I don't know how I missed this incredible piece of investigative journalism by Claire Wilmot and Ashenafi Endale, linking illicit mining in Tigray with funding for another looming war, as if that region hasn't been decimated already, pollution, as if people there need more destruction than has already occurred, and, surprise surprise, foreign investment.
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#Canada. Canadian companies have a penchant for destroying communities and environments in other countries.
A few nuggets:
"Part of what is driving the explosion of illegal mining in Tigray is the sky-high price of gold around the world. The United States, China and others are scrambling to buy up gold reserves."
"EAM said it “categorically denies the suggestion it is implicated in activities that violate Canadian, Ethiopian or international law.” [Yea right!]
"The chemicals being used to pry gold from the earth are poisoning the local land and water."
"People living nearby have reported strange skin conditions. Their crops and animals are dying."
"The political fight to control Tigray’s resources means the stakes are high. Journalists reporting on these matters have been detained and threatened with violence. Whistle-blowers have been intimidated, assaulted and threatened with death. Tigrayans protesting the looting of their land have been injured and killed."
"since EAM acquired its licences also told reporters that the expansion of these operations has been financed by EAM’s Chinese business partners. They said Chinese miners employed by EAM’s partners and subsidiaries have been mining on these sites, alongside some Tigrayan military officers, for around a year – and that the gold has been moved out of the region."
"the Chinese government has been in a race with the West to control global reserves of precious metals."
"The gold trade was new to her, she explained: Her family had been left destitute by the war, so she, like so many, was forced to find an alternative income.
Yet for miners like her, gold is far from lucrative. After the investors and the military men took their cut, she was left with just enough to keep her and her family fed." 💔
"The ecological crisis gripping the region has been extensively documented. A confidential legal report, [...] detailed the widespread use of chemicals near sources of drinking water. One miner who lives near a mine showed us welts covering her hands. In a village downstream, another said two children have died from illnesses she attributes to cyanide.
“Without these chemicals, we don’t earn enough,” she said. “But they are also killing us.”
“Tigrayan commanders, federal officers, foreigners […] they make the chaos and then they profit from the chaos,” he said.
“They all benefit. Except the people of Tigray.”
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