TRACE JOENAL

By SiLNoRF Communications Unit The commissioner of the Northern Region for the National Democratic Commission (NDC); Bai Conteh on Thursday 23 rd June 2016 said that the Addax Bioethanol Project died at an early infant stage-barely five years after it was born in the Bombali and Tonkolili Districts, Northern Region of Sierra Leone. He made this statement during the official launching ceremony of the 2016 Monitoring Report on the Addax Bioethanol Project organized by the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF). The launching ceremony attracted several dignitaries from state and non-state institutions like the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL), the National Commission for Democracy, local authorities like host paramount chiefs and reps of the Addax Project, and Namati amongst others. Officially launching the report on behalf of the Chairman of the NCD-Dr.AbubakarrKargbo, BaiContehexplained that Addax Bioethanol Company came into the country five...

Following EPA’s recent suspension of Wilkinson Hills Mining Company; an auxiliary of AMR Gold Company, it is now clear that a SMALL SCALE mining license issued the AMR is in breach of the Mines and Minerals Act. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the AMR Gold Mining Company, which operates in Sella Limba Chiefdom in the Bombali District, Northern Province, is in violation of sections 23 (1) and 53 (1) of the Environmental Protection Agency Act of 2008 and its amendment in 2010 by operating without a valid environmental impact assessment license consequently posing serious threat to the environment. The release further revealed instances where workers of AMR Gold have been obstructing EPA’s enforcement officers, as they attempt to monitor or halt the operations of the company, intimidating and even threatening to physically assault them, and in some cases pelted stones at the agency’s vehicles and staff. Allegations are that the SMALL SCALE mining license iss...