foreigners. I have no problem with them working the [original] five hectares, but they can’t just take the rest of my land.109 At times, the illegal extension runs into the land of a neighboring owner, as described by a resident of Dedjéan village: I returned from Liberia in January 2013 and found that the little land I own had been taken over by a Burkinabé. I went into the bush and said, “Why are you on my plantation?” I saw that he was losing his temper, so I returned to the village. I was scared…. He isn’t a new migrant. Since well before the [2002-2003] crisis, he worked for a Guéré whose land borders my own. When I was in Liberia, the Burkinabé crossed into my land. He had never done so before, never made any claim to it. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t return. But he has cut down [part of] my forest and planted cocoa. The owner of the neighboring parcel returned to the village during the regional elections [in April 2013] and told the Burkinabé to leave my land, that it’s not part of what [that owner] ceded to him. But the Burkinabé refuses. He says that he should be compensated before leaving. Compensated for what, he’s a thief!110 An elderly Guéré from Petit-Guiglo described a similar case: When I returned from Liberia in August 2011, a Malian had already started cutting down three hectares of my forest. He works for a Guéré who owns the land next to mine. He crossed into my forest while I was gone and put down cocoa. His tuteur [the owner of the adjacent parcel, who ceded land to the Malian] has told him in front of me that the portion does not belong to him, it belongs to me. The last time was in January 2013. But the Malian refuses to leave…. This really angers me. I have nothing. I 109 Human Rights Watch interview with alleged victim of land dispossession by an illegal extension from previously owned land, Petit-Guiglo, June 5, 2013. 110 Human Rights Watch interview with 54-year-old alleged victim of land dispossession by an illegal extension from previously owned land, Dedjéan, June 5, 2013. 41 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2013