July 8, 2009

‘Six villagers were shot, two fatally, by security guards at the North Mara Gold Mine in Tarime district. The incident happened this afternoon in circumstances that remain unclear. It brings to 11 the number of villagers who have been shot dead at the Mine since July 2005. No one has ever been held accountable for these deaths and no investigations ever carried out. Meantime over forty villagers and hundreds of livestock are reported dead after drinking water from River Thigithe that flows through the Mine. The allegations of deadly poisons causing deaths have largely been conformed by official delegations that have visited the areas this week.’

North Mara Gold Mine is owned by Barrick Gold, the Canadian multinational giant. Barrick has come under serious attack by NGOs, religious leaders and other civil society activists. A study done by Martin Curtis (a respected British historian) and Tundu Lissu (a long-time Tanzanian activist), which was commissioned by the Christian Council of Tanzania, Tanzania Episcopal Conference and Baraza Kuu la Waislamu Tanzania, showed gross abuses committed by mining multinationals, the leading one being Barrick. The Report was released last year.

After summarising the main findings of the Curtis-Lissu Study, the religious leaders posed the following question in their Foreword:

The situation challenges each one of us and raises a simple question: What would I like to see others do when I am oppressed, I am beaten, I am chased from my property, I am harassed, my environment is polluted, my dignity is made to be of nothing, my children are dying because of my poverty and my rights are violated? As religious leaders we each of us found the same answer. We will need them to shout of our oppression, to stand for our rights, to be our advocates, to intervene on our suffering and restore our dignity. (Martin Curtis and Tundu Lissu: A Godlen Opportunity? How Tanzania is Failing to Benefit from Gold Mining, 2nd Edition, October, 2008, p.6)