UN asks US, Britain to open files on ex-secretary general's death

Yahoo – AFP, 18 Nov 2015

An 1960 photo captures a meeting between then-UN secretary-general Dag 

Hammarskjold and Moise Kapenda Tshombe, leader of the Katanga provincein

what is nowthe Democratic Republic of the Congo (AFP Photo)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday pressed demands that the United States and Britain release secret files on the mysterious death more than 50 years ago of former secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold.

Hammarskjold, the UN’s second secretary-general, died when his plane crashed on 17 or 18 September 1961 near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia -- now known as Zambia.

A UN panel said in July that it had uncovered new information pointing to the possibility that his plane may have been attacked and suggested that answers may be found in classified documents.

Requests sent by the panel to the United States and Britain for the secret files were turned down, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked for the information to be released in July.

Ban's request, however, was ignored and the UN chief renewed his appeal on Wednesday.

"There is a possibility that unreleased material relating to the crash of flight SE-BDY on the night between 17 and 18 September 1961 may still be available," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"Therefore, the secretary-general again urges all member states to disclose, declassify or otherwise make available all information they may have in their possession related to the circumstances and conditions of the crash," he said.

While no country was singled out, UN officials confirmed that Britain and the United States were rejecting requests for information on the Hammarskjold case.

The mysterious circumstances of the crash has for years fueled conspiracy theories, and the panel did ask Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, South Africa and the United States for specific information.

The 56-year-old Swedish diplomat died in the plane crash while on his way to negotiate a ceasefire for mining-rich Katanga province in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in December last year demanding that Hammarskjold's fate be cleared up once and for all.

Dujarric said Ban is "personally invested in fulfilling our duty to the distinguished former secretary-general and those who accompanied him, to endeavor to establish the facts after so many years."

The General Assembly is due to present a new draft resolution on Thursday demanding more action to shed light on the former UN chief's fate.

Belgian miner destroyed Congo homes and lied about it, claims Amnesty International

Amnesty International has accused a Belgian mining group of bulldozing hundreds of Congolese homes and benefiting from a government "cover-up." The miner denies the claims.

Deutsche Welle, 24 Nov 2014

Amnesty International says Belgian miner Groupe Forrest International took part in destroying homes near one of its mines, in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2009.

In a report released on Monday, Amnesty said a subsidiary of the company provided bulldozers used to demolish homes and forcibly evict hundreds of people near the cobalt and copper mine, in Katanga province.

Police conducted the operation in an apparent attempt to clear the mine of small-scale miners stealing from it, but Amnesty has drawn from satellite imagery and other evidence to refute that claim.

"There is now overwhelming and irrefutable evidence showing that the forced evictions that Groupe Forrest International has denied for years in fact took place," said Audrey Gaughran, the organization's global issues director.

Amnesty claims hundreds of structures were destroyed before and after the police operation to clear the small-scale miners - destroying homes and businesses in three neighborhoods.

"Some people lost their livelihoods as well as their homes. The impacts are still felt today. One woman, whose restaurant was demolished, told us that she doesn't have the money to buy enough food to eat and had to pull her children out of school. Proper compensation for villagers would have alleviated a lot of the suffering," Gaughran said.

The report also claims that government officials in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, ordered no charges be filed - despite recommendations by a government prosecutor.

"This is a cover-up by the Congolese authorities. The state has failed its own people by not bringing anyone to justice for these forced evictions and by not ensuring that compensation was paid," Gaughran said.

Groupe Forrest International has refuted Amnesty International's claims, laying blame on police for the evictions, which it labeled "regrettable and unacceptable."

"These grave allegations are baseless and are not supported by the facts. [The company's] subsidiaries and employees always act in an ethical and responsible manner."

United in anger at Erdogan

Thousands of Erdogan opponents took to the streets of Cologne to protest against the Turkish prime minister's visit. They were demonstrating against his attitude to minorities and the mine tragedy in Soma.

Deutsche Welle, 25 May 2014

It was noisy on Ebert Square in Cologne on Saturday (24.05.2014). Hundreds of voices chanted "Her yer Taksim, her yer direniş!" - in English "Taksim is everywhere, resistance is everywhere!"

