Tanzanian Environmental Activists Persecuted for Speaking Out Against World
Bank
Group Gold Mine!!!

The Tanzanian government has charged two environmental activists and an
opposition political leader with sedition ("causing uproar") for speaking out
about allegations of widespread human rights abuses at a World Bank Group
guaranteed gold mine.

We are sending out this message because these activists need your help!
Please take
15 minutes to send a short fax to World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn
(as described below).

Rugemeleza Nshala and Tundu Lissu of the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team
(LEAT) and Augustine Mrema, Chairman of the Tanzanian Labor Party have been
raising concerns over allegations of killings, illegal evictions and
destruction
of livelihoods at the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in August 1996. According to the
evidence they have compiled, tens of thousands of artisanal miners and their
families were evicted with little notice, and as many as 52 miners may have
been
buried in mining pits, when the Government of Tanzania and Sutton Resources, a
Canadian mining company, took control of the mine site. The World Bank Group's
insurance arm, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), is
supporting the project with an enormous amount of political risk insurance.
MIGA
has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the circumstances
surrounding
the 1996 evictions.

For their efforts to publicize these allegations, Mr. Nshala, Mr. Lissu,
and Mr.
Mrema have been accused of making statements which "bring into contempt or to
excite disaffection against the lawful authority" of the Government of
Tanzania.

Mr. Nshala and Mr. Lissu are appealing for help from individuals and
organizations around the world. Specifically, they have requested that people
send a fax to World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn, and insist that he:

1. Call on the Tanzanian Government to drop the sedition charges;

2. Call for an independent inquiry into the allegations of human rights abuses
at the Bulyanhulu mine; and

3. Respond to your fax and tell you what he plans to do about this.

Send the fax to: James Wolfensohn, President, World Bank Group,
FAX NUMBER: +1-202-522-7700

Please don't forget to ALSO send us a copy of the fax: Steve Herz
FAX NUMBER +1-202-783-0444

Or, if you cannot send a fax, please send an email letter to President
Wolfensohn by clicking on:

For more information on the controversy surrounding the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine
see: www.leat.or.tz/active/buly/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil Watkins
World Bank Bonds Boycott
Center for Economic Justice
733 15th St., NW, Suite 928
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202) 393-6665
Fax: (202) 393-1358
Web: www.worldbankboycott.org

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