Leaked information alerts Liberian campaigners to secret deal that would give UAE firm blanket rights over 10 percent of Liberian territory. “The government was behaving as if there was no time,” Yiah told MEE.

For Paul Kanneh, another IFMCM campaigner, the upcoming Liberian elections in October suggest that government officials were in a hurry to pocket the initial upfront payment of $50m, an amount revealed in the leak.

“Generally speaking, I can deduce that the government wants money,” he told MEE.

The IFMCM immediately raised the alarm once the news was leaked, publishing a statement on their site.

“Claiming the legal rights to market the forest carbon has clear implications for property rights, as it affects the communities’ rights to determine how their land is used,” the group wrote.