Tarek Mufti was standing a little apart, putting the finishing touches to his cardboard placard. "What should I write on it?" he asked Gönül Aksünger, standing beside him. They finally agreed on: "Tayyip Erdogan is a dictator." The two of them met on the train on the way to the demo. The young Syrian and the Turkish-born woman in her mid-forties have one thing in common: their anger at the Turkish prime minister.

Around 30,000 showed up to
protest against Erdogan

United by the motto "We say 'no' to Erdogan," the German Alawite community organization called on its supporters to protest outside Erdogan's speech venue: the cavernous Cologne sports arena. Around 30,000 people turned up. Gönül Aksünger thinks the injustices happening in Turkey are reason enough to protest against the country's prime minister. "He's using the idea of democracy," she told DW. "But we know well enough what he's done to the minorities in Turkey, what our families have witnessed."

To her, like many of Turkey's Alawites, Erdogan's visit is an insult. The Alawites are not recognized as a religious community in Turkey and are often discriminated against. People from all over the state of North Rhine-Westphalia showed up on Saturday. There were even placards in French and Dutch poking up from the crowds. The atmosphere was bullish and determined. The calls for Erdogan's resignation grew louder by the minute.

Blackened faces and pit helmets

Many came to express their solidarity with the miners killed and injured a week and a half ago in Soma, an incident often brought up in the criticism of Erdogan's Cologne visit. Özge Kızaran, for instance, doesn't understand how the Turkish prime minister can travel to Germany after such a tragedy. Like many of others, Kızaran blackened her face and put on a yellow pit helmet in solidarity. "Stop saying nothing, if you keep saying nothing, you'll be next," was another common chant coming from the crowd.

On the other side of the Rhine, meanwhile, another, much smaller group of protesters gathered. The far-right parties Pro Cologne and Pro NRW set up an election stand in front of the main railway station. Of the 30 people who were meant to come, only around 15 appeared. Their slogans about so-called welfare benefit fraudsters have failed to gain much traction - even as they started, opponents and passers-by booed and whisted.

The Kemals and the Kurds
don't usually see eye to eye

Meanwhile, on Ebert Square the last demonstrators joined the march through the city. There wa a diverse sea of flags: Turkish flags, some of them bearing the image of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. Next to these, there were also flags bearing the logos of the German Green and socialist Left parties. But the various demonstrators don't always see eye to eye - next to Atatürk, there are also flags for Abdullah Öcalan, head of the Kurdish PKK party. When some young men start chanting "Long Live President Öcalan!" they got booed by the Kemalists, but otherwise the demonstrations remained peaceful.

Erdogan electioneering

16-year-old Destina was wearing a Kurdish flag draped over her shoulders. She learned of the protest on social media and showed up with her friends and family. She says there is no democracy in Turkey. The country has been taken over by Turkish nationalism and Islamization.

She doesn't believe that Erdogan is really here - as is officially the case - to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Union of European-Turkish Democrats (UETD). "He's trying to collect votes for the presidential election," she said. Although Destina has both Turkish and German citizenship, she is too young to vote anyway. But still, she emphasized how important political engagement was: "If you want to change something," she said, "you have to act."

Turkey charges mining company CEO, two more, over disaster

Yahoo – AFP, 20 May 2014

Protesters take part in a demonstration by the leftist Turkish Youth Union
 to protest the 301 deaths of the Soma coal mine accident and demand the
Turkish prime minister's resignation, in Ankara, on May 19, 2014

Turkey has charged three more people with manslaughter over the country's worst mining disaster, including the CEO of the company operating the pit, reports said on Tuesday.

Can Gurkan, the chief executive of mining company Soma Komur, general manager Ramazan Dogru and a technician were the latest to face manslaughter charges over the disaster that claimed 301 lives, the private NTV television said.

A total of eight officials from Soma Komur have now been charged over last Tuesday's accident at the Soma mine that sparked anti-government protests in several towns and cities.

Gurkan and other company executives have denied any responsibility for the disaster.

