Biofuels and Land Grabbing in Africa - Mokoro

‘Ghana’s Jatropha conundrum – more questions than answers’, 30 May, offers an excellent
analysis.
Kenya
Headlines such as ‘Kenya’s Samburu people “violently evicted” after US charities buy land’,
14 December 2011, ‘Battle over the Yala Swamp. Multi million investment turns out to be a
case of a deal gone sour’, 1-15 November, ‘Kenya: Dominion Farms Chief Fears for His
Life’, 30 August and ‘Biofuels land grab in Kenya’s Tana Delta fuels talk of war’, 2 July, are
indicative of heightened tensions.
‘Land Rush in Africa’ [Kenya], 25 November 2009 is very interesting.
‘Ministry says it was not consulted over Qatar land deal’, 16 January. ‘Lands Minister James
Orengo said he learned of the now controversial deal through the Press and that no key
official of his ministry had wind of the project.’
Liberia
‘Liberia land deals with foreign firms “could sow seeds of conflict”’ and ‘Liberia: The
Plantation Blues’, both 29 February 2012, ‘A Nobel Laureate’s Problem at Home’, 20
January and ‘Liberia among top 5 Countries giving Farmland to Foreigners’, 12 January
2012 illustrate increased tensions. ‘Citizens Reject Sime Darby’s Request... For Another
15,000 Hectares, Write Gov’t’, 26 August 2011, ‘Liberia: “Halt Sime Darby Plantation
Expansion”’, 14 July and ‘Grim Prospects for Sime Darby in Bomi’, 5 April, are indicative of
growing resistance; the palm oil company was ‘finding it very unlikable and difficult to reclaim
the lands from the people.’
‘Is palm oil a kernel of development for African countries like Liberia?’, 8 March, concludes:
‘Under pressure in Indonesia and Malaysia for their part in deforestation, the options in Asia
for leading players in the palm-oil industry are increasingly limited. So they are turning their
attention to Africa, where some countries are keen to cash in on one of the world's most
profitable agro-industries.’
Madagascar
‘Land rental deal collapses after backlash against ‘colonialism’’ [Madagascar], 14 January
2009, is about the famous Daewoo deal.
‘Daewood to cultivate Madagascar land for free’, and ‘Food security deal should not stand’,
19 November 2008 were brilliant whistle-blowing pieces, the latter an editorial, which began
‘Pirates are not the only source of concern off the African coast. The deal South Korea’s
Daewoo Logistics is negotiating with the Madagascan government looks rapacious.’ It warns
against resurrection of old-style colonialism: ‘That day must not come.’
Mali
There has been regular media coverage of Libya’s 250,000 acre concession in Mali,
Malibya, e.g. ‘Mali opposition party demands details of land leases, warns of possible “land
grab”’, 10 February 2011, which cites a farmer saying ‘We here in Africa were colonized
once, we would be stupid to let it happen again.’
‘PARENA: Memorandum on land acquisitions in the Office du Niger’, 7 February, offers
useful detail, while ‘Africa’s Flourishing Niger Delta Threatened by Libya Water Plan’, 3
February, is excellent, as is ‘Mali: whose land is it anyway?’, 28 November 2010.
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