Ngoyla Subdivision: Baka communities in peril as exploitation companies plunder community forest.

This is as a result of the continuous plundering of their community forest known as Djoko covering an area of about 4,859 hectares.

The Njoko Community Forest, found in the outskirts of the border town of Ntam, serves as the main source of the livelihoods and cultural practices of the indigenous forest communities.

It is for this reason that the community forest was created by government in 2018 as a result of environmental compensation for the Ngoyla Wildlife Reserve created by decree No. 2014/2383/PM of 27 August 2014.

On August 23, 2018, the Baka communities of Assoumindele 2 and Se'eh had signed a provisional management agreement with the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife, marking the allocation of the Djoko Forest to these nomadic forest communities.

The very essence of the creation of such community forest was to serve the purpose of the preservation of traditional knowledge and the maintenance of the Baka's close link with the forest and the collection of non-timber forest products.  

However, the Djoko community forest has become the target for timber exploitation companies at the expense of the survival of the indigenous Baka people.

A Baka son fighting for the rights of his people, Andre Ndomba, narrating their ordeal, said the community forest was attributed to the Baka people for their sustenance and was preserved by the Baka people for their different activities like hunting, fishing, transfer of traditional knowledge and tradi-medicines, and cultural practices. 

“But today what we are noticing is that there is the exploitation of iron ore which will soon be realised, and even some exploitation permits from the Minister (of Forestry and Wildlife) for some timber companies to exploit timber from the iron ore mining site. The community is worried that how can the state attribute a forest for the Baka people and later the same minister grants logging permits for timber in this same forest,” he said.

The surrounding Bantu communities have been accused of complicity and the local authorities of conspiring with logging companies for the exploitation of their community forest. 

“Today, the Baka people are in the underprivilege position because they don’t have the powers to complain and they have also manipulated certain members of the forest management committee,” Ndomba told this reporter. 

“The president (of forest management committee) for example who doesn’t know how to read or write, has been kidnapped here severally to go sign documents which he cannot read,” he further recounted, before narrating that kidnapping of their some their leaders have resulted in several repercussion from Baka community who feel betrayed by the president of the forest management for signing documents that affect the community’s interest. 

“They are complaining that certain trees of tradi-pharmaceutical values have been logged and they no long have access to their fruits and even free access to community forest has now been hindered by some Bantu chiefs from collecting non-timber forest products and medicinal plants,” Ndomba explained.

He also pointed that “as a Baka, without the forest, we cannot exist”. 

The indigenous Baka communities have called on the Head of State to review the decision of the Minister of Forestry granting exploitation permits to companies which sharp contradicts the decree of the creation and preservation of the Djoko community forest.

Accusations against local authorities

The leader of the Baka community in Assoumindele and doubles as President of the community forest management committee of Djoko community forest, Dindo Daniel, accused local authorities, especially the Divisional Officer, DO of Ngoyla, of kidnappings and whisking him to unknown destinations to sign certain conspiring documents for the exploitation of the community forest. 

These kidnapping incidents, he narrated, began since February 2024. 

“Our problem started when the Divisional Officer came and picked me up one afternoon when I was at a village in Mbalam doing some work with my wife. He ordered me to abandon whatever I was doing and hop into his vehicle and that we were going to Ntam,” Dindo, aged 58 recounted. 

“At around the Makamokouma village, he then brought out a document from his car that I must sign it. Upon my return to Assoumindele, I was again kidnapped late that night and taken to Yaounde without my knowledge. I wasn’t the lone person that was taken to Yaounde since there are two community forest here,” Dindo stated.

He further detailed that at upon arriving Yaounde, the Bantu chief with whom he was taken, managed to escape. 

“So, Commissioner Niat came to intimidate me... After wards, the commissioner came to the community to inform us that they have come to cut the trees in our community forests,” he avowed. 

In regret, he said he had the impression that the documents he signed were intended for the good of his community not knowing their malicious intent.

“I greatly regret signing those papers. Today, I have noticed that many logging companies have entered our community forest and made away with our trees and destroys our homes,” he regretted. 

He equally said they were dubbed with countless promises by the logging companies.

“Anicet company came and promised that they will build house for those of us without one. Hamadou Adama also came and made its own promises. In the end, our trees are only being destroyed and we don’t see the benefits of these timber exploitation from our community forest,” the traditional ruler of Baka community in Assoumindele confessed.

Other atrocities

The leader of Baka community in Se’eh, Ekanga Andre, also accused the Bantu community of conniving with the timber exploitation companies to set ablaze his house found close to the Djoko community forest in an attempt to push him out of the area. 

“They burnt my house because they wanted to sent me out of this forest for them to exploit. They saw that since us pigmies don’t have the power to influence things,” the man of about 67 years and father of six affirmed.

“They are exploiting timber now just behind my new house in Mbalam. I tried to resist them that the forest belongs to us the Bakas, but they insisted that it doesn’t belong to us. We are now forced me to leave that area again. I don’t even know how I’m going to remove my zinc house,” Ekang further recounted their ordeal.    

Ngoyla dissect genesis of problem

Quizzed on what the squabbles rocking the Djoko community forest is, the Mayor of Ngoyla Council, Nkpwalla Wilfried, first claimed that no exploitation activity is ongoing at the Djoko community forest given that the last partner had withdrawn. 

He however, explained that there is still a legitimacy dispute between two camps claiming to manage the forest. 

“Although the chairmen of the management committees are Baka, in reality, influential actors behind the scenes are fuelling this situation,” he began explaining. 

According to the municipal authority, the Djoko community forest was originally created by allocating a portion of the village of Mballam to the Baka people, whom are considered to have no village of their own given their nomadic nature. 

Nkpwalla stressed that though the Head of State's objective in establishing the community forest was for the interest of the indigenous communities, its another class of people who are benefiting. 

“Since the last logging operations over the past two years, no new investments have been made. As far as the council is concerned, we're keeping a close watch, because what matters to us is that their management plan is respected, so that their projects don't encroach on those planned by the council in these villages,” he attested.

The mayor noted that the situation of Djoko community forest is way more complex with no projects realised by the forest management unlike other community forests management committee in his area of jurisdiction with concrete achievements such as the construction of tarch houses with corrugated roofs.  

“...the problem of legitimacy persists, notably due to the non-holding of regular general assemblies by the management committee and the fact that money is often managed solely by the president and his entourage, rather than by the entire bureau,” the mayor said. 

The municipal authority also dismissed any links of ownership of land between the Bantu communities also known in the area as Djem and the Banka communities. 

“The Baka have no fixed territory. Given the size of the Mballam territory, a part bordering the Mballam village was allocated to them to create this community forest. So, there is no direct territorial conflict between the Djem and the Baka,” the mayor assured. 

He then opined that the problem rather lies in the interference of certain forest management by outsiders. 

“Some people have come to settle in the camps and rent houses, while others, initially present for evangelization missions, now find themselves involved in the legal timber trade,” Nkpwalla insisted. 

“The Djem also believe that the person speaking on behalf of the Baka is not one of them. Yet the Baka are attached to specific villages that are supposed to represent them and defend their interests” he added.

All attempts to get to the Divisional Delegate of Forestry for Upper Nyong or the Ngoyla Divisional Officer’s side of the story proved futile. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3417 of Friday April 11, 2025