Freetown (Politico Online): Residents of the three relocated communities at the Tonkolili iron ore mine in northern Sierra Leone have threatened to block the railway track from transporting ore for Shandong Steel.
It comes after the Chinese company discontinued payment of their monthly household subvention of a bag of rice and $25 to the Ferengbeya, Wondugu and Foraya villages, a bailout agreement introduced by African Minerals Company (AML) which had existed before the Chinese company bought over their concession areas.
In a meeting at the Court Barray in Ferengbeya today, the people said they had not received their monthly allowances since December, and that the water supplies from bowsers they used to get was no longer forthcoming.
“The Chinese have dug bore holes in the area which produce smelly water which is all we have to drink” says a community member who prefers anonymity.
She told Politico that Shandong had asked them to start farming on the Kakalomana farmland acquired by AML but never clearly demarcated.
“That is very difficult for us to do at this time because we were never prepared for it,” another Ferengbeya resident said.
Paramount Chief Alimamy Balla Yirrah Koroma of Kalasongoya chiefdom, told Politico that his people in the affected communities wrote an open letter a few days ago with three key demands, threatening to block the rail track if they were not met. They included their monthly food supply, an appropriate farmland and potable water.
The Chief said he had spoken to Shandong to meet the demands of his people which he said they had not responded to.
“I have been trying to let them understand that this is a responsibility they must continue to carry” he said.
About 1,000 people are said to be affected. The three villages were relocated in 2011 after their ancestral homes which sat on a huge iron ore deposit were excavated for mining.
They have constantly complained about the lack of a cemetery, a secret society bush, a farmland and drinking water.
(C) Politico Online 05/04/16
