Banjul, The Gambia — On a heat Might day at a restaurant on the outskirts of Banjul, Lamin (final title withheld) outlined his plan to site visitors rosewood timber from Senegal to The Gambia as he cleaned the meat off his hen drumsticks.
“All of this needs to be secret,” he whispered, attempting to be reassuring about his nearly decade-long expertise within the illicit commerce.
“Issues have gotten harder just lately, but it surely’s not unimaginable when you’ve got the correct contacts.”
For many years, timber has been smuggled by males like him from southern Senegal’s Casamance area into The Gambia to then be shipped to China. One of the vital sought-after species is rosewood. Scientifically often called pterocarpus erinaceus, the crimson-coloured timber is in excessive demand by Chinese language furnishings producers.
In 2012, the West African rosewood tree was formally categorised as being getting ready to extinction in The Gambia. However the nation, together with neighbouring Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, has continued to be among the many major suppliers of this species to China.
Since June 2022, there was a regional ban on felling, transporting and exporting timber by the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Gambian authorities additionally instituted a ban that very same yr, however traffickers stated they proceed to work with Chinese language businesspeople to smuggle the valuable timber out of Casamance.
From 2017 to 2022 alone, China imported greater than 3 million tonnes of rosewood value at the very least $2bn from West Africa, in response to the Environmental Investigation Company (EIA), a global NGO.
Al Jazeera spoke to traffickers in The Gambia, posing as traders all in favour of getting concerned within the timber commerce. The traffickers revealed that the commerce continues to be effectively underneath method and stated 200 containers loaded with the timber sat in Banjul’s port, awaiting cargo to China. When reached for remark, the Gambian authorities stated it was unaware of the presence of such containers.
Smugglers in Banjul confirmed Al Jazeera video footage of individuals loading rosewood logs onto a ship, saying it was a personal vessel used solely for rosewood timber exports to China. Based on Lamin, a container holds 80 to 90 logs, relying on their dimension. The older they’re, the larger the circumference and the extra worthwhile they’re. A full container can fetch greater than $15,000. Based on Lamin, traffickers like him can rise up to $1,000 per container.
The method of exporting timber by way of Banjul’s port has develop into harder, in response to the traffickers, who stated acquiring export permits from authorities is now not as simple because it was earlier than. Personal transport strains, which was the primary technique of transport to China, stopped transport timber in 2020.
“There isn’t any method on the seaport but,” admitted Secka, one in every of Lamin’s superiors, “however if you’re stepping into timber trafficking, you might be presupposed to have correct contacts in place.”
Based on them, well-placed contacts throughout the port authority facilitate export procedures, which embody permits and the deposit of containers, as do the police, who can greenlight the discharge of seized containers in trade for what Lamin calls “suggestions”. Al Jazeera contacted the port authority and Gambian police however didn’t obtain a response.
“That you must know individuals within the system, a backup in case you get caught,” Secka stated, suggesting that authorities are closely concerned within the trafficking.
From Gambia to China
Accompanied by Lamin, Al Jazeera visited two depots in Banjul and its suburbs, each allegedly owned by Chinese language businesspeople stacking the rosewood timber till they handle to export it to China.
One depot was stuffed with timber whereas one other was empty. On the second location, a number of empty containers have been saved, able to be loaded with timber, whereas rosewood scraps lay scattered on the bottom subsequent to them.
“I have to function removed from the town. Right here it’s quiet,” Lamin stated.
Al Jazeera confirmed photographs of the timber and the scraps discovered on the two places to consultants who stated, “They very a lot seem like pterocarpus erinaceus.” Satellite tv for pc imagery additionally confirmed that logs have been stacked on the two places over the previous seven years. Because the trafficker left one of many depots, a police officer jokingly inquired in regards to the whereabouts of his timber.
When contacted in regards to the findings, the Gambian Ministry of Setting, Local weather Change and Pure Sources stated it was unaware of containers with rosewood timber to be shipped to China.
A spokesperson added that “no allow to export rosewood has been issued to any establishment of the federal government of The Gambia” and the ministry will not be conscious “of 1 cubic centimetre of rosewood coming into the nation”. The CITES Secretariat in Geneva declined to reply questions, citing “restricted workers capability”.
However an October 2023 report by the Washington, DC-based EIA confirms Al Jazeera’s findings. An evaluation of commerce information confirmed that the 2022 ban on rosewood commerce has slowed it down however has not stopped it.
The report famous that the ban “appeared to set off a rush for exports, in violation of the provisional suspension that had already been in power for 3 months previous to this notification”, stating that in July and August of that yr, China imported greater than 15,000 metric tonnes of rosewood from The Gambia.
Romain Taravella, an investigator with the EIA, was a part of a crew whose analysis on rosewood trafficking in The Gambia prompted CITES to undertake the regional ban — the strictest thus far. The EIA investigation reported that from 2012 to 2020, 1.6 million bushes have been illegally harvested in Casamance and smuggled into The Gambia.
“[The Gambia has] by no means been a supporter of this regional ban nor a rustic that was acknowledging the necessity to have a ban,” Taravella instructed Al Jazeera. The EIA report additionally accused senior officers within the authorities of getting been concerned with trafficking throughout that point.
