The Balé Provincial Directorate of the Environment through the Two Balé Management Unit, successfully carried out an operation to evict more than 1,000 people illegally settled in the forest park. of the two Balé, learned the AIB from security sources.

The operation jointly carried out with several Defense and Security Forces (FDS) took place on September 6 according to information from security sources reaching the AIB.

This large-scale operation 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 forest park. of the two Bales.

According to Mr. Sanou, it is a spectacle of desolation observed in the park. The images speak for themselves.

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.

Thus these individuals carried out illegal gold panning and related trade activities despite the closure since March 2023 of gold panning sites by the governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun region.

In addition, gold miners worked in the park, a protected area. Faced with these acts, 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 are thousands of gold miners from all over the country.

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

Faced with the urgency of saving the highly threatened forest of the two Balé, a repressive mission was essential.

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 storms the forest for a vast mission of repression.

The uninstallation operations planned for three days were successfully completed thanks to the commitment of the men in less than forty eight hours (48 hours).

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

The miners fled the place without resistance in front of the determination of the soldiers who also destroyed thousands of sheds serving as dormitories.

They also seized several motorcycles, tricycles, diggers, generators, compressors, pulleys, solar panels, batteries and bags of minerals left behind by the miners in their flight.

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 appealed to national authorities, goodwill and local partners to support them with human, material and financial resources to increase outings in the forest of the two Balé.

“Securing the forest contributes to the fight against insecurity. We intend to play our part without any calculation,” he said.

Source: Burkina Information Agency