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By Mbom Sixtus
YOUNDE, Cameroon, Dec 15 2015 (IPS)

Farmers and activists in Cameroon say a jail sentence handed down on an environmentalist who exposed land-grabbing by a multinational agro-industrial company, sends a dangerous signal to communities trying to protect their land and resources.

Nasako Bessingi, Director of Struggle to Economize Future Environment, SEFE, was sentenced on November 3, by a court in Mundemba, a small village in Cameroon’s southwest region. The SG-SOC company, a subsidiary of the New York-based Herakles Farms and two of his former employees sued him for defamation.

The verdict: a fine of just over 1,800 dollars or 3-years imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay damages of about 18,000 dollars to the two civil parties and costs of about 364 dollars. Nasako was given 24 hours to pay the fine otherwise he faces jail for 3 years.

Nasako says his NGO has paid the fine “Just to have time to do other things while our lawyer Adolf Malle follows up an appeal at the southwest regional Court of Appeal.”

Recounting his plight to IPS, he said Herakles Farms sued him following government’s suspension of its activities. He also revealed to IPS he had written petitions against the company in which he accused its officials of lying to villagers.

In his complaints, he notified the government of the company’s activities, clearing, felling trees and planting nurseries pending authorization, which he called illegal. He said he had also reported claims by the multinational firm that it had authorization to acquire 73,000 hectares of land on a 99 year-lease at the cost at about 50 cents per hectare per year.

“My complaint was filed in August 2012 and in November 2013, President Paul Biya signed a decree, limiting the company to 19,843 hectares of land in Cameroon and to pay seven dollars per hectare per year.” The company abandoned the project.

Going by Nasako, the initial suit filed by the company, charged him with inciting the government to suspend the activities of the company, but during the proceedings which took close to two years, the company modified its claims and emphasized on defamation.

Nasako led journalists from both the local and international media to cover conflicts between Herakles Farms (SG-SOC) and communities of the Mundemba sub-division in the southwest of Cameroon. He was attacked in the forest a few days later on his way to an interior village in the subdivision for a sensitization campaign.

In his report of the incident, a copy of which he forwarded to Bruce Wrobel, (now deceased), the CEO of the company at the time, stating that he had identified the attackers as workers of his company.

“They used the report against me claiming I defamed the company, whereas there were many witnesses at the scene of the event,” Nasako said. “I filed a complaint in court against the company, but they too filed one at the same time and for some reasons, the court decided to listen to the multinational firm.”

Several environmental NGOs, some of which were equally against the land grabbing attempts of Herakles Farms, have denounced the verdict which to them is unjust. Nasako says he is comforted by officials of local and international NGOs including Nature Cameroon, Cultural Survival, the African Coalition Against Land Grabbing, Green Peace among other sympathizers.

To Samuel Nguiffo, Coordinator of the Yaounde-based Center for Environment and Development, CED, “The conviction of Nasako Besingi, which follows a series of other procedures, suggests a desire to intimidate environmental activists, in a context marked by the proliferation of investments in land and natural resources, which strongly encroach on village land.”

A statement from the Amy Moas, a US-based Senior Forest Campaigner and Eric Ini, an Africa Forest Campaigner for Green Peace, says Nasako is “Guilty for nothing more than exercising his democratic right to protest.” They hold that Herakles Farms has consistently worked to silence its critics and that the activist has been intimidated and assaulted in recent years.

Chief Alexander Ekperi of Esoki, one of the villages affected by the Herakles agro-industrial project told IPS that as a traditional ruler, he was a middleman between the investors and the indigenes. He said his people depend on farming and without land they will be idle and poor.

“I am 100 per cent in support of Nasako. The company concealed information from us. We were fooled our village will be developed but Nasako and other environmentalist educated us on the project and we realized the company was going to exploit both timber and non-timber products, grab our farmland and leave people stranded. We were not even aware of how much land the company was grabbing,” he said.

The traditional ruler complained, “Even our people, like Dr. Blaise Mekole who were close to the investors have vanished and no longer communicate with us. People are looking up to me to pay for some work they did for the company, whereas I was given a fake ECOBANK cheque. It was a mafia (incident) and we regret the person who exposed it is getting a heavy sentence.”

