Koidu Inquiry Commission Submits Report

The inquiry commission investigating the events that led to a number of deaths in riots around the Koidu diamond mine in Sierra Leone has submitted its report to President Ernest Bai Koroma, without making its findings public.

The 105-page report made 17 recommendations after the commission reportedly interviewed 42 witnesses, met with Koidu Community elders and collected evidence from the scene.

Sierra Leone’s government initiated the inquiry after a number of protestors were killed in clashes with police officers in the diamond-rich eastern Sierra Leone province of Kono last December. The clashes were sparked by what the government dubbed at the time as “discontent” between the Koidu Holdings Mining Company and area residents.

On December 13, area residents reportedly stormed the mining site, setting fire to surrounding brush, in response to the mining operations’ impact on living conditions.

The residents say that Koidu Holdings has failed to compensate affected families, specifically referring to unmet promises to help in the resettlement of residents displaced by its operations.

Members of parliament visited the area after the riots, later condemning what they called “heavy-handed action taken” in quelling the unrest.

According to local residents, police shot and killed four protestors. The police claimed that only two were killed.

Koidu Holdings, owned by Beni Steimentz, has recently laid off a large number of employees in the wake of the protest. Koidu and the Sierra Leone Diamond Company (SLDC), another Kono diamond miner, laid off more than 1,000 workers, the Awareness Times Newspaper reported.