A/HRC/16/45/Add.1 facilitated the presence of armed groups32. It emphasized the need for differentiated approaches towards solving the problems faced by Afro-Colombian communities. 66. The Court ordered the Government to design and implement a Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention, Protection and Attention to forcibly displaced Afro-Colombian communities, including 62 specific plans aimed at identified communities and a roadmap for the protection of ethnic territories. Despite a deadline of the end of October 2009, at the time of the independent expert’s visit, these requirements had not been effectively implemented. VI. Dispossession of Afro-Colombian lands 67. Afro-Colombian lands, while isolated and neglected for centuries, have in recent years been identified as the most fertile and resource rich in Colombia. This has placed once isolated, largely self-sufficient communities directly in harm’s way. Violence and threats against Afro-Colombians are now most prominently associated with the ultimate aim of controlling land and natural resources resulting in the dispossession of AfroColombian lands. Communities described ongoing violence and threats in pursuit of acquisition, control or exploitation of their collectively owned lands. While few displaced communities have returned to their lands, those who do often find that others have claimed ownership or rights of usage in their absence. 68. Economic development “megaprojects” have increasingly led to the dispossession of Afro-Colombian collective territories. These projects have been associated with brutal forced displacement, mass violence and selected killings. Persistent reports indicate that armed groups collude with national and foreign companies (including palm oil and mining companies), and often with local government and business actors to acquire and control land and resources. Black communities rarely benefit from these megaprojects and have grave concerns about encroachment on their land rights and adverse environmental impacts. Equally, the manipulation or co-opting of community leadership and Community Councils creates divisions within Afro-Colombian communities with the aim of acquiring land. 69. In some situations involving claims of usurped land, the interest of the Government appears to be complex. Massive single-crop agro-business development projects, such as palm oil plantations, and large-scale mining industry, figure prominently in national development plans. The Government provides financing for projects that accord with national planning goals, which some claim have financed projects on usurped AfroColombian lands. Local or departmental governments may have an ownership stake in public-private projects, as is the case in the planned port expansion project in Buenaventura, which threatens to displace thousands. Consequently, when Afro-Colombian communities seek Government assistance in regaining their lands or in bringing legal cases, they are unclear whether the Government is acting as a neutral referee or as an interested party. 70. Two high-profile regions which the independent expert visited illustrate the experiences of many Afro-Colombian communities. Afro-Colombian communities have conducted small-scale farming and artisanal gold mining in Suárez, North Cauca, since the 17th century. However, communities complained of licences being granted to companies for large-scale mining on their ancestral lands without prior consultation with them., resulting in communities being denied access to ancestral mining areas or facing eviction. Following her visit, eight Afro-Colombian miners were killed in April 2010 allegedly by 32 16 Constitutional Court order 005, 2009, para. 67