By Septimus Senessie in Kono
Police at Tankoro division and soldiers of the Ninth Infantry Battalion at Sembakoro village in Kono district have been accused of “carrying out illegal mining exercises at Kongo Bridge, Lebanon in Koidu Town”.
According to some residents around the mined out bridge area and some members of the civil society groups in the diamond rich district, there were well over nine bore holes, locally known as ‘damakuru’, around the Kongo Bridge and some areas close to the main road in and out of the district.
They claimed the mining was “illegal, nefarious, irrational” and was against the people of Koidu.
A motor mechanic, Augustine Yamba of the Yamba Motor Garage,alleged that the “illegal mining at the Kongo Bridge is done by people believed to be Police and soldiers from the brigade at Sembakoro who patrol the area during the Ebola curfew which starts every day from 10pm to 6am”.
Mr. Yamba, with his workshop very close to the bridge where the mining was being done, said one of his senior apprentices who stayed at the workshop,had also confirmed that those who carried out the illegal mining were people in military and police uniforms.
He said the mining at the bridge happened around 1am and 2am when all civilians were asleep but added that they didn’t have the courage to interrogate those who carried out the mining for fear of attacks.
“They are well armed men with rifles and bright touches pointing across the Main Masimgbi Road axis,” he said.
He claimed that after they spoke to journalists on the issue ten of them and a pastor, who went to service his car at the garage,were arrested one evening and charged to court the next day by police at the Tankoro division.
Mr. Yamba said: “My arrest could not be unconnected to the interview I gave to journalists which exposed the police and soldiers involved in illegal mining at the bridge”.
The head of Campaign for Just Mining, a civil society group in Kono, Ibrahim Sahr Hamed Bockarie,told Politico that “the illegal mining at the bridge must have been done by police who are the only people patrolling the Koidu township after 10pm because of the night time curfew.
“It is only the fools that will deny the fact that the police and military personnel are innocent of the acts,” he alleged, adding that “no ordinary civilian will undertake such mining when there is an Ebola restriction without the knowledge of security personnel who only have the sole right to move the length and breadth of the township.
Director of Advocacy for Social Justice and Development, Arthur Kargbo, also believed that the mining was being done by the “police and military in connivance with some unpatriotic stakeholders who do not mean good for the district,” adding that the bridge had become a “death trap.”
Police Local Unit Commander for Tankoro Division, Chief Superintendent David Sahid Koroma, dismissed the allegations and described them as “baseless and unsubstantiated.”
He said they had arrested and charged to court 11 suspects on two count charge each in connection with the said illegal mining, adding that the offences ranged from malicious damage on government property to illegal mining. He said their mandate was to protect lives and property and that was what they had always done in the diamond rich district.
The Commander at the Ninth Infantry Battalion at Sembakoro, Lieutenant Colonel Alex Karim Kamara, said it was not to his knowledge that some of his men were engaged in mining.
“None of my men are involved in mining and that anyone with clear evidence against my personnel in connection with the illegal mining can forward it and disciplinary actions will be taken against them,” he assured.
He said uniformedmen should not be seen as soldiers because some civilians had also usedmilitary fatigues just to give a bad name to the forces, adding that they had provided full security around the Kongo Bridge to avoid a re-occurrence of the “heartless illegal mining”.
© Politico 30/10/14
