PublicationsCatalogueLibertasAnnual Reports

Libert@s online: Issue 5
May 2002

« previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | next »

Tanzania: Call for an Inquiry into the Bulyanhulu Mine Evictions

Rights & Democracy along with a number of international NGOs is calling for a full and independent public inquiry into the alleged 1996 forced evictions and burial of artisanal miners at the Canadian-owned Bulyanhulu gold mine in Tanzania.

Following a week-long fact-finding mission to Tanzania from March 25 to 31, 2002, the group which also included representatives of MiningWatch Canada, Friends of the Earth-US; the Dutch NGO Both ENDS and a Canadian journalist, released its report on April 16, 2002. The fact-finding mission found "the intensity and seriousness in the telling of the stories of the alleged evictions, violence and brutality of the police and mining officials, the level of detail, as well as the willingness of the Bulyanhulu residents to take significant risks to their own personal safety to come and speak with us, impressed the members of the mission, as did the willingness of apparently 250 others who waited several hours for us to arrive in Bulyanhulu. The mission members thought that these factors lent weight to the credibility of the allegations."

The fact-finding mission looked into allegations miners may have been buried alive in the summer of 1996 when bulldozers cleared the way for the arrival of the Kahama Mining Company Limited (KMCL) forcing the eviction of thousands of miners from the area who were never compensated. The government considered them illegal squatters. At the time, the KMCL was owned by Sutton Resources Ltd. of Vancouver; it was acquired by the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation three years later for $500 million. It is alleged that as many as 52 miners may have been killed and that between 30,000 to 400,000 may have been evicted.

The mission found that the "extreme" reaction of the Tanzanian authorities, who refused to allow the mission to travel to the Bulyanhulu mine area, the government-sponsored media campaign to discredit the group and the "intimidating police behaviour" of the Mwanza regional police towards the group, were other elements which led the team to believe that a truly impartial inquiry is required.

Copies of the fact-finding's mission report and recommendations, have been sent to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, to the President of Tanzania and to the President and CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation.

The report also calls on the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and Export Development Canada (EDC), the financial institutions that have guaranteed the current mining operations, to fulfill their public interest mandate by disclosing any results of their due diligence investigations that may shed light on the veracity of these allegations.

"It is in the interest of all Canadians and Tanzanians to bring to light the true story behind these allegations involving a Canadian company," said Kathleen Mahoney, chairperson of the Board of Directors of Rights & Democracy and professor of law at the University of Calgary who participated in the fact-finding mission.

The fact-finding mission's call for an inquiry echoes that of Judge Mark Bomani, a former Tanzanian Attorney General and Nelson Mandela's advisor during the Burundi peace talks in Arusha. "There have been some police inquiries but the outcome has not really seemed very convincing so the allegations continue to be made," he said. Amnesty International has also been calling for a public and impartial inquiry.

Please also visit: MiningWatch Canada www.miningwatch.ca, and Friends of the Earth www.foe.org

« previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | next »