At the end of their rope, without a shred of hope of seeing the State reverse its decision to make Bargny-Sendou a special economic zone, and risking their income-generating activities, the women fish processors are relying on dialogue. Through this new approach, after taking legal action against the Turkish metallurgical company Tosyali Holding Senegal, they now hope to preserve what they have always believed to be their only reason for living: the fish processing site, "Khelcom".
Saturday, 6 February 2021, it is 11.30 am, on the beach of Bargny, on the edge of the Nimane district, nestled between the ocean, the mineral port, the special economic zone and the coal plant. The residents of this district are aware that they are sitting on an environmental bomb, but they have little intention of abandoning their land. The climate here is mild and clement, with small waves struggling to reach the shores. At this time of the year, February, March, characterised by low tide, the pirogues are accosted on the shore, forced to rest by the gloomy weather forecast on the high seas. As a precaution, the fishermen observe a truce, waiting for the weather to be more favourable for the resumption of their activities.
As the waves wash ashore, barefoot little girls and boys play hide-and-seek around the houses ruined by the wind. With a carefree laughter, some of them sketch out dance steps or hit a ball game. These children are not in a deserted place. Indeed, these run-down houses that serve as a hiding place are still occupied by their owners. Among them is Fatou Samb, a town councillor in Bargny and also President of the Association of Women Processors of Fish Products, called Khelcom. Now in her fifties, with an easy manner, this lady's soft and convincing voice welcomes us in her home. No sooner have the presentations been made than we get to the heart of the matter, the subject of our visit.
A brown skinned woman, dressed in a wax gown, she is at ease talking about the conflict of interest that opposes women active in her profession, most of whom are members of her association, to the Turkish company, Tosyali Holding Senegal.
THE ORIGINS OF THE COMPLAINT AGAINST THE TURKISH COMPANY
Fatou Samb does not mess about and denounces the way in which the foreign company Tosyali has crashed into their lives. According to her, the company has not consulted the community, nor has it exercised human rights due diligence to assess the risks that its operations will create, specifically with regard to their fish processing activities. "This is why we opposed the plant's location in our area," she explains.
In order to make the company's owners see reason and force the state to take responsibility in this matter, Lumière Synergie pour le Développement (LSD), one of Khelcom women's partners, filed a complaint with the Turkish National Contact Point. The aim: asking the Contact Point to use its good offices and urge Tosyali Holding Senegal to comply with the Guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of which Turkey is a member, and to immediately stop its activities on the Khelcom site and engage in dialogue with the women.
"The Guiding Principles are globally recognised social and environmental standards. They are recommendations on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) adopted in 2000 and are aimed at multinationals operating from or outside OECD member countries," stresses Fatou Samb.
Aby Dia, a member of the NGO Lumière Synergie pour le Développement, specifies that the complaint takes a non-contentious approach. However, Fatou Samb points out that "if the Turkish company violates OECD rules, a complaint will be filed with the competent Senegalese authorities."
WHAT IS TOSYALI HOLDING SENEGAL PROPOSING?
In the project presentation documents, the company Tosyali Holding Senegal assures that the unit of steel industry will create 500 jobs, including 50 administrative and 450 production staff. A statistic that foresees fewer jobs than the 1,000 women fish processors who have been earning a living on the site for decades. As far as the activities of the iron and steel unit are concerned, the plan is to produce 700,000 tonnes of round iron for concrete, iron billets and wire for machines using iron waste. The plant will use the following raw materials: scrap iron and lime which will come from Senegal, billets which will come from abroad, as well as alloys which will come from Turkey.
At a time when access to basic needs is preoccupying the populations, particularly water, which is already scarce in certain districts because of the coal power station, the iron factory will be supplied from the Sen-Eau water distribution network with a maximum capacity of 5,000 cubic metres per day.
What about energy? It will be supplied from Senelec's 225 KV substation, located 500 m away.
With a fictitious physical address and a telephone number ringing in the air, it was difficult if not impossible for us to get in touch with the Turkish company's decentralised and technical authorities.
BARGNY AND RUFISQUE ASPHYXIATED
Fadel Wade, Coordinator of the Network of Associations for the Protection of the Environment and Nature (RAPEN), which brings together eight local associations, denounces this unprecedented situation. "Under the pretext of development, a population of 70,000 inhabitants is being impoverished and their resources are disappearing. The towns of Bargny and Rufisque are being suffocated by the State's urban and industrial projects," he deplored.
According to Wade, the project could lead to the displacement of at least 20 families and put an end to the economic activity of hundreds of women involved in the processing of fish products and agriculture. Worse, he denounces, this project will result in the Miname neighbourhood being cut off from the rest of the city.
