Senegal: land conflict in Tobène between ICS (phosphates) and the local population

Audio 01:21

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Senegal, a new land dispute has arisen 150 kilometers from Dakar. In the small village of Tobène, 2,500 inhabitants, the local populations oppose the Chemical Industries of Senegal, which extract phosphate to produce fertilizers, and who want to recover 6 hectares of land for which they have the concession. A representative conflict of land disputes in this agricultural region of Senegal.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Dakar, Théa Ollivier

The Chemical Industries of Senegal (ICS) is located a few meters from the village of Tobène. The company's managing director, Alassane Diallo, explains that the company needs additional land for its development. “  The 6 hectares are located within a mining concession granted by the State of Senegal in 2008. We plan to pay, on the basis of the scale set between the State and the mining companies, 1 million 50,000 CFA francs and we plan to make an additional donation of 1 million CFA francs to each person concerned  ”.

This scale is considered too low by the villagers, who ask for 17 million CFA francs per hectare in order to reinvest in new activities ... A student from the village, Cheikh Top is the spokesperson for the impacted populations of Tobène. "  These lands, we do not refuse to cede them but we ask for a fair scale of compensation to allow these populations whose main activity is agriculture to survive. " 

During this fight, around twenty residents were arrested. A collective of 35 associations of civil and peasant society, including Amnesty International, have come together in support. “  We are fighting for the liberation of these people but also for the restitution of their economic and social rights, that they have other land and can continue to live in dignity!  », Explains Oumar Cissé, coordinator of this mobilization.

Those arrested will be tried next Friday for “illegal assembly, violence against agents in the exercise of their functions and incitement to rebellion. "

Tobène, a new warning from the land bomb - https://t.co/CgFFqZ8eGX #Senegal #Kebetu # team221 #paris #buzz #africa pic.twitter.com/FlCrK35kE8

► Also to listen : With Cayar FM, in Senegal: the consequences of the discovery of natural gas on land

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• Senegal
• Agriculture and Fishing
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