1,640 km² of Cameroon handed to a European dynasty for…
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1,640 km² of Cameroon handed to a European dynasty for trophy hunting.
Right now, Cameroon's Supreme Court is dealing with a legal fight between French billionaire Ariane de Rothschild and her former business partner, Pierre Guerrini over 1,640 square kilometers of public land.
To put that in perspective, that is bigger than London. The land was leased out so rich foreign tourists can pay 65,000 euros to shoot buffaloes and elephants for fun.
When the two partners had a fallout in late 2023, the local governor sent twenty armed state gendarmes to kick the partner out of the luxury camp. The regime essentially used national forces as personal security for a European banking dynasty.
Look at the double standard:
\- Local and indigenous communities, like the Baka, have been pushed off their ancestral lands.
\- If a local hunts a small animal to feed their family, they get treated like a criminal, beaten, or jailed.
\- But if a wealthy foreigner pays a fortune to kill wild animals for entertainment, the state rolls out full protection.
Almost none of this money goes to regular Cameroonians. The safari profits go abroad, while the Rothschild firm works as a financial advisor to the Biya government on state debts.
Defenders always claim that trophy hunting funds conservation. In reality, it is a direct relic of the colonial concession system. African land is cordoned off, local people are criminalized on their own territory, and endangered fauna is commodified for the amusement of the global ultra-rich.
How does Cameroon, a so-called sovereign nation justify handing over 1,640 square kilometers of public land to foreign aristocrats to shoot wildlife for fun while its own citizens are shut out?
#local
Right now, Cameroon's Supreme Court is dealing with a legal fight between French billionaire Ariane de Rothschild and her former business partner, Pierre Guerrini over 1,640 square kilometers of public land.
To put that in perspective, that is bigger than London. The land was leased out so rich foreign tourists can pay 65,000 euros to shoot buffaloes and elephants for fun.
When the two partners had a fallout in late 2023, the local governor sent twenty armed state gendarmes to kick the partner out of the luxury camp. The regime essentially used national forces as personal security for a European banking dynasty.
Look at the double standard:
\- Local and indigenous communities, like the Baka, have been pushed off their ancestral lands.
\- If a local hunts a small animal to feed their family, they get treated like a criminal, beaten, or jailed.
\- But if a wealthy foreigner pays a fortune to kill wild animals for entertainment, the state rolls out full protection.
Almost none of this money goes to regular Cameroonians. The safari profits go abroad, while the Rothschild firm works as a financial advisor to the Biya government on state debts.
Defenders always claim that trophy hunting funds conservation. In reality, it is a direct relic of the colonial concession system. African land is cordoned off, local people are criminalized on their own territory, and endangered fauna is commodified for the amusement of the global ultra-rich.
How does Cameroon, a so-called sovereign nation justify handing over 1,640 square kilometers of public land to foreign aristocrats to shoot wildlife for fun while its own citizens are shut out?
#local
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