Balé/Gold panning: More than a thousand gold miners fled and equipment seized in a park

The provincial environment directorate of the province of Balé, through the management unit of the two Balé, successfully carried out an operation to evict several hundred people illegally installed in the forest park of the two Balé, the AIB learned Friday from security sources.

According to AIB sources, the operation was jointly carried out by several Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and took place on Wednesday September 6, 2023.

It is specified that this is a large-scale operation by the regional environmental directorate of the Boucle du Mouhoun region.

It was coordinated on the ground by the Balé environment department, through the two Balé management unit led by the captain of water and forests, Landegma Ouédraogo.

A mission to supervise the operation, led by the provincial director of the environment, Commander Idrissa Sanou, noted on Thursday, September 7, the eviction of more than a thousand gold miners and the ecological disaster of their activities in the park. of the forest of the two Balé.

According to Mr. Sanou, it is a spectacle of desolation that presents itself in the park. “The images speak for themselves,” he continued.

And to emphasize that, everywhere, gold miners have cut down trees, dug large open holes, built hundreds of sheds, thrown tons of plastic waste and polluting products into nature.

According to testimonies, it is hard to believe that one is in a forest.

Thus, these individuals carried out illegal gold panning and related trade activities despite the decree closing gold panning sites from the governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun region, in force since March 2023.

Worse, the gold miners worked in the park, a protected area. Faced with these acts of delinquency, the management of the management unit has increased awareness-raising efforts on the site housing the gold miners in the village of Baporo.

Indeed, it is the administrative situation of the reception site which seems to be the main difficulty for any intervention.

The village of Baparo falls under the Central-West region. It borders the Park. This is the transit zone for gold miners according to forestry officials. There we would find thousands of gold miners from all over the country.

For Captain Ouédraogo Landegma, the men of his unit daily arrest miners in flagrante delicto, seize their equipment. But they paid the fines and then returned to the forest.

Faced with the urgency of saving the highly threatened forest of the two Balé, a repressive mission was necessary to make them reason.

This is how around sixty men, in particular agents from the provincial environment department, from the two Balé management unit and around thirty Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) took storm the forest for a vast mission.

The uninstallation operations scheduled for three days were successfully completed thanks to the commitment of the men in less than 48 hours.

The results of the operation are satisfactory in the sense that it made it possible to free the forest, said the provincial director.

The gold miners fled the scene without resistance in the face of the determination of the soldiers who also destroyed thousands of sheds serving as dormitories.

They also seized several motorcycles, tricycles, jacks, generators, compressors, pulleys, solar panels, batteries and bags of ore that the gold miners abandoned in their flight. The objectives were achieved.

Commander Sanou expressed his satisfaction to the valiant agents of the environment, the management unit and the VDPs on behalf of his hierarchy and the administrative authorities of the province who supported them in this sovereign mission.

However, he launched an appeal to the national authorities, goodwill and local partners, in order to support them with human, material and financial resources to increase the number of outings in the forest of the two Balé.

“Securing the forest contributes to the fight against insecurity. In this regard, we intend to play our score without any calculation,” he said.

Source: Burkina Information Agency