Sissala youth demand transfer of Forestry Commission staff over illegal Rosewood business

Some youth in Sissala have barricaded the offices of the Forestry Commission in Tumu over what they say is official collusion in the latest harvest of rosewood under the guise of papal, a newly discovered exportable tree species.

The President of the Youth group Issifu Alidu Napun said told the media “all attempts to meet the officials of the forestry division of the commission over the latest invasion of the Sissala East and west by illegal loggers have failed”.

The youth, in one of such visits today, 18th February 2020, claims that the “officials were avoiding us” and have therefore named certain persons including the municipal director of forestry office and some of the workers as promoters of the banned harvest of rosewood in the area.

The MCE Mr Karim Nanyua has since moved in to hold an emergency meeting with the youth who claim harvest of rosewood and papal have resumed in large quantities in the area and want it stopped. The youth leader said “it is to forestall the already depleted vegetation starved of fona and fauna”.

Rosewood harvest has left thousands of species including papal and other species destroyed until the ban early last year that saved the area of its operations.