Facts
Estimates suggest that Senegal loses the equivalent of 40,000 hectares of forest per year, several dozen hectares of which are lost due to the illegal exploitation of rosewood in Casamance. The destruction of Casamance forests is a disaster with long-term consequences such as the decrease in rainfall and the increased desertification of the region.
A large share of the trafficking and logging has been taking place in a territory which is under the control of the Mouvement des forces démocratiques de Casamance, an armed group that has been fighting the Senegalese army since the 1980s. With former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh as an ally, the armed group was able to monopolize the timber trade in Lower Casamance, using its profits to finance its armed struggle.
Between June 2014 and March 2017, Westwood Ltd., a Gambian company owned by entities affiliated with Swiss businessman Nicolae Bogdan Buzaianu and Yahya Jammeh, allegedly exported to China over 315,000 tons of precious rosewood illegally harvested in the neighboring Casamance region (roughly equivalent to USD 163,000,000). Westwood Ltd. allegedly benefited generously from this trade, transferring its profits to individuals and companies associated with former President Jammeh and Swiss businessman Buzaianu.
Procedure
In June 2019, TRIAL International filed a criminal denunciation against Buzaianu for the alleged pillaging of protected Senegalese rosewood as a war crime.
A criminal investigation was formally opened in 2022 by the Office of the Attorney General, although no official information is available as to the offense(s) and person(s) – natural or legal – targeted by said investigation.