Peter Okpo Wa-namolongo who lives in one of the villages in the Korup National Park, believes Nasako’s verdict was unjust. “I don’t know if some of our elite are truly Cameroonians, because when it comes to money, they don’t feel for their own people. The investors give us oil, food and beer and pay the elite huge amounts of bribe money for our land,” he said.

Wa-namolongo pointed out, “These big companies have money. They pay their way into places and I’m sure even the judges received their money. I am strongly against what is happening to Nasako.”

Mosembe Cornelius, owner of a vast farmland that was coveted by Harakles farms told IPS that “The main problem is that government has incomplete information about the crisis. I would have lost my own seven hectares if environmentalists were not here to help.”

Before Mosember could finish his statement, another villager, Edwin Njio joined in and said, “Environmentalists helped us meet international lawyers who exposed the illegality of the company. We would be dead without our land. We the villagers are very angry.”

He also said, “We were treated as animals but we now understand our rights. If Nasako is convicted then the whole of Cameroon should be jailed. Even our chiefs (traditional rulers) treated us as if we don’t deserve respect.”

But Chief Eben Joseph sees things conversely. He is one of the traditional rulers in whose jurisdiction Herakles Farms’ project was being set up. “This project was going to bring development to my village. The head of state wants Cameroon to be emergent by 2035. How can we get there without foreign investments?” he asked.

Quizzed on the disparities in the amount the company paid per hectare on the annual basis and what was later determined by the head of state, as well as the surface area of land they initially wanted to exploit and the limitations by the 2013 Presidential Decree, Chief Eben stated he is a businessman.

“One cannot invest where he will not make profit. You go where you will make the highest profit. Gulf Oil had a permit to exploit oil in the Bakassi Peninsular in the 1970s, they claimed to the government the oil was little and sold their permit to Pecten which then exploited oil for about 30 years. Pecten recently sold the same area to Addax Petroleum which is still exploiting oil where Gulf Oil had claimed had little oil. It’s just business,” he said.

The traditional ruler said the government would have been collecting taxes from Herakles Farms while villagers enjoy some royalties. “Nasako and I have been friends for long, he always sees things from his own unique way. But he is not above the law. I will not say whether his court sentence was right or wrong.”

To Chief Orume, another traditional ruler in the region, “I knew this company will bring development to my village which is in a conservative area with community forests and a national park. I knew they would construct roads to ferry their produce out of the forest. But I am surprised they have just disappeared and we don’t know when they will be back.”

Though grappling with an appeal, Nasako told IPS that he has received complaints from laid-off workers of Herakles Farms. “They made severance payments to some workers in July 2015 promising to pay 70 other workers on September 30 but did not,” he said.

The company wrote an appeal to Cameroon’s presidency on October 3, pleading the government should intervene in court cases against the company. Jonathan Watts, the company’s Chief Operations Manager, sent a letter saying the company spent funds on court cases and said that the government should help dismiss the cases so that the company could focus on producing palm oil, which is a disputed product in ecological circles as it destroys forests.

(End)

A view of Gringo beach and, in the background, the city of Bajos de Haina, the Dominican Republic’s main industrial hub and port, and the third-most polluted city in the world. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS

By Ivet González
BAJOS DE HAINA, Dominican Republic , Dec 15 2015 (IPS)

Rubbish covers the beaches and clutters the rivers, the garbage dump is not properly managed, and more than 100 factories spew toxic fumes into the air in the city of Bajos de Haina, a major industrial hub and port city in the Dominican Republic.

“We’ve only made it into the news as one of the world’s most polluted places,” lamented Adriana Vallejo, a schoolteacher who talked to IPS in the Centro Educativo Manuel Felix Peña, a school that teaches the arts in this city 80 km to the south of Santo Domingo.

Vallejo was referring to the list of the 10 most polluted places on earth drawn up periodically by the New York-based Blacksmith Institute (which has changed its name to Pure Earth).