According to the International Labour Organisation, Turkey had the highest number of work deaths in Europe in 2012, and the third highest in the world. From 2002 to 2012, more than 1,000 Turkish miners have been killed.

The lead prosecutor in Soma, Bekir Sahiner, ruled out on Sunday that an electrical fault triggered the fire that spread through the mine.

Rescue operations were suspended on Saturday as information from families suggested that all the bodies had been recovered.

Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse large protests in Turkey's main cities, as well as in Soma.

The government has defended Yusuf Yerkel's actions, saying

 that he was attacked and acted in self-defence. Photograph:

Depo Photos/EPA

Related Article:

Turkish PM's aide given sick leave after kicking mine disaster protester

Turkey mine disaster: 18 people held on suspicion of negligence

Executives from the mine operator are reportedly among those detained after the country's worst industrial disaster

theguardian.com - AFP, Sunday 18 May 2014

People mourn their relatives at the cemetery where some of the 301 people
 killed in the Soma mine disaster are buried. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/
Getty Images

Turkish police have detained 18 people suspected of negligence in connection with this week's deadly mine disaster, including executives from the mine operator, local media reported.

Rescue operations ended on Saturday after the bodies of the last two trapped miners were recovered, following the country's worst industrial disaster, which killed 301 people.

Dozens of prosecutors are investigating the fire and explosion, which are believed to have been sparked by an electrical fault at a private mine in the western district of Soma.

Mine operator Soma Komur vehemently denied any negligence.

"We have all worked very hard. I have not seen such an incident in 20 years," its general director, Akin Celik, said. It was not clear whether Celik was among those detained.

A preliminary expert report on the incident obtained by the Milliyet newspaper pointed to several safety violations in the mine, including a shortage of carbon monoxide detectors and ceilings made of wood instead of metal.

The disaster has led to a surge of anger in Turkey, fuelled by what many saw as a heartless response from the government.

Related Articles:

Soma cordoned off after Turkish mine explosion, Erdogan takes German flak

Mining disaster creates political problem for Erdogan

Mining disaster creates political problem for Erdogan

Deutsche Welle, 16 May 2014

The death of hundreds of miners in the Soma mining explosion in western Turkey, and the government's subsequent handling of the disaster, have increased political pressure on Prime Minister Erdogan.

After the worst mining disaster in Turkish history, the government is dealing with some unwanted attention. And the matter-of-fact response from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hasn't helped matters.

Upon visiting the site of Tuesday's accident, Erdogan described the disaster as an inevitable risk of mining, giving examples of previous disasters ranging back to the 19th century.

"Such accidents happen," said Erdogan, still not indicating whether he plans to respond to the demands of trade unionists for the resignation or dismissal of the ministers of labor and energy, Faruk Celik and Taner Yildiz.

During his visit to Soma on Wednesday (14.05.2014), Erdogan was confronted with an angry crowd calling for his resignation. Some attacked the prime minster's official car, kicking it as Erdogan drove by. According to press reports, the prime minister sought temporary refuge in a supermarket and eventually broke off his visit before a planned visit to injured miners at the district hospital.

During Erdogan's visit to Soma, his adviser
Yusuf Yerkel attacked a protester

Negative headlines

The Turkish press has been severe in its criticism of the 60-year-old Erdogan over the last few days, with the opposition liberal newspaper "Taraf" writing that the prime minister's reaction had been "unbelievable." Erdogan's adviser, Yusuf Yerkel, provided additional negative headlines on Thursday (15.05.2014) when a video surfaced showing him kicking a protestor being held down by police.

The angry demonstrators in Soma belong to what until now has been Erdogan's traditional support base, mostly conservative workers and tradesmen who have backed his ruling AKP. In local elections in late March, the AKP took 43.3 percent of the vote in Soma, corresponding almost exactly to the national average.

'People don't have a heart of stone'

The protests weren't restricted to Soma, with demonstrators taking to the streets in numerous Turkish cities in the days following the disaster. In Istanbul and the western city of Izmir on Thursday, police confronted protesters with water cannons and tear gas.

