Two recent cases of social conflict between logging companies and local communities that have reportedly resulted in violent police interventions, arrests and reported abuses. According to independent reports, in April this year the Bosanga community in Yalisika village, Bumba (Equateur province), protested against Siforco's (DRC-based subsidiary of the Danzer group) operation in the area claiming that the company did not honour its promises to invest in social infrastructure. Siforco then called for police intervention, which resulted in violence: it was reported to Greenpeace that several villagers were badly beaten by police causing one person, Mr Momoma Tika Frédéric, to die. Several women were reportedly raped and the property of many villagers was destroyed.
On May 15th, Greenpeace was reliably informed that people had been beaten and arrested by policemen in the Inongo area (Bandundu province), reportedly as a consequence of a conflict between the community and ...