The Institute’s latest report, from 2013, listed Bajos de Haina in third place, after Dzerzhinsk, Russia, and Chernobyl, Ukraine, which suffered one of the worst environmental disasters in history, caused by the catastrophic nuclear accident in 1986.

“Those up above are not paying attention to the environmental problem,” said Vallejo, referring to the ruling classes and the authorities. “We, from here down below, can do practically nothing.”

According to the “Map of Poverty in the Dominican Republic 2014”, 33 percent of households in this city of 159,000 people are poor.

“Private companies contribute a little to improving things, but only with small gestures, such as facilities at the school that were refurbished by the oil refinery (the only one in this Caribbean island nation). We haven’t seen a real desire for Haina to change,” said the teacher, who has lived here for 25 years.

“When the situation gets out of hand, we hold protest marches,” she said. “The people have had to take to the streets to fight serious problems like burning in the garbage dump, which enveloped Haina in a curtain of smoke.”

The manufacturing, chemical products, pharmaceutical, metallurgical and power plants and the oil refinery emit every a combined total of 9.8 tons of formaldehyde, 1.2 tons of lead, 416 tons of ammonium, and 18.5 tons of sulfuric acid annually.

The mouth of the Ñagá River, whose waters have darkened as a result of industrial waste and which has become more narrow due to the loss of the mangroves lining the banks, in the Dominican Republic coastal city of Bajos de Haina. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS

The city’s thermoelectric complex produces more than 50 percent of the electricity available for the economy and the country’s 9.3 million inhabitants.

In this city, 84 hazardous substances have been identified, 65 of which are major toxics.

Factories dump waste into the rivers and the sea. And noise pollution is another problem affecting human health.

Scientific studies warn that a majority of local residents suffer from ailments such as asthma, bronchitis, the flu and acute diarrhea.

In this city of 50 square km, the main environmental woes are air, water and noise pollution, problems caused by the open-air dump, and municipal solid waste scattered everywhere.

Where tons of garbage now cover a wide open area, there was a forest 30 years ago, “where I used to wander as a kid,” said high school math teacher Juan Ventura, who took IPS to the dump. “People who used to live around here back then are nostalgic and sad; we miss what was once a natural area that used to be known as El Naranjal.”

“The city’s garbage is brought here, with absolutely no kind of health policies. For decades, they even brought in part of the garbage from Santo Domingo. The only thing they did was burn it, and the entire local population had to breathe the nauseating smoke.

“It’s pathetic that the local authorities have no serious policy for recycling, and some local residents scavenge waste materials on their own, without any protective measures,” he said, pointing to around a dozen men and women sorting through bags of garbage for scraps of material, plastic and metal, to classify and sell them to recycling companies.

One of the women, her hands filthy from scavenging, told IPS that she is involved in this informal activity because of the money she can earn.

The woman, who is originally from neighbouring Haiti, said she makes between 22 and 44 dollars a day collecting plastic that she resells – a considerable sum in a country where the minimum monthly wage is 231 dollars.

The authorities say Haina is suffering from the legacy of years of nearly non-existent environmental legislation.

The neighbourhood Paraíso de Dios or God’s Paradise turned into a living hell during the 20 years that the Metaloxa car battery recycling smelter operated there with no environmental controls or oversight. Local residents in the area where the plant used to operate have extremely high blood lead levels.

For a decade the community put up a battle until Metaloxa was forced to pull out in 1999, when the Public Health Ministry finally took action.

But many locals suffered irreversible damage to their health.

Residents of this city complain that enforcement of the 2000 law on the environment and natural resources is lax.

“There is no respect for the environment,” Mackenzie Andújar, a 41-year-old plumber who lives in the area of Gringo beach, told IPS. “There is no control over factories here; they dump their toxic waste out of chimneys and into the water. The situation in Haina has only gotten worse in recent years.”

The Ñagá River, which flows into the sea at Gringo beach, is filthy and narrow as a result of garbage dumps and deforestation. Plastic bottles, cardboard, old clothes and other trash is strewn over the sand dunes, while children splash in the water. The view from the beach is the furnaces and smokestacks of the nearby factories.