Mustafa Sönmez, an economist and author, said he was convinced that the Soma disaster will have political consequences. He told DW that the high death toll, the allegations of insufficient safety measures and Erdogan's unsuccessful response to the tragedy have all been a significant blow for the AKP. "Even AKP supporters will have some thinking to do," he said. "People don't have a heart of stone."

The tragedy has come at a critical time for Erdogan. In the coming weeks, he is expected to announce whether he intends to run in the August presidential election. Since the AKP victory in the March local elections, his candidacy for the country's highest public office is all but certain. According to news reports, the only reason for his hesitation is because he first wants to settle the question of his successor in the AKP.

Protesters in numerous cities have taken to the streets, calling for Erdogan to resign

Strong polarization

Whether Erdogan is expecting any negative consequences for his presidential candidacy following the mining disaster is as yet unknown. But according to pollster Adil Gür, the prime minister shouldn't be too worried. "I don't expect the disaster to have any effect on the decisions of the voters," Gür told DW.

Gür said the Turkish electorate has become "incredibly polarized" over the last several years, which is why most AKP voters are likely to remain true to Erdogan's AKP, even after the Soma disaster.

He pointed out that even when faced with the serious allegations of corruption against Erdogan's government and the AKP leadership, voter support has not decreased. In addition, AKP supporters believe that Erdogan's decision to proclaim three days of national mourning following his visit to Soma was "well received" by the people.

Related Article:

Turkey mine disaster: grief turns to rage as hopes of finding survivors fade

Turkey mine disaster: grief turns to rage as hopes of finding survivors fade

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is met by shouts of 'murderer' and 'thief' on visit to mine, whose owners are linked to ruling party

The Guardian, Constanze Letsch in Soma and Ian Traynor, Wednesday 14 May 2014

Protesters attack the offices of Erdoğan's party in Soma, Turkey,
near the site of the mine explosion. Photograph: Emrah Gurel/AP

Turkey has been plunged into grief and swelling anger after an explosion in a coalmine in the west of the country left at least 238 people dead, amid fears that scores more corpses still need to be recovered. The accident at Soma in the western province of Manisa, north of Izmir, looked like Turkey's worst modern mining disaster in a country notorious for its poor labour safety record.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, cancelled other engagements and went to thescene of the disaster, pledging the fullest investigation of the causes of the accident. But he was confronted by angry locals who mobbed and kicked his car, shouting "murderer!" and "thief!"

Locals complained about haphazard practices at the mine, whose owners are linked to Erdoğan's governing Justice and Development party (AKP), and skirmishes broke out between youths and police outside the local AKP office.Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners gathered outside the mine, waiting for news. Women wailed in grief as others shouted angrily at local authorites, and riot police with gas masks and water cannon stood by.

Officials said there were still about 120 workers trapped in the mine hours after the last survivors emerged.

Taner Yildiz, the energy minister, described the Soma mine disaster as "possibly the most fatal labour incident in Turkey" as hopes receded that any of those still inside would survive. "Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yildiz said.

Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine during a shift change, which contributed to the high death toll, said Yildiz. Some 787 people were underground when faulty electrical equipment sparked an explosion, which in turn started a fire.

The blaze then caused a bigger power failure, meaning the lifts could not work. Carbon monoxide poisoning was blamed for the deaths.

On Wednesday evening, more than 12 hours since any survivors came out, only the slimmest of hopes remained for those still trapped.

Coming in the wake of multiple scandals implicating the ruling party and Erdoğan's family over the past six months, as well as nationwide protests against his robust style of rule, there were prompt accusations that crony capitalism had contributed to the disaster, and allegations that local authorities had failed to enforce safety regulations and ensure decent working conditions.

Protests also broke out in Istanbul at the offices of the mine owners, and in Ankara, where riot police used teargas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators.

Erdoğan arrived at the scene of the tragedy armed with facts and figures that suggested he anticipated complaints, given that the International Labour Organisation, a UN body, has graded Turkey as the world's third worst offender on industrial safety standards.

Erdoğan vowed that the causes of the explosion would be scrupulously laid bare and his government claimed there had been regular safety checks on the mine in recent months. His party dismissed calls from a local opposition MP in recent weeks demanding an inquiry into safety and labour conditions at the mine.

