« Nous sommes ravis d’être parvenus à cet accord », a dit Balla Camara, leader communautaire et ancien maire d’une localité voisine. « Lorsque nous avons commencé notre lutte, personne ne pensait que nous pourrions obtenir ne serait-ce qu’un franc de cette société, et l’on nous a dit d’y renoncer, mais nous avons persévéré, et aujourd’hui, nous pouvons à nouveau garder la tête haute. »

Plus de 360 familles ont été chassées de leurs terres et de leurs foyers dans un groupe de villages connu sous le nom de « Area One » dans la préfecture de Siguiri. Beaucoup d’entre elles étaient des familles de mineurs artisanaux, de marchands et d’agriculteurs dont les ancêtres vivaient dans la région depuis plus de 800 ans.

Rôle de la Société financière internationale (SFI)

L’accord de règlement annoncé aujourd’hui est l’aboutissement d’une série de médiations entre l’entreprise et la communauté d’Area One qui a débuté en juillet 2018 sous les auspices du conseiller-médiateur pour la conformité (CAO) du Groupe de la Banque mondiale. Ces médiations ont été entreprises après que les communautés affectées ont déposé une plainte auprès du CAO concernant les liens financiers de la Société financière internationale avec l’exploitant de la mine.

La plainte, déposée avec le soutien des organisations non gouvernementales guinéennes Mêmes Droits Pour Tous (MDT) et le Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), ainsi que du groupe international de défense des droits de l’homme Inclusive Development International, souligne que la SFI est liée à l’expansion de la mine de Siguiri par l’intermédiaire de son client, Nedbank, qui a accordé un prêt à usage général à AngloGold Ashanti en 2015, année où les expulsions ont commencé. La plainte décrit la mise en œuvre des expulsions dans un contexte de violence, d’intimidation et d’arrestations arbitraires par les forces de sécurité de l’État, et la réinstallation de la communauté dans des conditions désastreuses, sans accès à l’eau, à des locaux scolaires ou aux soins de santé, et sans qu’aucun effort ne soit fait pour rétablir leurs moyens de subsistance.

« Les souffrances endurées par la communauté Area One ne peuvent être réparées. Mais ce règlement contribuera grandement à aider la communauté à reconstruire les moyens de subsistance qu’elle a perdus à cause de la mine », a déclaré Aboubacar Diallo, Directeur executif du CECIDE.

« Cet accord final a été long à obtenir, mais nous devons féliciter les dirigeants d’AngloGold Ashanti d’être restés engagés dans le processus de dialogue pendant toutes ces années et d’avoir finalement apporté une solution satisfaisante aux familles lésées par l’expansion de la mine de Siguiri », a déclaré Fréderic Foromo Loua, Président de MDT.

Au cours des sept années de médiations facilitées par le CAO, les parties ont signé plusieurs accords provisoires relatifs à la sécurité et aux droits de la personne, ainsi qu’à l’amélioration des infrastructures et des services de base sur le site de réinstallation. Dans le cadre de l’accord final, l’entreprise a promis de respecter ses engagements en cours ou en suspens liés à ces accords, notamment l’achèvement des travaux à l’école primaire et au marché, la réparation du poste de santé, l’élimination de la poussière sur les routes principales et l’amélioration du système de drainage sur le site de réinstallation. L’accord de règlement final réaffirme également la responsabilité permanente de l’entreprise de coopérer à toute enquête judiciaire liée à des allégations de violations des droits de la personne dans sa zone d’exploitation ; de divulguer rapidement et de manière accessible ses plans d’exploitation minière aux personnes susceptibles d’être affectées par ces projets ; et, si une nouvelle réinstallation est nécessaire pour mettre en œuvre ses plans d’exploitation minière, de s’engager dans un processus transparent et productif de consultation informée et participative des communautés affectées, conformément aux normes de performance de la SFI et aux principes du consentement libre, préalable et éclairé.

Une victoire rare pour les communautés cherchant réparation aux dommages liés à l’exploitation minière

Le Area One Sustainable Development Fund qui sera créé dans le cadre du règlement final comprend des dispositions innovantes visant à garantir l’appropriation par la communauté et une large participation, ainsi que la transparence financière et la bonne gouvernance. La SFI a également accepté de faciliter le processus d’assainissement en fournissant une assistance technique à la communauté pour l’aider à identifier des projets de développement de moyens de subsistance durables et réalisables – une première pour l’institution de financement du développement qui s’efforce depuis deux ans de finaliser son Approche des mesures correctives.

