Tanzanian Police Raid Offices of Lawyers' Environmental Action Team

Issued jointly with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, U.S. Office
EUGENE, OR, November 26, 2001

On Saturday, November 24th Tanzanian police raided the offices of E-LAW partners at the Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT) in Dar es Salaam and searched the homes of two LEAT attorneys. The raid followed LEAT's call for an independent investigation into alleged killings of artisanal miners at the site of the Bulyanhulu gold mine in Kahama, Tanzania.

After leaving LEAT's office on November 24th, the police brought LEAT attorney and President Rugemeleza Nshala to the police station where they questioned him for at least four hours. Mr. Nshala was required to report back to the police station early Sunday morning. According to The Guardian, a Tanzanian newspaper, the police questioned Mr. Nshala "over documents linked to alleged killings of artisanal miners at Bulyanhulu in Kahama, Shinyanga, in 1996."¹

The Guardian reports that the police also wanted to question LEAT attorney Tundu Lissu, but he is currently out of the country. According to the paper, the two lawyers may face sedition charges.

Police seized materials from LEAT's offices which LEAT has gathered to support its call for an independent investigation of the alleged killings. The Bulyanhulu mine, the largest underground gold mine in Tanzania, has been dogged for years by allegations that during the forced relocation of small-scale miners in 1996, dozens of Tanzanians were either shot or buried alive in their shafts by bulldozers.

At the time of the alleged killings, the Bulyanhulu mine was owned by a subsidiary of Canadian mining company, Sutton Resources Ltd. Currently, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation, another Canadian mining company, owns the mine.

The Tanzanian government and Barrick conducted their own investigations into the allegations and determined that the allegations were unfounded.² Several local and international organizations have called for an impartial, international investigation.

Barrick Gold Corporation has invested close to $300 million in the Bulyanhulu mine and reportedly expects to recover 400,000 ounces of gold yearly from the site.³

Saturday’s police actions may have been precipitated by revelations in September of evidence supporting the allegations of killings. Central among this evidence is video tape footage claimed to depict decomposing bodies at the site, as well as testimony of people who claim to have been eye witnesses to the deaths.² On November 19, LEAT held a press conference renewing demands for an international investigation. LEAT advocate Tundu Lissu, who has been investigating the Bulyanhulu massacre allegations for several years, says the video "proves our contention there were deaths, and on that basis, we said these merit an independent, open and transparent investigation by an international commission."²

For more information visit the Council of Canadians website at http://www.canadians.org/media/media-010927.html

1. The Guardian, http://www.ippmedia.com/guardian/2001/11/26/guardian2.asp.
2. The National Post Online, http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010927/708203.html
3. BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1448000/1448948.stm