Cameroon villagers hope diamonds bring development

The discovery of the Mobilong diamond field not far from the village located some 700 kilometres (440 miles) from the capital Yaounde, could vastly improve what is now a difficult life for residents.

Cameroon tapped South Korea's C&K Mining for the project, issuing a 25-year exploitation permit. The company says diamond mining will begin in 2012.

And if all goes according to plan, Mparo -- along with six other villages that include several pygmy settlements -- will be entitled to a ten per cent share of an announced eight per cent tax on all proceeds from the diamond mine.

"We expect social advancement: schools, hospitals roads and power. Currently, there is nothing good," said Francois Metoya from the village of Mboy where the Mobilong mine project is located.

"Villagers live in extreme poverty. There are no asphalt roads. Schools are opened, but there are no classrooms, no benches or coursework," said Victor Amougou from a local aid group based in Yokadouma, the main town nearest the mine.

Here, most homes are built of straw and bricks of dried mud. They lack running water, telephones, or electricity. As in most villages, lighting comes only from oil lamps.

"As traditional activity, there is agriculture, hunting, fishing, gathering of forest materials. These are subsistence activities," Amougou said.

In the village of Mang, hopes are high that diamonds will bring classes back to a technical college "that couldn't open last year", said Father Marcellin Ikouawe who, lacking enough instructors, teaches five subjects at the school when it is running.

Metoya, the villager, said there had been an electrification project.

"An entrepreneur came to begin work, but since then nothing has happened. We think the money's been stolen," he said.

Jean-Jacques Kenmogne, from Mparo, has hopes for alternative energy.

"We learned that Koreans are very good with solar energy. If they partnered with our village electrification project ... that would benefit the lives of our villagers hugely," Kenmogne said.

In South Korea meanwhile, authorities have opened a probe into alleged corruption involving senior Korean officials and C&K Mining.

The investigation is thought to hinge on the actual size of diamond deposits at the Mobilong field.

Early estimates by C&K Mining put that total at a whopping 420 million carats, 2.5 times the total world output of diamonds in 2007. Activists say the real potential of the field is lower.

Two Cameroonian aid groups have demanded the suspension of C&K Mining activities in the country and that parliament investigate the issuing of the mining permit.

But a company source, requesting anonymity, maintained that the original deposit estimates were true.

According to this source, C&K Mining has already invested more than $10 million on the project since beginning exploratory work in 2006.

But far away from these controversies, local residents hope that the benefits from diamond mining get spread around, unlike an earlier experience in their region with foresting revenue.

Between 2000 and 2009, the Yokadouma district received 8.5 billion CFA francs (13 million euros) in foresting licensing fees.

Charles Gall, a local official, acknowledged the foresting income had little impact on development in the surrounding villages.