The Barrick Files 1

 


 

BOTH ENDS

MILIEUDEFENSIE

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH NETHERLANDS

 

 

LETTER TO BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION

 

Mr Peter Munk, Chairman

Barrick Gold Corporation

Royal Bank Plaza -Suite 2700

Toronto

Canada M5J 2J3

 

18th July 2001

 

Dear Mr Munk,

 

When investigative journalist Greg Palast reported in the Observer of London on the alleged involvement of a Barrick Gold Corporation subsidiary in the killing of 50 mine workers to clear their mining concession, your company choose to sue the Guardian newspapers, which own the Observer, for libel and to prepare action against Mr Palast and Tanzanian human rights lawyer Mr Tundu Lissu.

 

Palast quotes an 1997 Amnesty International Annual Report on the killing. The report states: "In August, over 50 gold-miners were killed in what may have been extra judicial executions during evictions from disputed land in an operation involving the police, regional authorities in Shinyanga and a Canadian mining company. The men were buried alive when the Canadian company, guarded by police, bulldozed small-scale mines in Bulyanhulu, despite on-the-spot appeals from distraught villagers, in advance of the company taking possession of the land for industrial mining. The regional authorities authorized the bulldozing 12 hours after a court order halting evictions pending further investigations was announced over the radio. The end of the year and criminal investigations appeared to be discontinued had not recovered the bodies. "

 

Barrick purchased the mine’s owner, Kahama Mining, in 1999. While survivors and eye-witnesses allege that deaths occurred, Barrick insists that: "... The national and local government have investigated, KMCL has investigated and AI [Amnesty International] has investigated and the conclusions have been the same – no one was killed in the course of the peaceful removal of artisan miners by the Government of Tanzania from the Bulyanhulu site in 1996." Barrick cites Amnesty International Annual Report 2000, which further reported on the alleged killings at Bulyanhulu, in support of its position.

 

Barrick’s assertion that Amnesty International has conducted an investigation and reached a conclusion that no one was killed and the land cleared peacefully is not, in our view, supported in statements in Amnesty’s 2000 report and appears in conflict with eye witness reports, press reports and other accounts.

 

The Amnesty 2000 report states: "In April the government replied to Amnesty International's 1998 memorandum about the alleged deaths of small-scale gold-miners in Bulyanhulu in Shinyanga region in 1996.  The government denied there had been any deaths and rejected AI's call to open an independent judicial inquiry.  AI maintained its criticism of local officials who had violated a court injunction by ordering the mines be filled, but it was unable to substantiate the allegations of deaths."

 

We fail to understand how, on any reasonable reading, this statement could be interpreted as a categorical denial that the killings took place. The most that can be inferred from it is that for not stated reasons (which could include the absence of an investigation) Amnesty (and Amnesty alone) has been unable to substantiate the allegations. As such the statement implicitly acknowledges the possibility that other groups might succeed in substantiating the allegations were Amnesty did not succeed.

 

It is important to note that after it purchased the mine, Barrick sought and received a large World Bank loan to operate the mine. The Bank’s rules bar funding for project sites cleared by coercion or violence.

 

Your company’s attempt to stop the reporting by Mr Palast may have a devastating effect on further investigation of the events in Tanzania and on those researching and publishing on the matter.

 

Legal threats will not help bring truth to light. We urge you to help clarify the situation and request you to ensure that Barrick Gold Corporation engages in an open discussion about this tragic matter. We wish to inform you that a copy of this letter and documents pertaining to the alleged Bulyanhulu killings will be shared with the Permanent Committees on Foreign Affairs and Human Rights and Development and Cooperation of the European Parliament, the Governments of the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, the United States and Canadian CIDA and the World Bank, with a request to conduct new inquiries in this matter.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Sjef Langeveld, Director Both ENDS                              

Paul de Clerck, Director Campaigns Friends of the Earth Netherlands

 


 

Reports regarding Bulyanhulu

Statement of a survivor of the alleged burial in Tanzania

Exporting Corporate Control: Greg Balast vs. Barrick Gold Corp.