« Il s’agit d’une victoire extraordinaire pour la communauté d’Area One, qui sera un exemple pour les communautés affectées par l’exploitation minière dans le monde entier », a déclaré David Pred, directeur exécutif d’Inclusive Development International. « Malheureusement, il est extrêmement rare que les communautés qui déposent des plaintes auprès des mécanismes de responsabilité du financement du développement obtiennent des résultats correctifs complets comme celui-ci, et c’est la première fois que nous voyons la SFI soutenir activement une résolution de cette manière. Nous espérons que ce cas présagera de changements à venir et que nous commencerons à voir plus d’exemples de banques de développement soutenant des efforts de réparation lorsque leurs investissements sont à l’origine de préjudices ».

Le CAO suivra la mise en œuvre de l’accord global pendant deux ans.

Un reportage photo sur la lutte et la victoire de la communauté Area One est disponible ici : https://youtu.be/penDPtDm43M?si=OPZsyImLkEAcYHBR

Pour plus d’informations sur l’affaire, voir : https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/cases/guinea-anglogold-ashanti-gold-mine/

– Réinstallation involontaire pour l’extension d’une mine d’or à Kintinian :  Kintinian, Guinée – Rapport de la mission d’enquête (Janvier 2017), à : https://communitiesfirst.net/2017/01/31/kintinian-report/

– Enrichissement injuste : Comment la SFI profite de l’accaparement des terres en Afrique (avril 2017) à : http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Outsourcing-Development-Africa.pdf

The post AngloGold Ashanti accepte un règlement financier avec la communauté « Area One » déplacée par sa mine en Guinée appeared first on Inclusive Development International.

“We are overjoyed to have reached this agreement,” said Balla Camara, a community leader and former mayor of the local township. “When we began our struggle, nobody believed we would get one franc from this company and we were told to give up, but we persisted and today we can hold our heads high again.”

More than 360 families were driven from their land and homes in a cluster of villages that became known as “Area One” in Siguiri Prefecture—many of them artisanal miners, merchants and farmers whose ancestors have lived in the region for more than 800 years.

Role of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm

The settlement agreement announced today concludes a series of mediations between the company and the Area One community that began in July 2018 under the auspices of the World Bank Group’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO). The mediations were initiated after affected communities filed a complaint to the CAO regarding the IFC’s financial ties to the mine operator. 

The complaint, filed with the support of Guinean non-governmental organizations Mêmes Droits Pour Tous (MDT) and Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), and the international human rights group Inclusive Development International, outlined how the IFC was linked to the Siguiri mine expansion through its client, Nedbank, which provided a general purpose loan to AngloGold Ashanti in 2015, the year the evictions began. The complaint described how the evictions were carried out in the context of violence, intimidation and arbitrary arrests by state security forces, and how the community was resettled into dire conditions, without access to water, schooling or healthcare and no effort to restore their livelihoods.

“The suffering endured by the Area One community cannot be undone. But this settlement will go a long way to helping the community rebuild the livelihoods they lost to the mine, said Aboubacar Diallo, Executive Director of CECIDE.

“This final agreement took a long time to obtain, but we must commend the leaders of AngloGold Ashanti for remaining engaged in the dialogue process all these years and finally delivering a satisfactory remedy to the families who were harmed by the expansion of the Siguiri mine,” said Fréderic Foromo Loua, Executive Director of MDT.

Over the seven years of CAO-facilitated mediations, the parties signed several interim agreements relating to security and human rights and improved infrastructure and basic services at the resettlement site. As part of the final settlement, the company has promised to fulfill its outstanding or ongoing commitments in relation to these agreements, including completing work at the primary school and market, repairs to the health post, dust suppression on the main roads and upgrading the drainage system at the resettlement site. The final settlement agreement also reaffirms the company’s ongoing responsibility to cooperate in any judicial investigations related to allegations of human rights abuses within its area of operations; to early and accessible disclosure of mining exploitation plans to those who may be affected by those plans; and, if further resettlement is necessary to implement its mining plans, to engage in a transparent and meaningful process of informed and participative consultation with affected communities, aligned with the IFC Performance Standards and the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.

