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Article

20 Jan 2012

Author:
Silas Kpanan'ayoung Siakor, Rachael S. Knight, New York Times

A Nobel Laureate’s Problem at Home [Liberia]

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated for a second term...Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s government may now be sowing the seeds of future conflict by handing over huge tracts of land to foreign investors and dispossessing rural Liberians...Sime Darby has begun developing its first 25,000 acres in Grand Cape Mount County...[L]ocal communities are raising concerns about environmental degradation, desecration of sacred areas and the company’s failure to pay workers promised salaries...They have filed a complaint against Sime Darby before the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil...In response, Sime Darby representatives traveled to the area...and held meetings with villagers...[M]embers of Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s government...disrupted the negotiations and halted discussions before any resolution was reached...Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf['s]...government must...become...serious about placing Liberia’s citizens ahead of corporations...[also refers to Golden Veroleum]