Stories of Horrific Maltreatment, Rape and Sexual Exploitation
Although Buchanan Renewables Energy (BRE) have folded, sold up its assets and left Grand Bassa County, stories of the company’s excesses continue to impact the locals. Bassa citizens told an advocacy group, Accountability Counsel that they experienced some of the worst treatment, desecration of their land and forest, and the raping and sexual exploitation of women, including underage girls.
Between 2008 and 2011, OPIC approved three loans to biomass company Buchanan Renewables (BR) totaling US$216.7 million. OPIC stated that its support for BR would have a strong development impact in Liberia by rejuvenating rubber farms and creating sustainable and renewable energy through converting old rubber trees into biofuel to be used in a BR-constructed power plant. Instead, the project was characterized by serious abuses and drove impacted communities further into poverty.