The prime minister drew parallels with 19th-century Britain to declare: "This is what happens in coalmining. There is no such thing as accident-free work."

"Let me go back to the past in England," he said. "In a slide in 1862, 204 people died, in 1866, 361 people died, and in an explosion in England in 1894, 290 died. So let's please not say that these things never happen elsewhere in coalmines. These things happen. We do have something called an accident at work."

He also warned against "extremists" who would seek to exploit the disaster to tarnish his government. "There are some groups, extreme elements, that want to abuse developments like this one. I would like to reiterate that, for the peace and unity of our nation, it is very, very important not to pay heed to them," he said.

Questions were swiftly raised about the political connections of the mine's owner, whose wife was reported to be a local councillor for the governing party.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Its worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Miners who came out alive told Turkish media that there were still countless corpses in the galleries, while local opposition MPs spoke of more than 350 dead.

Three weeks ago, Erdoğan's party rejected opposition calls for an investigation into safety at the mine, but the labour ministry said the mine had been checked on 17 March and a clean record had been issued.

The national association of electrical engineers, however, said the disaster represented "murder, not an accident". It accused the mine operators of neglect and using obsolete equipment. Inadequate ventilation systems meant carbon monoxide and other toxic gases could spread more quickly, it said.

"A massacre of workers," said Kani Beko, head of the leftwing trade union federation, DISK.

The mine was a "first-class place to work", countered Ali Gurkan, chairman of the board of the company owning the mine, Soma Komur. Its offices in Istanbul were guarded by riot police.

The tragedy looked likely to raise the number of deaths in mining disasters in Turkey to about 1,500 since 2002.

"We have dead and injured every three months from mining accidents," said the local opposition MP Oezguer Oezel. "We've had enough of being at miners' funerals. Neither we nor the hearts of the families can take any more of this."

Related Article:

Erdogan under pressure after deadly mine explosion

Swiss village gives extra tax from GlencoreXstrata to affected countries

Hedingen donates some of its 'commodity million' from Glencore back to countries where the company is accused of exploiting people and resources for mining

The Guardian, Rupert Neate, Monday 23 September 2013

Ivan Glasenberg paid Rüschlikon village 360m Swiss francs (£246m) in taxes
linked to Glencore's flotation in 2011. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

A Swiss village has voted to donate 110,000 Swiss francs (£75,000) of taxes paid by Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire chief executive of GlencoreXstrata, to charities in countries where the London-listed mining and commodity trading company is accused of exploiting people and resources.

The people of Hedingen, a village near Zurich, voted 764 to 662 in favour of donating the money in a "clear sign of solidarity with those suffering the consequences of the extraction of raw materials". The village will donate 10% of the "commodity million" Swiss francs it received out of taxes paid by Glasenberg in relation to Glencore's flotation in London in 2011.

Samuel Schweizer, a member of the citizens' committee that proposed the donation, said the villagers felt obliged to give back some of the "extraordinary wealth to the people who should have received it in the beginning".

He added: "It is extraordinary that our small community got more than 1 million francs of extra tax money from Glencore extracting raw materials in a number of very poor countries, where it is accused of polluting, abusing labour and not paying much in taxes. We had a unique opportunity to raise public awareness. We felt we must share this with the people who are suffering from the operations of Glencore."

The money will be paid to non-governmental organisations working on humanitarian projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and Bolivia.

Glasenberg, who is worth $6.7bn according to Forbes magazine, paid 360m Swiss francs (£246m) in taxes linked to the flotation to the village of Rüschlikon, where he lives, in 2011. The money has since been redistributed between Rüschlikon, Hedingen and other communities in the Canton of Zurich.

Five of the villages are following Hedingen's lead and voting on whether to donate the money to charity over the next three months.

Schweizer said pressure is building on Rüschlikon, which kept 50m Swiss francs of Glasenberg's taxes, to donate some of the money to charity. Residents of Rüschlikon, already dubbed "the richest village in Switzerland", last year voted down a motion to give some of the money to an African charity.

Instead villagers voted to cut the local tax rate by 7%.

