continue its activities in Babensi 2 village. “We
di still born pikin them - wusai them go get bush…” she said.
According to the old
woman, the locals make their living from non timber products in the forest like
“njangsa”, pepper, mangoes, plantains, cassava, etc. Allowing a company like SG
SOC to cut down the forest for a palm plantation is an insidious way of
“killing” them.
Like most others, Mami
Aginess maintained that Babensi 2 does not want “American Development”; people
merely want the forest which is their only source of income to remain intact so
they can sustain their families.
“Now that SG SOC has
destroyed all the timber, our children will not have timber in future when they
will be constructing their houses; do you call that development?” she asked?
In conformity with the
other protesters, Mr. John Ebenki said the felling of the forest by SG SOC has
had many negative effects on the population. “The community has been exposed to
diseases like onchocerciasis spread by the black fly which is terribly
detrimental to human health - these trees could serve as a useful barrier
against such mishaps…”
Mr. Ebenki who
regretted that some medicinal tree species that used to exist in their forest
can no longer be found also protested because the sap from the trees being
“destroyed” by SG SOC has damaged local water supplies, rendering them
“non-potable”.
Though the protesters
did not meet the Divisional Officer for Nguti in his office, they were received
by his assistant who indicated that their complaint will be forwarded to the
appropriate quarters.
Efforts to reach
officials of SG SOC in Nguti by this reporter yielded no fruits.
Herakles Farms was
established in Cameroon in 2009, a year after the onset of a terrible global
food crisis which affected the country like most parts of the world. More than
200 people were killed by security forces in Cameroon when they rose up in arms
to protests against sudden food price hikes.
In accepting the offer
of Herakles Farms to produce palm oil, the original objective of the Cameroon
government was to create employment in the area and bring in some much needed
foreign capital. Since then however, most of the villagers, environmental
activists and some foreign organizations have been scathing in their criticism
of the project.
In May 2013, Herakles
Farms’ activities were suspended in Cameroon following a government injunction
which analysts qualified as a response to pressure groups. But the ban was
lifted that same month.
In November of the same
year, President Paul Biya signed three decrees granting Herakles Farms a
temporal concession of 19,843 hectares of land for three years in in Mundemba,
Toko and Nguti Subdivisions.
By Ndi Eugene Ndi, just
back from Babensi 2-in Nguti
