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Meeting of indigenous people open
Guyana delegates express concern about mining
The Surinamese delegation
Leaders of the indigenous peoples of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana opened a key meeting in Georgetown yesterday, with one of the mains concern of the local delegation being mining.
The meeting, which began yesterday, is being held all week to set priorities and create a cohesive strategy to strengthen the Amazonian movement in view of major threats facing the indigenous peoples and their environment, organisers say.
Majuna Edwards
Leaders of the three countries that make up the “Guiana Shield,” are meeting in country caucuses to discuss the issues facing their respective countries.
Majuna Edwards, the village leader of Micobie in the lower Potaro River, is the only woman chief on the Guyana delegation at the meeting
She told Kaieteur News that she is in Georgetown to bring attention to the fact that a large mining company is flouting the law and disrespecting leaders in her community and showing no respect for its people.
Micobie gained legal rights to its land (23.59 square miles) in March 2006 and Edwards quoted the Amerindian Act, which states that anyone wishing to conduct mining activities must consult with the Village Council.
However, she said the miner claims that he had been mining in the area for years before the community gained its title. After continuous protests, which included meetings between the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, a cease order was issued to the mining company.
But Edwards claimed that the company has since returned to the village, saying it had the permission of the court to do so. The owner has still refused to consult with the Village Council, she added.
She said that a meeting was recently agreed to by the owner of the mining company, but he did not show up and instead sent a representative with a cheque for $500,000 and said that the company would be paying the village that amount every month. Edwards said the Council did not agree to this arrangement.
The community of Micobie is made up of just over 330 Amerindians of the Patamona tribe. Edwards said that since most do subsistence farming, it was heart wrenching to see, recently, that the mining company had destroyed a patch of vegetables belonging to a villager.
She is once more looking to the authorities to address the mining company’s flouting of the law.
The meeting of the leaders of the indigenous people of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana is organised by the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) of Guyana, Organisatie Van Inheemsen (OIS) of Suriname, and the Fédération des Organisations Autochtones de Guyana Village Amérindien (FOAG) of French Guiana, in coordination with the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Amazon Alliance.
During the week, participants will work to reach consensus on possible next steps, and develop a clear plan for collaborative action for the remainder of 2009 on issues of climate change and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD); the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA); and the impacts of mining.
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