“The locals are uncultured; when a dog or other animal dies, they throw the corpse into the river or on the beach, instead of burying it,” said Andújar.

The environmental crisis, the high population density, the poor living conditions and the lack of services infrastructure make this a conflict-ridden area, according to the 2011 study titled “a socioeconomic and environmental diagnosis on the management of solid household waste in the municipality of Haina”

“The environmental problems in our community are hard to deal with, but we also have social contamination caused by crime and young people’s lack of interest in studying,” said music student Juan Elías Andújar.

“In school they talk to us about ecological issues,” he told IPS. “We have a group called ‘Guardians of Nature’, to raise social awareness and carry out actions like clean-ups of beaches. Haina could change if each person were willing to make an effort.”

Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

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L'avènement de la Cour pénale internationale a permis la pleine reconnaissance de la place de la victime dans le procès international, avec l'affirmation d'un droit à réparation pour le crime de génocide, les crimes contres l'humanité et les crimes de guerre. A l'heure des premières condamnations prononcées par la Cour, la question demeure toutefois entière de savoir non pas seulement s'il est possible de réparer l'irréparable, mais comment tenter de le faire.

Article publié dans Politique étrangère, vol. 80, n°4, hiver 2015.

dd

JEUDI 17 DÉCEMBRE 2015

Université Panthéon-Assas Paris II - 12 place du Panthéon 75005 Paris - Salle des conseils (escalier M, 2e étage)

L'arrivée d'armes dites « autonomes » sur le champ de bataille suscite fantasmes et craintes. Longtemps marginaux, les « systèmes d'armes létaux autonomes » pourraient connaître prochainement un développement sans précédent, grâce aux progrès de l'intelligence artificielle. Dans ces conditions, ces « robots tueurs » pourraient-ils s'émanciper de leurs inventeurs et devenir des menaces à la paix et à la sécurité internationales ? Peut-on alors raisonnablement parler d'une troisième révolution militaire et stratégique, après l'invention de la poudre et de l'arme nucléaire ?

Ukrajna a tervek szerint 2016-ban 8,5 milliárd dollár hitelt fog felvenni, amiből 4,4 milliárdot külföldi piacról – írja a RIA Novosztyi a parlament oldalán közzétett 2016-os költségvetési tervekre hivatkozva.

(B2) Un corps de garde-frontières européens et de garde-côtes, l’idée est ancienne. Mais elle n’a jamais pu être mise en oeuvre, comme nous l’avions écrit récemment. Tout simplement, car une majorité des Etats s’y étaient opposés assez vite. De cette idée est d’ailleurs née un succédané, « l’Agence européenne pour la gestion de la coopération opérationnelle aux frontières extérieures des États membres de l’Union européenne », plus connue sous son acronyme Frontex (lire : En direct de la ‘situation room’ de Frontex).

Si le nom était long, il disait bien aussi ce que Frontex était : juste un organe de gestion opérationnelle. Ce qui, en soi, était ambitieux. Aujourd’hui cette agence ne dispose pas de tous les moyens nécessaires. Quand existe un besoin, constaté par tous, comme aux frontières de la Grèce, elle doit lancer un appel à du personnel et du financement. Et ces appels ne trouvent pas toujours vraiment réponse. Les Etats rechignent à envoyer du personnel et du matériel, parfois tout simplement car ils ont autre chose à faire (Lire : Au coeur de Frontex).

Parfois ce sont les mêmes d’ailleurs qui se plaignent de voir les frontières mal défendues ou de voir des migrants arriver par centaines. Témoin : le dernier appel à contribution pour quelque 700 personnels qui n’a été rempli que péniblement à moitié. Il était temps de passer à autre chose.