A rare victory for communities seeking remedy for mining-related harms

The Sustainable Development Fund that will be established as part of the final settlement includes innovative provisions to ensure community ownership and broad-based participation, along with financial transparency and good governance. IFC has also agreed to support the remediation process by providing technical assistance to the community to help them identify sustainable and feasible livelihood development projects—a first for the development finance institution, which has been working for the last two years to finalize its Approach to Remedial Action.

“This was a tremendous victory for the Area One community, which will be an inspiration to mining-affected communities around the world,” said David Pred, executive director of Inclusive Development International. “Sadly, comprehensive remedial outcomes like this are exceedingly rare for communities that file complaints to development finance accountability mechanisms, and this is the first time we’ve ever seen the IFC actively support a resolution in this way. We hope this case will be a harbinger of change and that we will start to see more examples of development banks supporting remediation efforts when their investments cause harm.”  

The CAO will monitor implementation of the global agreement for two years.

A photo essay of the Area One community’s struggle and victory is available here: https://youtu.be/K_OMze6n1Xg

For more information on the case, see:

– Involuntary Resettlement for the Extension of a Gold Mine in Kintinian: Kintinian, Guinea Fact-Finding Mission Report (January 2017), at: https://communitiesfirst.net/2017/01/31/kintinian-report/

– Unjust Enrichment:  How the IFC Profits from Land Grabbing in Africa (April 2017) at: http://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Outsourcing-Development-Africa.pdf

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“ASI claims to be promoting responsible sourcing but certifying the CBG mine at this moment in time does the opposite—it’s greenwashing. It sends a signal to the market, including electric vehicle manufacturers, that CBG has made amends for decades of land grabbing. While CBG has taken steps to improve and we hope this progress continues, it has not yet addressed the vast majority of harm it has caused,” said Mohamed Lamine Diaby, Executive Director of ADREMGUI.

“If CBG fully remediates the harm it has caused and ensures that local communities benefit from the mining that’s happening on their land, then we would be the first to applaud them and recommend certification,” said Natalie Bugalski, legal and policy director at Inclusive Development International. “But when ASI gives its stamp of approval prematurely to companies that have not yet met their environmental and human rights responsibilities, it risks disincentivizing continued improvement and undermining affected communities trying to secure remedies for harms they continue to suffer.”

Since it began operations in 1973, CBG—a joint venture between the Guinean government and international mining giants Alcoa, Rio Tinto, and Dadco—has mined large areas of land in the area surrounding the town of Sangaredi, located in Guinea’s Boké region. For years, it has displaced and denied the land rights of local communities, destroyed their agricultural lands and freshwater sources, and damaged critical biodiversity and wildlife, including endangered chimpanzees, creating immense frustration among the local population.

Inclusive Development International, CECIDE and ADREMGUI have for many years worked closely with mining-affected communities in Guinea and elsewhere and currently are serving as advisors to 13 communities engaged in a dispute resolution process with CBG, seeking remedies for human rights abuses committed by the company. The organizations have also provided guidance and support to community representatives in their communications with ASI. As outlined in their response to the certification decision, the organizations have observed serious shortcomings in the initiative’s approach, including its failure to meaningfully inform and engage affected communities as part of the audit process. Neither ASI nor its auditors took proactive steps to ensure that affected communities were informed about ASI and its standards and were prepared to take part in the audit. This was despite numerous requests—from Inclusive Development International and from affected community representatives directly—for more information and for these communities to be given an opportunity to provide input on their own terms.  

In their response to the certification, the organizations outline implications of the decision and recommendations for aluminum industry actors and regulators, including: 

• ASI should update its standards and process to ensure all audits and certification decisions reflect the concerns of affected communities and realities on the ground. 
• Until and unless ASI improves its standards and processes, car companies and other aluminum buyers cannot rely on ASI to effectively evaluate human rights-related risks in their supply chains. 
• All companies with supply chain links to the CBG mine should verify any ASI audit findings with other sources, including civil society organizations, and engage directly with communities and other stakeholders as part of their due diligence. 
• Policymakers should ensure that emerging mandatory business and human rights regulations, such as those being developed in the European Union, do not treat ASI certification as a proxy for aluminum supply chain due diligence.  