Schweizer added that if other villages follow Hedingen's lead, Rüschlikon "will be pressured into reconsidering its decision". "We wish that Rüschlikon would act in the same way [as Hedingen].

"We hope that people will open their eyes to the danger that raw material extraction will be the next reputational time bomb for Switzerland," he said. "Political leaders have not learned anything from the disaster of [Switzerland's role at the heart of the] banking industry."

The Berne Declaration, a non-governmental organisation campaigning against Switzerland's role in hosting global commodity companies, said: "While the decision makers in the capital Berne consider our commodities industry still only a political reputation risk, the landmark decision in the rural-conservative Hedingen shows that on the ground Glencore and their competitors already have a real reputational problem in this country.

"Remarkably and correctly, the people of Hedingen assume that tax money is not automatically white, clean or legitimate. As citizens, they take responsibility for that which the government still shies away from."

A Glencore spokesman said: "We believe that Glencore's global presence and economic strength have a predominantly positive impact on the communities in which we operate. We seek out, undertake and contribute to activities and programmes designed to improve quality of life for the people in these communities. In 2012, Glencore spent over $200m investing in the sustainable development of the communities in which it operates.

"Glencore's tax strategy and payments play a vital role in our intention to achieve long-term sustainable development. We are committed to full compliance with all statutory obligations, full disclosure to tax authorities and reporting transparently in the tax payments that we make to the governments of the countries in which we operate."

Protests erupt in Romania over gold mine

Deutsche Welle, 4 Sep 2013

Romania is currently witnessing the largest environmental protests in its post-Communist history. Across the country, thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest of Europe's largest gold mine.

"They take our gold, and we get cyanide," they shout. Demonstrators that range from environmentalists to parents with their children, students, poorly clad pensioners, and well-off looking middle class citizens have been protesting in Bucharest for days now. Their signs read: "Treason in exchange for a bit of money!" "Culture instead of cyanide!"

These people fear that the use of poisonous substances in the Rosia Montana mining project will cause severe damage. Activists have blocked a central square in Bucharest. The protests are to continue for the next week.

"It is great to see that social consciousness is ever growing here, and that it is manifesting itself on the street," Green Member of Parliament, Remus Cernea, told DW.

A lot of gold and a lot of money

Romanian environmental organizations called the protests after the government gave the go-ahead to the project last week. The Rosia Montana gold mine, Europe's largest, had been on hold for the past 14 years. It now awaits approval from parliament, which is set to vote on the project later this month.

President Traian Basescu, who in the past has openly supported the project, said this week that the protests were "justified." He even said that calling a referendum on the project was being considered.

Earlier, Prime Minister Victor Ponta gave a similar statement: As the head of the government, Ponta said he was bound to support the project. On a personal level, however, the prime minister said he was against the operation and that he would vote against it in parliament.

The Romanian-Canadian Firm Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) is looking to extract some 300 tons of gold and 1600 tons of silver from the mine, located in northern Romania. The process includes the use of cyanide, one of the main sources of anger among protesters.

The company says it looks to begin operations by 2016, should it receive parliamentary approval. According to estimates, the mine could produce a profit of $2.3 billion (1.74 billion euros).

Historians object to the planned destruction of ancient mine shafts created
in the Communist era

Activists' concerns

The RMGC's chief investors include the American billionaires John Paulson and Thomas Kaplan as well as the Israeli diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz. In spite of lacking approval for the project, the company has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars, and a significant chunk of Rosia Montana's population has already been resettled. Some residents, however, continue to refuse to sell their property and homes to RMGC.

For the mining to go forward, the valley surrounding the village of Rosia Montana must be cleared completely to create room for the enormous reservoirs intended to store waste water and mud that contain cyanide and heavy metals. Environmental activists fear that the groundwater could be contaminated along the way, though. Furthermore, they warn that constant explosions in the area could lead the reservoir walls to collapse.

Politicians bought off?

"This project is a huge environmental mess," said Eugen David, a farmer from Rosia Montana and head of the NGO Alburnus Maior, which opposes the mining plans.