Une décision courageuse

La volonté de la Commission dirigée par Jean-Claude Juncker de proposer, d’emblée, la création d’un corps européen de garde-frontières, sans passer par une étape intermédiaire, est à saluer. C’est une nécessité aujourd’hui si on veut garder une certaine sérénité sur le continent  européen. Même si cette mesure peut paraître brutale, on a trop souvent parlé, dans le passé, de première étape sans passer à la seconde, pour ne pas avoir envie aujourd’hui d’être plus décisif. De fait, la plupart des Etats préfèrent un corps européen, même si ce n’est pas leur premier choix, à des frontières poreuses, mal gardées, où l’Etat concerné n’a que peu de moyens à opposer…

Les modalités de décision à revoir

On peut, en revanche, avoir un peu plus de doute sur les dispositions figurant dans le projet de règlement proposé aujourd’hui permettant de passer outre la volonté d’un Etat pour imposer la présence de gardes-frontières. Cette disposition peut paraître justifiée au regard de certaines périodes de latence, quand l’Etat où se déroule une crise met du temps à réagir. C’était le cas pour la Grèce récemment (lire : La Grèce appelle l’Europe au secours. Il était temps !). Mais il faut se méfier des mesures trop conjoncturelles. Cette mesure risque de heurter inutilement de nombreux pays à la souveraineté sensible, notamment à l’Est de l’Europe. Il ne faut pas les blâmer rapidement. Ils ont leurs raisons, voire raison tout court !

Discutable juridiquement…

D’un point de vue juridique, il parait difficile que la Commission impose une mesure de force, qui oblige un Etat à accepter des forces d’un autre pays, qui vont intervenir à sa place, assurant des fonctions régaliennes, comme intervenir en uniforme, armés, arrêter des personnes. En droit international, cela supposerait d’avoir une résolution du Conseil de sécurité des Nations-Unies avec le recours au Chapitre VII.

… comme historiquement

En termes historiques, c’est oublier le rôle joué par les gardes-frontières dans le système communiste de l’URSS et encore aujourd’hui en Russie. Les « verts » étaient une composante intégrale du dispositif soviétique de renseignements (KGB puis FSB), destiné à assurer l’ordre, aux côtés des « bleus » — la police politique. De plus, la notion d’assistance forcée peut résonner de façon étrange en référence à l’histoire. L’URSS n’a pas hésité à utiliser cette notion pour imposer à ses voisins de venir lui prêter « main forte ».

ou politiquement

L’époque a certes totalement changé. Et l’esprit de la Commission est tout autre. Il s’agit en renforçant les frontières externes de préserver la libre circulation à l’intérieur des frontières européennes, de sauver Schengen. Mais l’histoire est encore vive. il faut faire attention aux symboles… Et imposer à un Etat contre son gré certaines mesures pourrait se révéler dangereux à terme.

Une disposition qui pourrait valser

Du côté de la Commission, on semble d’ailleurs conscient — pour ce que j’ai compris — d’être allé « un peu loin » et prêt à abandonner cette disposition. Il s’agit plutôt d’un élément comme de quelques autres, destinés à servir de contrepartie dans la négociation qui va s’engager maintenant au sein du corpus législatif européen (Conseil des Etats membres de l’UE et Parlement européen). Espérons que cette « provocation » ne servira de prétexte à quelques uns pour refuser tout le projet.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Lire notre dossier : N°30. Garder les frontières de l’Europe. Vers un corps européen de garde-côtes et garde-frontières

Le Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, est « profondément alarmé » par les derniers événements au Burundi, a déclaré mardi une de ses porte-paroles, Cécile Pouilly, lors d'un point de presse à Genève.

Profondément alarmé et préoccupé par l'aggravation de la crise politique, sécuritaire et humanitaire au Soudan du Sud, déchiré par un conflit depuis deux ans, le Conseil de sécurité a prorogé mardi jusqu'au 31 juillet 2016 le mandat de la Mission des Nations Unies au Soudan du Sud (MINUSS).

La Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en République centrafricaine (MINUSCA) a mis en garde mardi contre toute perturbation du processus électoral alors que des élections présidentielle et législatives sont prévues le 27 décembre.

Profondément préoccupé par l'absence d'état de droit à Abyei et le report systématique du règlement de son statut, le Conseil de sécurité a prorogé mardi le mandat de la Force intérimaire de sécurité des Nations Unies pour Abyei (FISNUA) jusqu'au 15 mai 2016. Il a, en outre, décidé de maintenir les effectifs autorisés antérieurement et qui sont déjà déployés.