“A truly just transition can only be realized if the rights of mining-affected communities are respected,” said Aboubacar Diallo, Executive Director of CECIDE. “Policymakers interested in an effective strategy to curb climate change without wreaking havoc on some of the world’s most vulnerable communities must develop better solutions that compel mining companies to treat these communities with the respect they’re owed.” 

Additional Resources

• Joint statement responding to Aluminum Stewardship Initiative’s Certification of Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée: English; French
• Inclusive Development International’s letter to ASI regarding community engagement in the CBG audit: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Letter-to-ASI_IDI_18April2023.pdf 
• Inclusive Development International’s comments on ASI’s recent standards revision process: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ASICoverLetter02042022Final.pdf 

Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE) is a Guinean non-governmental organization founded in 2000 whose mission is to promote and defend the social, economic and cultural rights of communities, and their involvement in the design and implementation of public policies for development. 

Association pour le développement rural et l’entraide mutuelle en Guinée (ADREMGUI), is a Guinean non-governmental organization founded in 2006 that works for an institutional, economic and inclusive development at the grassroots level. Learn more at: https://adremgui.org/ 

Inclusive Development International is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that works to advance social, economic, and environmental justice by supporting communities around the world to defend their human rights and environment in the face of harmful corporate activities. Through our “Follow the Money” research, casework and policy advocacy, we hold corporations and development finance institutions accountable and promote a more just and ecologically sustainable development model. Learn more at: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net 

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While communities across Guinea were under Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders, a joint venture owned by mining giants Alcoa and Rio Tinto relocated more than a hundred families to expand its sprawling bauxite mine.  Residents of Hamdallaye village in the Boké region of Guinea, who have been seeking redress for the loss of their ancestral farmlands and livelihoods to the mine, say that Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) moved them to an unfinished resettlement site without adequate housing, water and sanitation, or sufficient arable land and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The surprise move took place prior to the commencement of a long-awaited World Bank-backed mediation between the community and CBG, which had been scheduled for March 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues.

A report released today by Guinean organizations Centre du Commerce International pour le Developpement (CECIDE) and Association pour le développement rural et l’entraide mutuelle en Guinée (ADREMGUI), and the US-based Inclusive Development International, documents how CBG’s resettlement of Hamdallaye village violates the environmental and social requirements of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector lending arm. The IFC bankrolled CBG’s expansion along with a syndicate of US, German and French public and private lenders.

According to the report the dust and dynamite blasting from CBG’s mining activities had made living conditions at the community’s former two-hundred-year-old village unbearable and gave the residents little choice but to accept relocation.  The families were relocated – in the middle of a government-ordered lockdown – to a resettlement site that was incomplete, with only one working water well at the time of the move, as well as unfinished houses and other poorly constructed infrastructure.

Unlike their lush former village, the resettlement site is situated on a previously mined hilltop, without trees or topsoil, rendering the land non-arable and devoid of shade to shelter the displaced families from the intense heat.

“Without cultivable land, economic activities are almost non-existent since our displacement, said Mamadou Lamarana Bah, a community representative from Hamdallaye.  “The consequences of loss of land and livelihoods have been catastrophic for villagers’ living conditions. Most people have run out of money. Some have been reduced to leaving for the surrounding villages…or towards the border with Guinea Bissau to make coal.”

The Rio Tinto-Alcoa joint venture has failed to meet international standards and its commitment to its lenders to provide the community with alternative “equivalent” farmland to compensate them for the land that it has taken in recent years.  CBG apparently earmarked a 56-hectare parcel near the resettlement site for income-generating activities, but a 2019 independent monitoring report mandated by CBG’s financiers found that this land parcel, like the residential resettlement site, is an unrehabilitated former mining site that is unsuitable for agriculture.  It also does not come close to replacing the quantity of land that the Hamdallaye community has lost to the mine.  Satellite imagery analyzed for the report indicates that CBG has taken more than 1000 hectares (10 square kilometers) of Hamdallaye’s ancestral farmlands since 2005.

