{"id":6529,"date":"2025-12-12T00:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:14:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:14:05","slug":"a-25-hectare-public-forest-under-threat-as-local-residents-sound-the-alarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/a-25-hectare-public-forest-under-threat-as-local-residents-sound-the-alarm\/","title":{"rendered":"A 25-hectare public forest under threat as local residents sound the alarm."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The residents of Gatsinda Hill, in Gatsinda Zone, Ngozi Commune, Butanyerera Province, are denouncing the alleged illegal cutting of a state-owned forest and are urgently demanding explanations from the competent authorities.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

The forest in question is a eucalyptus plantation located in an area commonly known as Ku Manga. It covers an estimated area of approximately 25 hectares. According to testimonies collected on site, a group of individuals recently began cutting down these trees, some of which are being transported while others are being used for charcoal production.<\/p>

Residents report that this group is allegedly led by MASABARAKIZA Pascal, former head of Gatsinda Zone under the previous administration and currently considered an influential figure within the CNDD-FDD party at the level of the new Ngozi Commune.<\/p>

Concerned by this situation, local residents went to the site to inquire about the reasons behind the logging activities and to identify the authority that granted permission. However, no clear answers were provided, which further fueled their suspicions. These concerns are reinforced by the fact that, in the past, a similar attempt to cut down this same forest had been carried out by Mr. Masabarakiza in collaboration with the former administrator of Mwumba Commune. That initiative was halted by the former Governor of Ngozi Province, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Minani, who warned that legal action would be taken if they persisted.<\/p>

Today, residents believe that this project has been resumed and suspect that the forest is being exploited for personal gain. They are calling for the matter to be made public and for full transparency regarding the responsibilities involved.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \"\" \"\"In summary, the residents state:<\/p>

\u201cWe have strong suspicions that this forest is being cut for the personal benefit of the former head of Gatsinda Zone. He had previously planned to cut this forest together with the former administrator of Mwumba Commune, but the former Governor of Ngozi Province, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 MINANI, warned them that if they continued, he would have them immediately arrested. At that time, they were frightened and stopped. Today, they appear to have resumed their plan. We are calling for the full truth to be revealed.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Deeply concerned, local residents fear losing an essential resource that contributed to their well-being and the protection of their environment. They do not know whether the new provincial authorities of Butanyerera are aware of or involved in this operation. For this reason, they are appealing to higher authorities to launch an investigation and take appropriate measures to protect this public asset, which is currently threatened by what they describe as uncontrolled logging.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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SHARE THIS TO RAISE AWARENESS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The residents of Gatsinda Hill, in Gatsinda Zone, Ngozi Commune, Butanyerera Province, are denouncing the alleged illegal cutting of a state-owned forest and are urgently demanding explanations from the competent authorities. The forest in question is a eucalyptus plantation located in an area commonly known as Ku Manga. It covers an estimated area of approximately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[61,115,76,116],"class_list":["post-6529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-other-news","tag-butanyerera","tag-forest","tag-king-umurundi-freedom","tag-masabarakiza-pascal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6529"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6537,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6529\/revisions\/6537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kingumurundifreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}