Liberia Deports Over 60 Burkinabe Nationals for Illegal Forest Encroachment in Grand Gedeh

By: Esther Natelia Scott

 The Government of Liberia has
deported more than 60 Burkinabe nationals found illegally residing and farming
in protected forest areas within Konobo District, Grand Gedeh County.

The deportation operation was led jointly by the Forestry Development
Authority (FDA) and the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), following reports of
unauthorized settlements and agricultural activities within a concession area
managed by a European logging company.

According to local FDA officials, the deportees entered Liberia without
legal documentation and established farms in ecologically sensitive zones,
contravening national forestry laws and threatening the integrity of Liberia’s
natural resources.

“There are many Burkinabe living in Liberia’s forests in the name of cocoa
farming,” said an FDA officer during a public briefing on SMILE Radio 98.6 MHz
in Zwedru. “We are sending them back to their country. They will be dropped in
any Ivorian town they entered through, in the same illegal manner they came.”

Unlike a previous deportation effort in which Ivorian authorities initially
refused to accept returnees, this group was received without resistance by
Ivorian security forces.

Both the FDA and LIS have issued renewed warnings against illegal entry,
settlement, and farming in Liberia’s protected areas. The agencies also pledged
to intensify monitoring and enforcement in concession zones to ensure the
protection of the country’s forest resources.