Ex-culture minister and Democratic Liberal Theodor Paleologu agrees, saying, "The project is technically dubious, the law behind it is against the constitution because it ignores property laws as well as the interests of the Romanian state, and it has corrupted many politicians."

It is, indeed, true that many Romanian politicians in recent years have done a surprising turnaround on the project, including head of state Victor Ponta, who, while a member of the opposition, was a vocal critic of the plans.

Rosia Montana Gold Corporation denies having bribed any politicians. However, the RMGC invested a great deal of money in a PR campaign in recent years intended to convince the Romanian public of the usefulness of the project as well as a purported lack of environmental concerns associated with it.

The protests have extended around the world, like here in London

Fears of a repeat catastrophe

A majority of Romanians remain opposed to the prospect of mining gold with cyanide. They arguably have reason for concern. A cyanide accident in the year 2000 in the northern Romanian city of Baia Mare occurred after days of rainfall led a reservoir to burst. In the aftermath, 100,000 tons of mud containing cyanide and heavy metals flowed into the Tisza and Danube rivers, resulting in one of the most serious environmental catastrophes in European history.

Along with the residents in and around Baia Mare, Hungary emerged as a principal victim of that disaster. There, nearly all life was extinguished within several hundred kilometers of the Tisza.

Hungary fears that such a scenario could repeat itself, and its government has repeatedly issued protest against the Rosia Montana project. On Monday (02.09.2013), Budapest again called on the Romanian government to stop the project.

"Gold mining with the use of cyanide technology involves serious environmental risks, endangers groundwater and bodies of water as well as biodiversity, as the citizens of Romania and Hungary experienced first-hand during the Baia Mare catastrophe," Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on the matter.

Swiss and French police raid offices linked to billionaire Steinmetz

The Guardian understands the raids were requested by the US department of justice, which has been investigating Steinmetz's Simandou mining deal

The Guardian, Ian Cobain, Thursday 29 August 2013

BSGR's acquisition of mining concessions in Guinea, where millions live
 in poverty, caused widespread anger. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/
 Getty Images

Police in Switzerland and France carried out a number of co-ordinated raids on properties linked to one of the world's richest men as part of a global investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding a multibillion dollar mining deal.

Officers in Geneva raided the offices of a firm that provides management services for BSGR, a company controlled by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz, while in France police raided the home of a director of the management services firm. Up to 20 police raided the offices of Onyx Financial Advisors, according to a security guard quoted by Reuters, and took away a number of documents. The Guardian understands that the raids were mounted at the request of the US department of justice, which has spent more than six months investigating BSGR's acquisition of lucrative mining concessions in the former French colony of Guinea.

Steinmetz, 57, secured the rights to extract half the ore at Simandou after investing $165m in exploration, and then sold half his stake to a Brazilian mining corporation for $2.5bn.

In a country where millions of people live in desperate poverty, without running water, electricity or a functioning infrastructure – while sitting on some of the richest mineral deposits in the world, it was a deal that caused widespread anger and resentment.

Shortly after FBI agents began investigating the circumstances surrounding the Simandou deal to establish whether there had been any breach of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti money-laundering laws, an associate of Steinmetz was arrested in Florida.

The FBI had covertly recorded a series of meetings during which the man had allegedly attempted to secure the destruction of documents detailing the way in which the iron ore concession was acquired. He has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and is due to stand trial later in the year. He denies any wrongdoing.

Following the raids in Switzerland and France a spokesman for Onyx said: "Onyx has absolutely nothing to hide. We are co-operating fully with the authorities but are unable to comment further at this time."

The company's chief executive, Dag Cramer, added that the firm had "provided the Swiss authorities with information".

Steinmetz and BSGR deny any wrongdoing over the Simandou deal and say they are the victims of a smear campaign that is being led by the current president of Guinea, Alpha Condé, in an attempt to divert attention from his domestic political problems. Condé, who denies this, is conducting a parallel investigation to that being conducted by the FBI, examining a number of mining deals struck by past governments.

Last month the Guardian reported that Steinmetz was under investigation by the FBI as part of its corruption probe. While researching that article questions put to Steinmetz's spokesman Ian Middleton at the London PR firm Powerscourt twice resulted in threats of libel action from his lawyers at Mishcon de Reya.

