Call for Opposition to Barrick Suit Against The Observer and Greg Palast

13 July 2001. Thanks to CB.

From: CPBF [mailto:freepress@cpbf.demon.co.uk]
Sent: 13 July 2001 16:45
Subject: Palast/Observer/Barrick

Dear CPBF Friend

I have received the following which is being circulated to our contacts for action. If you want further info please get in touch.

Barry White
CPBF.

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Dear friends:

We would much appreciate your support for the following:

In November 2000 the Observer of London published an article [Cryptome mirror] by Greg Palast on the alleged involvement of a subsidiary of Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold Corporation in the killing of 52 mine workers in Tanzania.

Barrick is now suing the Observer, the Guardian newspapers owning the Observer and threatening legal action against Greg Palast and Tanzanian environmental-human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu. Things are really growing nasty.

In order to prevent Barrick from crushing those investigating & reporting on the matter by exposing the case internationally, your SIGNING ON and further help in getting a LETTER TO BARRICK GOLD CORP. more WIDELY endorsed is much appreciated.

SEE LETTER BELOW

Please reply a.s.a.p. to Both ENDS: pw@bothends.org

yours,

Both ENDS / The Cornerhouse

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LETTER TO BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION

Mr Peter Munk, Chairman
Barrick Gold Corporation
Royal Bank Plaza -Suite 2700
Toronto
Canada M5J 2J3

July 2001

Dear Mr Munk

When investigative journalist Greg Palast reported [Cryptome mirror] 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 extrajudicial 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 bulldozing was authorized by the regional authorities 12 hours after a court order halting evictions pending further investigations was announced over the radio. The bodies had not been recovered by the end of the year and criminal investigations appeared to have been discontinued. "

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 artisanal 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 unstated 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 Mining engages in an open discussion about this tragic matter. A copy of this letter and documents pertaining to the Bulyanhulu killings will be shared with the permanent committee on human rights 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,