Tanzania: Impending war over “the curse of natural resources”
By Elias Mhegera – There are various forms of genocide in country, uranium mining being one of those. At least for the whole of October there are reports in the media outlets in Tanzania condemning mining of this deadly stuff.
Uranium Location Map
The recent debates are a product of a debate that was conducted at the beginning of October, on the 4th and 5th at the International Conference on Uranium Mining, at the Blue Pearl, Ubungo Plaza in Dar es Salaam.
Due to the topical issues that were presented and reported in the media particularly in the impact on health and environment, one would have expected a massive campaign against uranium mining in Tanzania, but that is not the case.
The devastations of uranium and its related chemicals are historical even if one was to remember the tragedy they had caused in then Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after then Premier Patrice Lumumba had signed a secret deal on uranium extraction with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The eventual assassination of Lumumba in January 1961, by the purported agents of the US-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), set in the “natural resources curse” which is haunting the DRC to date.
Protest against uranium mining
Tanzania has allowed the extraction of uranium at Mkuju River, Bahi in Dodoma and Manyoni in Singida. The power might have been giving or sorts of justifications to these mining deals under the pretext of revamping this country’s economy through the mining sector.
Only a handful of activists are projecting the impending danger of uranium mining in this country. The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), the Arusha based HakiMadini and the Dodoma based Civil Education Source of Poverty Eradication and Environmental (CESOPE) are amongst few of those.
Their combined efforts with the Rosa Luxembourge Foundation brought a team of experts to sound a warning signal in Tanzania. Influential personalities have always indicated their scepticism about mining deals which are unfriendly to the citizenry.
Retired judge Amir Manento, who is the chairman of the Commission for Human Rights
Retired judge Amir Manento, who is the chairman of the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) asked why is it not better having no mining of uranium at all, rather than having people who are suffering from contaminations while governments can do nothing.
In response experts in the field said that the essence of this conference was to bring all experts all over the world making participants aware of the dangers of uranium mining to the environmental impacts, so that Tanzania can learn more and think whether to start uranium mining or not.
Elsewhere the mining of uranium has never been received as good news. To elucidate starting from 1969, the federal government of Canada regulated the standard amount of radon in mines.
In 1990, the US Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), granting reparations for those affected by mining. Out of 50 present and former uranium milling sites in 12 states, 24 have been abandoned, their safety is the responsibility of the US Department of Energy.
It was discovered in 2004, that 40 percent of the US soldiers in one unit were found to have malignant cancerous growths when they returned from a tour of a year and a few months in Iraq.
Another serious incident is the radiation effects from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster which are observed and predicted effects resulting from the release of radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Radioactive isotopes were released from reactor containment vessels as a result of venting to reduce gaseous pressure, and the discharge of coolant water into the sea. This resulted in Japanese authorities implementing a 20 km exclusion zone around the power plant, and the continued displacement of approximately 156,000 people as of early 2013.
Trace quantities of radioactive particles from the incident, including iodine-131 and caesium-134/137, have since been detected around the world. People in the area worst affected have a slightly higher risk of developing certain cancers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report that estimates an increase in risk for specific cancers for certain subsets of the population inside the Fukushima Prefecture.
For the populations living in the most contaminated regions within Fukushima prefecture, this includes a 4 percent increase for solid cancers in females exposed as infants, a 6 percent increase in breast cancer in females exposed as infants, and a 7 percent increase in leukemia for males exposed as infants.
The risk of thyroid cancer in females exposed as infants has risen from a lifetime risk of 0.75 percent to 1.25 percent. Such disasters are a war in themselves which needs to be resisted by various campaigns and boldness like what was did by a journalist and human rights defender Christopher Bollyn in the US.
In the developed world with doctors who are well versed with knowledge and sophisticated equipment, resistance to uranium mining has been part and parcel of daily activism by the enlightened.
During the Ubungo Plaza workshop such bodies were there and they had a lot of experience to share with the adamant Tanzanian politicians whose motives are not clear to many sober minds.
Such big minds were represented by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) through Prof. Adreas Uhl, Dr. Dewar from the Physicians for Global Survival-Canada, to Zambian Dr. Robert Mtonga who is Co-President of IPPNW.
Throughout its existence uranium mining and its related products has been facing a tough resistance from the medical professionals after realizing the extent of its damages.
One of Canada’s foremost nuclear experts and critics, Dr Gordon Edwards who is the president of a Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), has already declared uranium as one of the deadliest metal.
As far way back as 1879 it was reported that half of miners were dying of lung cancer which later was to be attributed to uranium. While in 1930 it was established that airborne radioactivity in the mines was the major cause of lung cancer.