Previous to the ban, the EIA uncovered a well-organised system of misdeclaring timber in ports with traffickers falsely labelling the containers as peanuts or steel scraps. Nonetheless, as soon as the containers arrived in China, they have been regularly declared as rosewood in import information.
Personal transport strains have been those beforehand shifting the timber to China. When the businesses ceased such deliveries, Taravella seen that the commerce continued even after the ban got here into impact, indicating the traffickers rapidly tailored and located different routes.
“This implies the system was very a lot well-oiled since earlier than the ban,” Taravella stated.
Rosewood import information from China from 2018 to 2023 obtained by Al Jazeera confirmed a 43 p.c improve in rosewood imports from The Gambia in September final yr, in contrast with the identical month of the earlier yr and a 58 p.c improve from pre-pandemic ranges for a similar month.
The CITES ban particularly prohibits the exportation and importation of rosewood timber, which basically bans China from accepting rosewood imports. Al Jazeera reached out to the Chinese language Ministry of International Affairs for remark however bought no response.
‘Battle tinder’
Many of the trafficked rosewood comes from the luxurious, inexperienced Casamance area.
For the Indigenous peoples of Casamance, the area’s bushes — significantly its rosewood — are thought-about sacred. Haidar el Ali, Senegal’s former surroundings minister and one in every of Africa’s best-known conservationists, lives in Casamance and has devoted his retirement to preserving its forests.
“The site visitors nonetheless occurs in direction of The Gambia, however there’s much less rosewood now than earlier than,” Ali stated, explaining that the rosewood inventory in Casamance’s border areas with The Gambia has been dwindling.
For greater than 4 many years, a low-intensity battle between the Senegalese authorities and the Motion of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) has plagued the area, making it the longest-running battle on the continent.
The MCDF rebels have been preventing the Senegalese military for independence. The area – which is culturally, linguistically, and ethnically distinct from the remainder of Senegal – was added to the nation’s territory after independence from France in 1960.
Border villages in The Gambia like Ballen are filled with refugees who fled Casamance many years in the past. Most of those villages are made up of Casamancese refugees and Gambian locals, solely completely different by nationality however not by ethnicity or language.
Within the Gambian village of Kayanga, Fatou Camara was sitting in her home at some point in April final yr round lunchtime when a bullet penetrated a wall and ricocheted into her bed room as gunfire was heard within the distance.
“We’ve been residing this nightmare for over 40 years,” Fatou stated, including that final yr was “extra intense” than the yr earlier than. She doesn’t know if the bullet belonged to the Senegalese military or the rebels.
Native experiences have stated the unlawful timber commerce is a principal supply of earnings for the Casamance rebels, funding the rise up and incomes rosewood the title of “battle tinder” by the EIA and Geneva-based TRIAL Worldwide.
Doubtful preparations
Regardless of its influence on persevering with the rise up and terrifying the border inhabitants, the trafficking of rosewood has lengthy benefitted from doubtful preparations with individuals in excessive locations.
Underneath the two-decade tenure of The Gambia’s former chief Yahya Jammeh, the unlawful commerce with China in addition to trafficking from Casamance reached its peak. Throughout his tenure, Jammeh allegedly exploited the nation’s assets, evaded taxes and immediately funded MFDC rebels by way of his firm Westwood Gambia.
Westwood was the one timber firm licensed for exports from 2014 to 2017, reportedly taking part in a significant position within the unlawful rosewood commerce.
Jammeh was ousted from energy in 2017. A yr later, a particular fee arrange by the brand new administration carried out an investigation into his property, which revealed that Westwood’s monopoly on timber exports to China generated greater than $45m in income throughout its three years of operation.
The fee additionally uncovered that Jammeh looted at the very least $363m in public funds and illicit timber income, however the actual quantity is believed to be nearer to $1bn. To this present day, neither Westwood nor Jammeh and his companions have confronted any prison penalties in The Gambia. Jammeh escaped to Equatorial Guinea after shedding the 2017 election and now lives there in self-imposed exile.
TRIAL Worldwide has lodged a case with the Swiss lawyer common accusing Jammeh’s companion, Romanian-Swiss businessman Nicolae Buzaianu, of committing the conflict crime of pillage.
The cost covers his alleged position in funding the rise up in Casamance and exploiting Senegal’s assets for private achieve. The Swiss lawyer common’s workplace introduced in 2022 that it had opened an investigation into Buzaianu’s dealings in The Gambia, even requesting authorized help from the Gambian authorities.
However when Al Jazeera requested in regards to the standing of the investigation, the lawyer common’s spokesperson stated there are not any present proceedings towards a Swiss citizen in that context, not clarifying whether or not the official investigation is but to start or has been scrapped.
If the case have been to proceed, it will mark a major milestone in worldwide regulation as a result of there isn’t a earlier occasion of a conviction for the conflict crime of pillage. Within the meantime, Senegal’s endangered rosewood continues to be trafficked into The Gambia with the perpetrators escaping accountability.
“We’re being robbed of our future in broad daylight, and we’re watching it occur,” stated Kemo Fatty, chief of the advocacy group Inexperienced Up Gambia.