A group of women in Guinea-Bissau set fire to a Chinese-operated zircon mining site on Sunday, claiming the operation was destroying their farmland and damaging the environment, according to officials and eyewitnesses.
The protest occurred in the village of Nhiquin, located in the northwest of the country near the Senegalese border and close to the resort town of Valera. Eyewitnesses told AFP that several hundred women were involved in the demonstration against the mine, which has been operated by Chinese companies since 2022.
Interior Minister Botche Cande confirmed the attack and visited the site afterwards. “All the facilities have been burned down,” he said, although he did not specify the extent of the damage. Visibly frustrated, he added: “When the state makes an effort to find partners, nobody has the right to destroy their property.”
Cande announced plans to deploy more security personnel to protect the site while it is rebuilt and vowed to apprehend those responsible. “The women involved have fled into the forest. They must be tracked down and arrested,” he said. “It’s unacceptable that such acts occur and people behave as if nothing happened.”
Several women and a local village leader were reportedly arrested during the protest. However, local officials acknowledged the scale of the demonstration overwhelmed police efforts. Edmundo Infanda, the sub-prefect of Suzana, said: “A lot of women participated, and the local police were unable to stop them.”
One protester, Aissato Cadjaf, told AFP the women had been raising concerns for some time but were repeatedly ignored. “We told them we didn’t want sand extracted without our consent,” she said. “All our rice fields are destroyed. There are no more fish in the small river near the site.”
Zircon, the mineral being extracted, is used in ceramics and the construction industry. However, the mining operation has come under fire from locals who say it is jeopardising their livelihoods.
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 179th out of 193 on the UN’s Human Development Index. According to World Bank data, around a quarter of the population lives on less than $1.90 per day. Chronic poverty and political instability have made the country a key transit hub for drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe.
