“The renegotiation of the contract between the State of Senegal and the Chemical Industries of Senegal (Ics)”, is what the Deputy National Coordinator of the Civil Forum, Abdoul Aziz Diop, asks, in the face of “the recurrence of conflicts between the Ics and the populations of its area of establishment ”. He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the action research workshop on relevant indicators of sustainable development in the department of Tivaouane, particularly in the district of Méouane. Indeed, it is following the arrest of 21 people in the village of Tobène, located in the town of Méouane, by the police who came to supervise the evaluation operation of people affected by the advance of the mine at this Ics extraction site.
“During this operation held on Wednesday August 12, 2020, we witnessed bickering between the populations of Tobène and the police. This is a recurring situation that stems from several factors ”, deplores Abdoul Aziz Diop, also regional coordinator of the Publish what you pay (Pcqvp) Coalition. Mr. Diop to explain: “In the new Mining Code of 2016, there is article 94 which speaks of respect for human, socio-economic and environmental rights. But we see that companies are trampling on the rights of populations and without recourse. It is a situation that the State should take head-on. And in his opinion, “the structural and lasting solution that is valid and for the benefit of all is the renegotiation of the contract between the State of Senegal and the ICS to rebalance in favor of the State but also of local communities territorial impacted. Because it is a situation that cannot prosper, otherwise there will be recurring conflicts ”. Also and for the simple reason “that the State does not benefit from it and the ICs do not pay any royalties, even less taxes to the State of Senegal and to the affected local communities”. During this time, he regrets, “the populations are dispossessed of their means of survival”. Thus and to ask the latter to “move from indignation to action through consultation frameworks, remedies through texts but also through jurisdictions”.
Coming back to the workshop organized by Enda Diapol as part of the project to strengthen the role and place of civil societies in the South in the implementation of a 2030 agenda, Mamadou Abdoulaye Mbengue, Executive Secretary Enda Diapol, to argue that “The research-action workshop will ultimately make it possible to define the indicators of sustainable development in a relevant way”. Because in reality, continues Mr. Mbengue, “through this project, it will be a question of bringing populations and communities to learning about sustainable development. Because if the MDs have committed a failure, it is because somewhere there has been this lack of citizen participation in the mobilization of communities ”. Hence the implementation of this project in the district of Méouane, in order to “involve the populations so that, in the long term, they can feel a step forward in the appropriation but also, encourage the participation of all the actors for the achievement of the Odds objectives in 2030 ”.
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