Videos showing employees of a Chinese mining company attacking local employees have been circulated on social media in Sierra Leone and Africa, and some TV stations have reported them with a critical attitude. The Chinese companies involved have responded quickly.
In the video, an older Chinese employee starts to knock out a local's file. After being countered, he finds a stick and tries to attack, but is kicked down by a younger local. The Chinese employee said that he was beaten first by the other side. However, as the Chinese expression is difficult for local people to understand, this video with the head cut off and the end cut off also made headlines under the help of numerous media "We Media", causing local people's dissatisfaction.
The incident occurred at the new Tangkolili iron ore mine in Sierra Leone, and the owners of the mine, Sierra Leone Qinghua Mining Company Limited (Kingho), and China Railway Seventh Engineering Bureau Group Company Limited Sierra Leone (CRSG), which is owned by the Chinese employees, responded quickly.
China Railway Bureau 7 issued a statement on the same day, the cause of the matter was explained. On the morning of June 8, liaison personnel from Sierra Leone Mining Association (SLMA) and a safety officer employed by Qinghua Mining came to the 7th Bureau maintenance workshop to train the workers, but did not inform the 7th Bureau project management department in advance. After SLMA liaison personnel and safety officer went directly into the maintenance workshop, they communicated verbally with the safety officer of Bureau 7, saying that they wanted to conduct safety training for the workers of the maintenance workshop. The safety officer of Bureau 7 agreed to give a short safety briefing without affecting the work schedule of the day.
However, from 7:40 a.m. to 8:05 a.m., there was no sign that the training had been completed. In the meantime, a large number of equipment in the mine was waiting to be refueled and repaired, and the day's work had not yet begun. In order not to unduly affect production, Bureau 7 staff first tried to communicate with SLMA liaison staff, saying that it was very late and they needed to start work. When they didn't get any reply, they showed the time to the security officer and tried to say that working hours were tight and that they wanted to finish the safety briefing as soon as possible. Due to the language barrier, the security officer first slapped the Chinese worker, who is nearly 60 years old (not shown in the video) during the argument. The Chinese employee became so angry after being beaten that he knocked over the security officer's folder with his hands, which led to the physical altercation shown in the video. After the Chinese employee was held back by the local staff, the security officer continued to kick and hit the Chinese employee and picked up a rock in an attempt to continue hitting the man, but in the other seven rounds the Chinese staff arrived and dropped the rock (not shown in the video). After the conflict ended, the security officer tried to drive away from the site, but was unable to because the gate was closed until the project manager of the 7th Bureau and the manager of Qinghua Mining arrived at the scene.
The bureau expressed regret over the incident, saying that such incidents should always be avoided under the current friendly environment between China and Sierra Leone. Seven has worked in Sierra Leone for many years, completing a number of high quality engineering projects, such as the Lun-Poto Loko Road and Juba Bridge, helping to fight the Ebola virus (2014), helping to deal with landslides (2017) and the emergency restoration of Savage Bridge (2020). It has proved to be a responsible company and has been recognized by the government and people of Sierra Leone. Seven Bureau employs more than 1,000 local staff in Sierra Leone throughout the year, providing them with a large number of employment opportunities.
The bureau said the conflict between Chinese and local employees in the maintenance workshop was a sudden and isolated incident and did not represent the behavior or attitude of the management of bureau 7 and Qinghua Mining. After the incident occurred, the person in charge of the 7th Bureau took necessary measures to the Chinese employee involved, criticized his improper behavior, and instructed and required all Chinese employees to abide by the laws and regulations of the host country to prevent similar conflicts from happening again.
The day after the incident, Qinghua Mining issued a press release denouncing the Chinese employees involved and asking them to leave the site immediately.
