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Farmers Seek Independent Inquiry into Controversial Sierra Leone Palm Oil Deal

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Farmers Seek Independent Inquiry into Controversial Sierra Leone Palm Oil Deal KOTUMA, SIERRA LEONE —  Sierra Leonean farmer Bockarie Swaray was sitting on his porch one morning when he heard a deep whirring noise and jumped up to see a bulldozer fell his banana, oil palm and kola nut trees. "There was nothing I could do," he said, slumped on a plastic chair with a frown on his thin, lined face. "I just prayed to almighty God to help me." Swaray said his 11 acres (4 hectares) of land, in Sierra Leone's southern Pujehun province, was taken to become part of a 45,000-acre (18,200-hectare) palm oil plantation run by international agro-investor Socfin. But Socfin, which runs rubber and oil plantations in six African countries, maintains it respected all terms of an agreement with the government of Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest nations, and all acquisitions were above board. The Luxembourg-registered company, part of the empi...
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South Africa: Zuma unleashed

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South Africa: Zuma unleashed By  ADRIENNE KLASA There are easier and harder jobs in this world. Then there was Pravin Gordhan’s job. When South Africa’s embattled finance minister was summarily summoned home from a trip abroad by president Jacob Zuma on 27 March, rumours swirled that his firing was imminent. A cabinet shuffle followed within days. To a roar of protest from investors and many within South Africa’s political establishment, Mr Gordhan was shown the exit. It did not come as a surprise; for Mr Gordhan, it might even have come as a relief. The president is engaged in high stakes gamble in a bid to maintain control of his party, the African National Congress (ANC), ahead of a leadership contest at the end of 2017. His actions now risk an economic meltdown and a party revolt. Why imperil so much? President Zuma’s determination to to get rid of his respected and independent-minded finance minister should not be interpreted as a cornered man lashing...
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