“Resettlement of the Hamdallaye community into conditions that are guaranteed to make their lives worse off during a global public health emergency is the height of irresponsibility,” said David Pred, Executive Director of Inclusive Development International.  “CBG’s deplorable land and water acquisition and management practices are a far cry from the standards that its principle shareholders Rio Tinto and Alcoa claim to adhere and which its lenders require.”

CBG’s physical relocation of Hamdallaye families began on March 21, 2020, the same month that a long-delayed mediation was set to begin through the IFC’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO).  CBG had agreed to enter into the dispute resolution process in response to a complaint submitted by residents of 13 villages, including Hamdallaye, which accused the company of grabbing their ancestral land, destroying their livelihoods and damaging the local environment. Concerns about the proposed resettlement of Hamdallaye were a major component of the complaint. The mediations have been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is deeply disappointing that CBG did not delay the relocation of the Hamdallaye community until they had a reached an agreement on fair resettlement terms through the mediation process,” said Pascal Tenguinao, Executive Director of CECIDE.  “We hope that the damage that has been done to this community is not irreversible and will be rectified without further delay.”

The organizations have called upon CBG’s financiers to enforce the environmental and social requirements in the loan covenants and demand that the company immediately bring the project into compliance.

Background

Since it began operations in 1973, CBG has mined large areas of land surrounding the town of Sangaredi, located in the lush Boké region. For years, the joint venture has denied the customary land rights of local communities and expropriated their farmland without compensation or land rehabilitation. This has seriously disrupted the traditional crop rotation system and caused degradation of the soil.  CBG’s operations have had other widespread environmental and social repercussions. Pollution of water and prevention of access to clean water has been a major impact of CBG’s operation, causing extreme hardship for local communities. The mine has had severe impacts on biodiversity, including critical habitats for endangered chimpanzees.  These practices were the subject of the complaint to the CAO filed by residents of thirteen affected villages in 2019.

CBG is a joint venture between the Guinean government and three multinational mining companies: Rio Tinto, Alcoa and Dadco.

In 2016, the IFC provided a $200 million loan to expand the venture’s mining operations, with the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now called the International Development Finance Corporation) providing an additional $150 million.  A further $473 million came from a syndicate of commercial banks: France’s Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Natixis; the German affiliate of ING bank, ING-DiBa; and two Guinean banks, Société Générale de Banques en Guinée and Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinée, a member of the BNP Paribas group. The German government guaranteed a portion of the financing through its Untied Loan Guarantees program.

Inclusive Development International has traced the bauxite from CBG’s mine to a number of refineries and smelters in North America and Europe, where it is processed into primary aluminum and sold on to big brands that produce automobiles and aluminum packaging for food, beverage and other consumer goods. These include Coca-Cola, Campbells Soup, Nespresso, Audi, BMW, Fiat-Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volvo, Honda, and others.

Download the Full Report in French and English

Read More

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The complaint, filed with the IFC’s independent watchdog, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, details violations of the IFC’s environmental and social Performance Standards and international law. Most of the world’s development banks have established such grievance mechanisms to monitor compliance with their environmental and social policies and address complaints from impacted communities.

The complainants are seeking full and fair redress for the harms they have suffered, along with protection from future violations. They have asked the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman to facilitate mediations with the IFC and Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée to address their grievances.

“The lands on which we and our ancestors have lived and farmed for centuries have been almost totally consumed by CBG,” said Mamadou Lamarana Bah, one of the complainants.  “With no more land, no more forests, no more water, how are we going to survive?

The villagers have lost agricultural land, which has led to a significant decline in their incomes and quality of life, and access to their water resources, which have been polluted, among other harmful impacts. The situation is especially perilous for the residents of Hamdallaye village, who have been told by the company that they will be imminently resettled, without their consent, in a former mining area that was not properly rehabilitated.

The complainants are being represented by two Guinean organizations, Centre du Commerce International pour le Developpement (CECIDE) and Association pour le développement rural et l’entraide mutuelle en Guinée (ADREMGUI), and the U.S. human rights organization Inclusive Development International.

The impoverished nation of Guinea is home to the world’s largest bauxite reserves. Mining companies have flooded the country in recent years, despite serious social and environmental concerns raised by Human Rights Watch and others. Bauxite mined by Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is processed into aluminum that is used by major consumer brands to make cars, beverage cans and technology. Yet few Guineans benefit from such projects.

