Mozambican NGOs criticise silence of justice on human rights violation at mine in Cabo Delgado

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Mozambican NGOs criticise silence of justice on human rights violation at mine in Cabo Delgado

4:18 CAT | 13 Feb 2019

File photo: Lusa

The Extractive Industry Civic Coalition in Mozambique criticised the Attorney General’s Office on Monday for “inoperability” in the case of the violation of human rights at the Montepuez Ruby Mining’s Cabo Delgado mine, alleging collusion between political and judicial interests.

“The Mozambican state has been totally absent from this process, and above all, it has remained indifferent through the Attorney General,” said Fatima Mimbire, a member of one of the Mozambican civil society organisations that is part of the coalition.

An agreement was announced at the end of January, whereby Gemfields, which owns 75% of Montepuez Ruby Mining, agreed to pay compensation of US$8.3 million in an out-of-court settlement concerning 273 complaints of killings, beatings and other infractions at its ruby mine in northern Mozambique.

The case was brought to the London Supreme Court in April 2018 by the law firm Leigh Day, which filed a complaint alleging “serious human rights abuses around the Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRN) mine belonging to the Gemfields group, based in London, between 2011 and 2018, in the Namucho-Ntoro village of Namanhumbir in the northern province of Cabo Delgado”.

For the Extractive Industry Civic Coalition (CCIE) , the silence of the Mozambican government in this case reveals a lack of political will or weak institutional capacity, since in 2017 a joint commission, including the Attorney General, announced an investigation into the case, which was never concluded.

“This agreement results from a lawsuit by a foreign entity against a foreign company that violated the human rights of Mozambicans in Mozambican territory,” the Civic Coalition complains, asking why “foreign entities appear on the front line of defence of the rights of Mozambican citizens”.

The Extractive Industry Civic Coalition links the lack of Mozambican judicial action in this case with the fact that 25% of Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) is owned by Mwiriri, a company whose owner is a member of the Political Commission of the ruling party, the Mozambican Liberation Front.

“We consider that the millions of dollars of Gemfields or other companies will not be worth anything if the trend towards militarisation and the use of force to repress the communities affected by the extractive industry is not stopped immediately,” the coalition’s Fatima Mimbire said.

MRM is a subsidiary of British company Gemfields and started operations in Mozambique in 2012, with a 25-year operating license.

MRM has a concession for the exploitation of approximately 33,000 hectares, one of the most extensive concessions granted to private interests anywhere in the world, and with the potential to produce 40 percent of the world’s total ruby output, according to the coalition.

In 2018, MRM recorded turnover of US$109 million (EUR 92.7 million) from the sale of rubies at auction.

Source: Lusa