Earlier this month Powerscourt also attempted to play down connections between Steinmetz's firm BSGR and Onyx, saying they were "separate and fully independent" of each other. Onyx was originally incorporated as BSG Management Services; the two firms share a number of directors as well as offices in London's Mayfair; and BSGR's website offers Onyx as a point of contact for anyone wishing to invest in BSGR.

Asked whether BSGR and Steinmetz had any comment on the raids in Switzerland and France, Middleton replied: "No they don't."

Rio Tinto accused of environmental and human rights breaches

Native Mongolian herders angry that copper and gold mine is threatening fresh water supply and ecology

guardian.co.uk, Rupert Neate, Thursday 18 April 2013

The workers' accommodation area at the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the
South Gobi desert in Mongolia. Photograph: Adrian Bradshaw/EPA/Corbis

Protesters from around the world attacked mining company Rio Tinto for a string for alleged environmental and human rights breaches during a fiery meeting with shareholders in London on Thursday.

Native Mongolian herders claimed that a $5bn (£3.3bn) expansion of the company's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the Gobi desert threatened the fresh water supply of hundreds of nomadic people and the area's unique ecology.

Sukhgerel Dugersuren, executive director of Mongolian civil society organisation Oyu Tolgoi Watch, said: "Water is a life and death resource. Rio Tinto is diverting water without the consent of the local community or the government.

"It is already evident that not only livestock but local communities are losing access to adequate water supply. Pasture ... [and] water resources are being taken from us and fenced in by the mine."

She claimed that a tailings pond used to collect waste material from the mine had leaked and told Rio's board that the local community demanded assurances that "there isn't going to be a catastrophe in the region".

Sam Walsh, Rio's new chief executive, said the company was committed to environmental protection and human rights and was closely monitoring the mine's development to "ensure our neighbours have a healthy and prosperous future".

At the company's annual meeting, Walsh said Rio recognised the importance of water and would draw water from a deep level aquifer, not from surface water. He said a seasonal river was being diverted around the mine, but the company would create a new spring for animal grazing and water collection further downstream.

Walsh said the mine, which is 34%-owned by the Mongolian government, would provide a massive boost to the local economy and could represent up to 36% of Mongolia's GDP.

Protesters also raised concerns about Rio's planned mines in Bristol Bay, Alaska, a controversial iron ore mine in Guinea, and a nickel and copper mine in Michigan.

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EU deal to tackle mining corruption

EU deal to tackle mining corruption

Google – AFP, 10 April 2013

Spanish coal miners demonstrate with their lamps lit through the streets

of the city of Leon, Spain, on June 12, 2012 (AFP/File, Cesar Manso)

BRUSSELS — EU legislators struck an anti-corruption deal Tuesday that aims to force big mining companies to make public the payments they make to governments where they operate, officials said.

Bargaining between EU member states and European Parliament MEPs delivered the deal focused on companies with turnovers of at least 40 million euros, total assets worth 20 million or 250 employees, European Union Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said in a statement.

The agreement covers "disclosure requirements for the extractive industry and loggers of primary forests and on simpler accounting requirements for small companies."

Barnier, a former French foreign minister, said the extractive business was "far too often shrouded in secrecy", and that the new legislation would therefore "help fight tax evasion and corruption."

It "shows how EU legislation can be a catalyst for change in developing countries," he added, arguing that communities in resource-rich territories "will finally be better informed about what their governments are being paid by multinationals for exploiting oil and gas fields, mineral deposits and forests."

The Oxfam charity, which campaigns on behalf of developing countries, said the accord was to be welcomed.

"It's excellent news that the EU is moving towards a law that will help ordinary people harness the natural resource wealth of their countries to be lifted out of poverty," said Catherine Olier, Oxfam's EU development expert.

But at the same time, the "EU politicians today could have taken a bolder stance against tax evasion and corruption by including other sectors such as telecommunications or construction," Olier said in a statement.

"Strikingly, poor countries lose more to tax dodging than they receive in aid each year."

The accord must now go to be approved by the 27 EU member states.

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