"In addition to these impacts, we denounce the harmful effects on the environment in this area, where we have already observed several kinds of damages. However, this project is only the first phase of a plan to set up factories in this new special economic zone," he laments.
According to the mass plan we went through, a good part of this zone is made up of land deeds (TF 2415; TF 1217 and 1861) and will inevitably impact not only the dwellings in the Wahandé and Miname neighbourhoods, but also the activity of the populations who live mainly from fishing and processing, and occasionally from agriculture.
Furthermore, Fadel Wade estimates that the project risks destroying the entire fish processing activity which employs 5,000 people, including more than 1,000 women processors. There is also a massive loss of jobs for the workers and the carters who transport the seafood products to the processing site.
THE WOMEN PROCESSORS BEND TO THE STATE, BUT REJECT ITS OFFER
Today, women processors have changed their strategy. Fatou Samb confides that this reversal is the result of many capacity building workshops. Having benefited from the support of numerous NGOs such as Lumière Synergie pour le Développement (LSD), Natural Justice and members of Senegalese civil society, the women have been trained in environmental legal rights, land tenure, and negotiation methods in the event of disputes involving state powers.
"Through these different training sessions, we finally understood that, to ensure the sustainability of our activity, we had to make compromises with the State. Because, by decree n°2019-1318 of 22 August 2019, the State created the special economic zone of Bargny-Sendou which extends over 100 hectares. Understanding that a decision by the State is not debatable, we sent correspondence to our supervisory ministry, to the presidency and to all the institutions working for the protection of the environment and fishing".
The objective, she said, is to obtain another suitable site for our economic activity. "We've had an initial response because the State has proposed a 13-hectare site. Only, for mystical reasons, we refused the offer," says Fatou Samb. Indeed, she maintains that the site is located along the marshy riverbanks of their city where the goddess of the city of Bargny lives and therefore all the activities carried out there end up burning down. Therefore, knowingly, the women categorically refuse to settle in this mystical place. They no longer say no to the reduction of their site to a special industrial zone, but they want to be placed in a safe location.
WOMEN ON THE WATCH
At this time of low tide, the Association of Women Fish Processors of Bargny Guedj ''Khelcom'' is not active and their site is deserted. Apart from Oulimata Ba, her husband and grandson whom she proudly carries on her back, there is no one on site. "The activities have stopped since the beginning of February," explains Oulimata Ba. Her presence on the site is explained by her self-appointed role of sentinel of the site. "We don't want to be caught off guard anymore. That's why I have committed to come and monitor the site regularly and to inform my comrades of any actions that could harm our activity," she affirms. All while working around the 100-hectare site. "This site is as precious to me as life itself. It's our livelihood. Thanks to our activity, I managed to buy a piece of land and build my house. So I'm willing to sacrifice a few hours of my day to look after the site," she concludes.
The processing of fish products remains the backbone of Bargny's economy.Hence the pressing appeal that the women make to the State to help them maintain their income-generating activity.
THE SUPPORT OF NATURAL JUSTICE
According to Thaddée Adiouma Seck, a lawyer specialising in governance of extractive activities and a program officer at Natural Justice, their structure is conducting a community audit process in Bargny following a request from the community. Like many organisations present in the locality, Natural Justice provides support to communities to help them address the environmental challenges they have faced. "We do this through a tool called the community audit. It is a process through which the community identifies its environmental problems by confronting them with the applicable normative framework in order to highlight (possible) cases of violation of the law. Throughout the process, the community's legal capacities will be strengthened through workshops and community activities.”
On the state of progress of their activities, Mr. Seck will say that: "After three years of working alongside the community we are almost at the end of the process. The community audit has been finalised despite the pandemic, which has not failed to slow the pace of progress. At the end of our mission, it will be up to the community to determine the next step in our collaboration. Discussions will be held to this end".
For more than 12 years, Paule has been the director of the news site AbenaTV and she is the coordinator of the Senegalese daily newspaper Le Mandat. She specialises in environmental news and is a member of the Network of Journalists for Responsible and Sustainable Fisheries in Africa (REJOPRA).
Known as Jaakwar, Lamine Diack is a Senegalese photographer. He is self-taught, freelance since 2019, and started his professional career as a portrait photographer. Interested in social issues, he finds in photojournalism the best way to document the realities he witnesses.
A Senegalese civil society organisation, member of the OECD Watch network, supported fishers from Saint Louis in placing a complaint to the UK and US OECD National Contact Points against the multinational enterprises British Petroleum and Kosmos Energy.