“International mining companies have been making a fortune off of Guinea’s rich mineral resources, while the communities impacted by mining have quite literally been left in the dust,” said Mathilde Chiffert, West Africa Legal Coordinator for Inclusive Development International.  “It’s high time for local communities to get a fair share of the benefits from mineral extraction.”

Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée is a joint venture between the Guinean government; the U.S. aluminum corporation Alcoa; the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto; and the Guernsey-registered Dadco. In 2016, the IFC provided a $200 million loan to expand the venture’s mining operations, with the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation providing an additional $150 million.

A further $473 million came from a syndicate of commercial banks: France’s Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Natixis; the German affiliate of ING bank, ING-DiBa; and two Guinean banks, Société Générale de Banques en Guinée and Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinée, a member of the BNP Paribas group.

The German government guaranteed a portion of the financing through its Untied Loan Guarantees program.

Since it began operations in 1973, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée has mined large areas of land in the area surrounding the town of Sangaredi, located in the lush Boké region. For years, the joint venture has denied the land rights of local communities, creating immense frustration among the population.

“We look forward to engaging in an equitable dialogue process with CBG, facilitated by an independent mediator to resolve the long-standing grievances of the complainants,” said Tenguiano Pascal, Executive Director of CECIDE.

The complaint is available at:

In English: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CBG_CAO-Request-for-Mediation_FINAL-EN.pdf

In French: https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CBG_CAO_Request-for-Mediation_FINAL-FRE.pdf

For further reading, see:

“What Do We Get Out of It?” The Human Rights Impact of Bauxite Mining in Guinea, Human Rights Watch, October 2018

Lire cet article en français

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Les plaignants demandent une réparation complète et équitable des préjudices subis ainsi qu’une protection contre de nouvelles violations. Ils ont demandé au conseiller-médiateur (CAO) de faciliter la médiation avec la SFI et la Compagnie des bauxites de Guinée pour examiner et traiter leurs griefs. 

« Les terres sur lesquelles nous vivons et cultivons depuis des siècles ont été presque totalement consommées par la CBG », a déclaré Mamadou Lamarana Bah. « Sans terres, forêts, ni eau, comment allons-nous survivre ? »

Les villageois ont perdu leurs terres agricoles, ce qui a conduit à une baisse drastique de leurs revenus et à la détérioration de leur qualité de vie, à la restriction de leur accès aux ressources en eau, qui ont été polluées, entre autres impacts négatifs. La situation est particulièrement précaire pour les populations du village Hamdallaye, lesquelles ont été informées par la société de leur imminente réinstallation, sans leur consentement, sur une ancienne zone minière n’ayant pas été convenablement réhabilitée.

Les plaignants sont représentés par deux organisations guinéennes, le Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE) et l’Association pour le développement rural et l’entraide mutuelle en Guinée (ADREMGUI) ainsi que par l’organisation américaine de défense des droits de l’Homme, Inclusive Development International (IDI). 

La Guinée dispose des plus grandes réserves de bauxite au monde. Les sociétés minières ont envahi le pays ces dernières années, en dépit des graves inquiétudes concernant les impacts sociaux et environnementaux qui ont déjà été soulevées par Human Rights Watch et d’autres organisations. La bauxite extraite par Compagnie des bauxites de Guinée esttransformée en aluminium, lequel est utilisé par les principales marques grand public pour la fabrication de véhicules, de cannettes de boisson et de biens technologiques. Cependant, peu de Guinéens bénéficient de ces projets d’extraction de bauxite.

« Les sociétés minières internationales tirent une fortune des riches ressources minérales de la Guinée, tandis que les communautés touchées par l’exploitation minière sont littéralement laissées sans rien, a déclaré Mathilde Chiffert, coordinatrice juridique pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest chez Inclusive Development International. « Il est grand temps que les communautés locales tirent une part équitable des avantages de l’extraction minière. »

La Compagnie des bauxites de Guinée est une société conjointe détenue par le gouvernement guinéen, la Compagnie d’aluminium des États-Unis (ALCOA), le géant minier anglo-australien, Rio Tinto, ainsi que Dadco enregistré à Guernesey. En 2016, en plus des 150 millions de dollars octroyés par la Société des États-Unis pour les investissements privés à l’étranger (OPIC), la SFI a accordé un prêt de 200 millions de dollars à cette entreprise conjointe pour que cette dernière étende ses opérations minières.

