Yaounde — Illegal clear-cutting of ancestral lands of the Indigenous Bagyeli people has begun in a biodiversity hotspot in coastal Cameroon. The land grab for a palm oil plantation about seven times the size of Dakar is agribusiness' most serious assault on Indigenous rights in the region in years. [1] The company began initial planting on September 12.
A Cameroonian firm, Cameroun Vert SARL (Camvert) is operating in an area inhabited by 28 local communities. The company is attempting to buy off Indigenous Bagyeli people with gifts of canned tomatoes, bags of rice, and soap. Local Bantu villagers, whose land is also under attack, complain of systematic corruption of traditional chiefs, phoney consultation and destruction of crops by foraging elephants after forest areas were cleared by Camvert bulldozers.
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