Environmental and human rights NGOS call for independent review of forced displacement and alleged massacre at Bulyanhula, Tanzania

 

September 27, 2001

Washington, D.C., September 27, 2001-- Friends of the Earth-US (FoE), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Mineral Policy Center (MPC) and other environmental and human rights groups in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Tanzania, call today for an independent review of accusations that thousands of people were forcefully displaced and allegations that local miners may have been buried alive at the Bulyanhulu gold mine in Tanzania in 1996. The groups also call for the company involved to halt its threats to news outlets that have sought to report on the issue.

On July 30 and 31, 1996, thousands of people were forced by Tanzanian police and government officials from their homes without compensation in an effort to make way for the development of the Kahama Mining Corporation's Bulyanhulu goldmine. There are allegations that, in the days that followed, miners that had returned to the area were buried alive during the filling-in of small-scale mining pits. "Given the seriousness of the allegation, we believe that an independent review of the evidence of what happened in July and August 1996 is necessary," said Steve D'Esposito, President of Mineral Policy Center.

Referring to letters sent to Frank Magazine and Inter-Press Service and a suit filed against an American journalist writing for the UK-based The Observer, the groups called on Barrick Gold Mine, current owner of the mine, to halt its threats to journalist. "That's the sort of tactic that doesn't help getting to the bottom of what happened," said Steve Herz, Policy Analyst for Friends of the Earth. "If the company does not believe that these events happened, then their best defense is public transparency."

The Bulyanhulu gold mine, located about 50 kilometers south of Lake Victoria, was bought in 1999 by the Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation. Its development is supported by political risk guarantees from the World Bank Group Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and the Canadian Export Credit Agency, the Export Development Corporation.

Further information can be found

• on the website of the Council of Canadians: www.canadians.org/media/media-010927 and "Salon.com News | Exporting corporate control: A gold company with ties to the Bush family tries to muzzle a muckraking journalist."
• or by calling Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth, (202) 783-7400 x 237