The principal cause of deaths was radon gas and its solid by products, the so called “radon –daughters” in Germany. Uranium is a dangerous enemy in all forms, in water, land, and in gaseous form.
In 1975, the whole of St. Mary’s School in Port Hope Canada had to be evacuated because of the extraordinary high radon levels.
Although the Tanzania’s government has chosen to turn a deaf ears to the cries against uranium but at least voices from the citizenry were aired during the workshop and they were witnessed by the international community.
Yazidu Athuman a resident of Bahi was bold enough, to ask as to why shouldn’t the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC) advice the Tanzanian Government to abandon its plan of mining uranium which has proved to be extremely dangerous wherever it is mined?.
This was in reciprocation to one Pendo Nyanda from TAEC who was there to defend the position of her organization.
“The Government has conducted a series of researches and it has come into conclusion that it has the ability to curb the dangers of uranium mining and it has been assured of technical advice at each stage by other important relevant bodies,” she responded confidently.
Golden Masabiko from Congo Katanga region shared a sad experience with mining activities on health and environment taking into consideration that the nuclear materials that were used for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing came from his region.
He pointed out that violations of human rights and environmental disruption are a common thing whenever there is uranium extraction. In the same effort a representative from South Africa recommended that rehabilitation should be part of the contract between mining companies.
She referred this experience to the South African situation. The contributor said that mining companies have in her country have always been avoiding the burden for rehabilitating mining sites for over 125 years of mining.
Mexede Lesaka, Bahi resident added that his colleagues are very angry with Government’s plan to extract uranium from their area. He called for a support to campaign against any development of uranium mining projects in his area.
This comment did not differ with the one that was given by Dr. Agyeno Ehase, a Community Doctor from Nigeria who argued all human rights activists all over the world to join Tanzania in forwarding strong statements against uranium mining bearing in mind its side effects.
But the harshness of this resistance could be sensed through Ms. Grace Kiwia who introduced herself as a human rights activist from Tanzania. She commented that there is a problem of secrecy in the mining contracts which are used for political reasons.
But these reactions were a mere reflection of how the expert presentations had condensed in people’s minds. For instance Prof. Andreas Nidecker, a radiologist and physician representing the IPPNW said that he has over 30 year experience in dealing with uranium matters and that he has worked with NGOs.
He noted that Uranium was given that name in Germany and that artificial uranium fishing started in Germany and later it went on to become an important commodity for nuclear power. The don said that his country (Germany) has been spending billions of money in rehabilitating areas which were affected by uranium mining.
He added that many people who were found to be suffering from lung cancer in Germany it was because of using uranium contaminated water hence he counseled that it is better for Tanzania not to engage itself in the uranium mining in order to rescue lives.
For her part Joan Leon the RLF representative said that there are documented dangers to the environment and to the people within the area. In most cases the most affected communities are never given an opportunity to contribute in the decision that will have ramifications on their lives.
She promised that her organization will continue to help the most affected communities and to protect them through awareness creation and to their livelihood in general.
Analyzing the situation in this continent Dr Mtonga verified that out 1/3 of all new tuberculosis cases are related to the mining industry 2.3 million new tuberculosis cases we related to mining activities contributing to 220,000 deaths in Africa by the year 2011.
He further charged that mining involvement accounted for 60,000 new tuberculosis cases in South Africa in 2011. This stance was supported by Mariette Liefferink from the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE) who presented on the Uranium Mining: Environment and Human Rights a South African experience.
But this does not mean that there are no supporters in this Governments bid. For instance in quite a different stance, Godfrey Mbuya, a representative from Opposition Parliament Office in Tanzania, asked as to why the most powerful nations are those which have nuclear powers?
He further charged, does it mean that a country like Tanzania should not extract its own resources while others are benefit from uranium? Does it mean there is no advice which can be given to Tanzania in order to get benefits to its people?
Responses to those questions came from Solli Ramatou, a delegate from Niger who said that it is despairing to hear a person representing a legislative body who do not understand the implications of uranium mining.
“It is expected you should be the one standing for the people of Bahi who are now threatened with the existence of such technologies. Uranium mining and process will be even more dangerous in Tanzania uranium as it lacks the technological capacity,” responded the presenter rather query.
In addition to this was Prof. Andreas Uhl, he said that scientific studies have already shown that after mining uranium no country has the efficient capacity to remove completely the health consequences.
“It is very important to involve the local populations as it has been indicated in Bahi Dodoma there is a lot of resistance from the local population. But even in Niger the French armies have been placed there which means the local population does not support the extraction of uranium,” he added.