Par ailleurs, 473 millions de dollars lui ont été attribués par un consortium de banques commerciales, dont : Société Générale France, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, filiale allemande de la banque ING, ING-DiBa et deux banques guinéennes, la Société Générale de Banques en Guinée et la Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l’Industrie de la Guinée, membre du groupe BNP Paribas.

Le gouvernement allemand a assuré une partie du financement à travers son Programme de garantie des prêts non liés.

Depuis le début de ses opérations en 1973, la Compagnie des bauxites de Guinée a exploité de vastes superficies de terres dans les environs de la ville de Sangaredi située dans la région de Boké. Pendantdes années, cette entreprise a privé les communautés locales de leurs droits fonciers, créant ainsi d’immenses frustrations au sein de ces populations.

« Nous attendons avec impatience de nous engager dans un processus de dialogue équitable avec la CBG, facilité par un médiateur indépendant, afin de résoudre leurs griefs datant de longue date », a déclaré Saa Pascal Tenguiano, Directeur exécutif du CECIDE.

Cette plainte est disponible :

En français :  https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CBG_CAO_Request-for-Mediation_FINAL-FRE.pdf

En anglais : https://www.inclusivedevelopment.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CBG_CAO-Request-for-Mediation_FINAL-EN.pdf

Pour en savoir plus, consultez :

« Qu’est-ce que nous y gagnons?» Impact de l’extraction de la bauxite en Guinée selon Human Rights Watch,Human Rights Watch, octobre 2018

The post Treize villages guinéens portent plainte contre la Banque mondiale pour le financement d’une mine de bauxite nocive appeared first on Inclusive Development International.

The protests were directed against SAG because of recurrent power outages that deprived people of access to electricity for nearly two months. SAG supplies electricity to the Siguiri prefecture of Northern Guinea.  According to local medical sources, more than 40 people were injured after security forces opened fire on protesters.  The victims included minors under 16 years of age.  The most serious wounded were finally evacuated to Bamako for medical treatment.

The complaint details a case of rape committed by the police against a young woman shortly after her arrest. She was detained by the Siguri Gendarmerie, along with other protesters and innocent bystanders for two days, where she was repeatedly raped by several soldiers.

The complaint also accuses law enforcement of looting and destruction of private property.

“The violence committed by the defense and security forces in the protection of SAG facilities is a particularly serious crime.  We expect the judicial authorities not to tolerate the impunity of security forces and shed light on this case,” said Foromo Frédéric Loua, one of the lawyers for the victims.

The complaint was filed on behalf of the victims because no judicial investigation has so far been initiated in response to these events, while the perpetrators have enjoyed total impunity.

“This is not the first time that people in the Siguiri region have been victims of violence and other abuses by the defense and security forces, without the perpetrators ever facing justice, said Halimatou Camara, another lawyer for the complainants. “Only a fair and transparent judicial process will protect the rights of victims and prevent the repetition of these crimes.” In December 2015, members of the Kintinian community known as “Area One” were also subjected to serious violence by Guinean defense and security forces in conjunction with a resettlement process to clear the way for an expansion of SAG’s Siguiri gold mine.  These events were the subject of a 2017 complaint to the International Finance Corporation’s Ombudsman, which resulted in a mediation process between SAG and the community that is currently ongoing.   Inclusive Development International and Mêmes Droits pour Tous (MDT)  which are  supporting the Area One community in the mediation process, call upon AngloGold Ashanti and SAG to cooperate fully with the judicial authorities.  Such cooperation is required by the UN Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which AngloGold Ashanti has signed.

“It is essential that the judicial authorities hear all the victims, as well as the leaders of the various units of the defense and security forces deployed in the field, and SAG’s military adviser, to ensure that those responsible are identified, prosecuted and brought to justice,” said Mathilde Chiffert, West Africa Legal Coordinator for Inclusive Development International.  “This is the only way to prevent the repetition of these abuses in the future.”

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