Alastair Leithead gives his account of what has happened in South Sudan and where it’s heading.

(crédit : RTL – archives JYLD en janvier 2015)

(B2) L’organisation de l’Etat islamique (Daech) a pris pied sur la côte libyenne, autour de Syrte, l’ancien bastion de Kadhafi. Mais elle commence à progresser « vers l’intérieur » de la Libye avec pour objectif l’accès à des puits de pétrole, a mis en évidence lundi le ministre français de la Défense, Jean-Yves Le Drian sur la chaîne française RTL : « La situation est préoccupante en Libye. Je l’ai dit depuis des mois. »

De Syrte vers l’intérieur du pays

Les miliciens de Daech « sont à Syrte. Ils étendent leur territoire sur 250 kilomètres linéaires de côte. Mais ils commencent à pénétrer vers l’intérieur et à avoir une tentation d’accès à des puits de pétrole et à des réserves de pétrole. Il faut absolument que cesse des conflits intralibyens, sinon le vainqueur militaire sera Daech ».

Une lente prise de conscience chez les Libyens

« Heureusement, cette prise de conscience commence à se faire à la fois du côté de Tripoli et du côté de Tobrouk. Et on peut penser que les discussions qui sont en cours à la fois sous l’autorité de Martin Kobler, l’envoyé spécial des Nations unies, et dans les réunions de Rome, qui se sont déroulées ce week-end, vont aboutir à une solution politique » a-t-il ajouté.

Pas de frappes aériennes, une solution politique

Des frappes aériennes ne sont pas une option pour Jean-Yves Le Drian. « Il n’y a pas d’autres solutions (que) la solution politique. Il faut aboutir à une solution politique entre les différents clans, les différentes fractions qui aujourd’hui s’opposent en Libye » (…) Ils ont eux-mêmes les moyens militaires entre eux pour enrayer la progression de Daech donc il faut qu’ils s’unissent politiquement ».

Commentaire : Entamer des frappes parait plutôt délicat au plan politique comme militaire. La légitimité internationale de ces frappes serait étroite – sans une résolution du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU. La résolution votée le 20 novembre vise davantage Daech en Irak et en Syrie. Militairement, outre d’avoir les moyens nécessaires, l’effet pourrait être plus négatif que positif, en déplaçant des populations, donc les éléments de Daech, en suscitant d’autres vocations, et en provoquant chez les milices libyennes, au final, une réaction davantage de solidarité que de d’hostilité.

(NGV)

Ecoutez le fichier audio (source RTL) – Libye (à partir de la 7e minute, après la réaction aux élections régionales)

http://www.bruxelles2.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LeDrianElectionsLibye-Rtl20151214-8h35.mp3

(crédit : CUE)

(B2) En marge de la réunion des ministres de l’Union européenne, ce lundi, Jean Asselborn, le ministre luxembourgeois des Affaires étrangères, a voulu tirer la leçon du second tour des élections régionales.

« On peut dire bravo à la France », a-t-il tenu à souligner. « On ne peut pas oublier le premier tour. Bien sûr. Mais cela aurait pu être pire. On a fait barrage à ceux qui sont vraiment des anti-européens, des gens qui n’ont pas compris le message que nous a donné le XXe siècle de mieux faire au XXIe siècle. Cela montre que la démocratie fonctionne encore ».

(NGV

Après 33 ans de service, la frégate italienne Maestrale tire sa révérence. Le bâtiment sera officiellement retiré du service ce mardi 15 décembre au cours d’une cérémonie dans la base navale de La Spezia.

Tête de série des huit frégates dont le type porte son nom, le Maestrale est le premier de sa classe à prendre sa retraite au sein de la marine italienne. Mis en service en mars 1982, le bâtiment avait été suivi entre 1983 et 1985 par les Grecale, Libeccio, Scirocco, Aliseo, Euro, Espero et Zeffiro.

• Lire la suite de La frégate italienne Maestrale désarmée

Aujourd'hui mardi se tient à Paris un comité ministériel d'investissement (CMI) à dominante très
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