Open letter to the president of Tanzania on the deaths of miners at Bulyanhulu by the Lawyers Environmental Action Team

 


 

Signatories:

 

Hon. Francesco Martone

Senator

Green Party

Italy

 

Hans Engelberts

General Secretary

Public Services International

45, avenue Voltaire

BP 9

01211 Ferney-Voltaire Cedex

France

 

Owen J. Lynch

Senior Attorney

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

1367 Connecticut Avenue Northwest

Washington, DC 20036 USA

 

Professor Stuart Weir

Human Rights Centre

University of Essex

United Kingdom

 

Jennifer Kalafut

Center for Environmental Public Advocacy (CEPA)

Friends of the Earth  - Slovakia

Slovakia

 

Nicholas Hildyard

The Cornerhouse

Station Road

Sturminster Newton

Dorset  DT 10 1BB

United Kingdom

 

Henning Grobe

EartLink e.V. - The people & nature network

Frohschammerstr. 14

D - 80 807 Munchen

Germany

 

Nancy Alexander
Globalization Challenge Initiative
7000-B Carroll Avenue
Takoma Park

MD 20912

Weltwirtschaft, Ökologie & Entwicklung (WEED)

(World Economy, Ecology & Development)

c/o Antje Schultheis

Am Köllnischen Park 1

10179 Berlin

Germany

 

Jutta Kill

Fern

Belgium

 

Raihan Khalid
Abu Raihan Muhammed Khalid
28, Bredel House
St. Paul's Way
London E14 7AS
United Kingdom

Wytze de Lange

X min Y Foundation

The Netherlands

 

Emily J. Yozell

Apartado 7723-1000

San Jose, COSTA RICA

 

Michel Vanhoorne
Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health
University of Gent
De Pintelaan 185
9000 Gent
Belgium

Nancy Hey

5404 Hamilton St., Apt. 4

Hyattsville, MD 20781

 

Hilary Wainwright

Red Pepper

 

Carol Yong

Malaysia

 

Thomas I. Ellis

Hampton

VA 23661

Canada

 

Jeff Arbogast

1422 Cass St.

Niles, Mi

49120, Canada

 

AJ Franklin

Houston, USA

 

Maureen Horowitz

4125 East Douglas

Wichita, KS  67218

USA

 

Harriet Helman

 

John C. Yowell

8837 Glenwood St. #7

Overland Park, KS 66210

 

Marcie Davis

515 W Darby Drive

Otterbein IN 47970 USA

 

Susan M Reeves

6034 Rio Vista

Corpus Christi TX

USA 78412

 

Brian J. Lutenegger

1118 E. 9th St.

Duluth, MN 55805

 

Barbara Good
Box 148
Chinchilla, PA 18410

Thomas J. Radwell, III

134 Filly Dr.

North Wales, PA  19454

 

Frances Carr

Down to Earth

United Kingdom

 

Mick Gosling

Chair Press and PR Branch NUJ

 

Max Kennerly

Yale University

USA

 

Marc Dufour,

Ottawa, ON

Canada.

 

Chris Smitskamp

Green Left Party - Delft

The Netherlands

 

Barbara Good
Scranton, PA

Jacek Bozek

President

Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczno-Kulturalne 'Klub Gaja'

Poland

 

Ruth Rosenhek

Rainforest Information Centre

Lismore

Australia

 

EYFA,

Netherlands

 

Luis Bredow

Revista FORO

Cochabamba

Bolivia

 

Frank Rosen

 

Robert Newman uk

 

Regine Richter

Urgewald

Germany

 

Lani Frank
626 Olympia Hills Circle
Berwyn, PA 19312

Robert Madison

 

Mary Petersdorf

Tucson, AZ

 

A. Acquaviva

Davis Ca 95616

 

Paul Cipriano

Windsor, CT 06095

 

Phillip A. Reed

407 Toberman Drive

Norman, OK 73069-5715

Saskia Ozinga

Fern

UK

 

Michael J. McClain

 

Jorrit van Loenen

 

Jim Gray
410 Cork Dr.
Blacksburg, VA 24060-3606

Scarlett MccGwire

 

Mark Thomas

 

Jan Willem van Leenhof

Netherlands

Antje Schultheis

 

Dja,

SPIRALS

 

Denis Wright

USA

 

Jo Ann Simon

 

Nalúa Rosa Silva Monterrey

Venezuela

 

Jennifer Sleboda

718 Richmond Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910

USA

 

Karen Scheel

1810 Cypress Avenue

Cleveland, OH  44109

 

Glenda Wlosinski

731 Musago Run

Lake Mary, FL 32746

 

Shirley Vincent

152 Watchung Ave

Montclair, NJ 07043

 

Allen Hengst

2613 39th St., NW #2

Washington, DC 20007

United States

 

George Monbiot

United Kingdom

 

Mika Minio-Paluello

CUSU Green Officer

Cambridge University

United Kingdom

 

Victoria Sutton

15100 SE 38th St. PMB #784

Bellevue, WA  98006

 

Daniela Danielowitz

AT-Verband e.V. - The German AT Association

Alexanderstraße 17

53111 Bonn

Germany

 

Sheila L.Chambers       

15594 Oceanview Drive

Brookings,Or.97415

 

Priscilla Schiltz

Citizens for Legitimate Government

618 N Beard
Shawnee Oklahoma 74801