A Belgian mining firm has "consistently lied"
about the bulldozing of hundreds of homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Amnesty International says. New evidence showed a Groupe Forrest International
(GFI) subsidiary supplied bulldozers to destroy homes near a copper and cobalt
mine, it said. GFI, which has denied responsibility for the illegal demolitions
in 2009, should pay compensation, Amnesty said. "There is now overwhelming
and irrefutable evidence showing that the forced evictions that Groupe Forrest
International has denied for years in fact took place," said Amnesty
International's Audrey Gaughran in a statement.
A government prosecutor investigated the demolitions and
tried to bring criminal charges against those responsible, but was instructed
by government officials not to do so, Amnesty said in its report. "This is
a cover-up by the Congolese authorities. The state has failed its own people by
not bringing anyone to justice for these forced evictions and by not ensuring
that compensation was paid," it added.
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