Mongolians end protests demanding resignation of government, president
Published by MAC on 2006-04-24Mongolians end protests demanding resignation of government, president
Ganbat Namjil, Canadian Press
24th April 2006
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) - Some 200 demonstrators - including 10 hunger-strikers - have ended their protests over alleged government corruption and the mishandling of mineral wealth in Mongolia after the country's leaders agreed to investigate their complaints.
The activists had been camped in a central square in the capital Ulan Bator for two weeks when their demonstration ended late Sunday. They were demanding that the government obtain favourable terms from a Canadian mining company's concession to mine huge copper and gold deposits in the southern Gobi region - or resign.
The demonstrators gave up their protests after Prime Minister Mieagombo Enkhbold and his cabinet ministers agreed to form working groups to investigate agreements signed with foreign mining companies under previous governments.
The groups will also look into mining licensing issues and work together to amend the Mongolian minerals law, passed in 1997, which protesters say favours foreign mining companies.
"We demonstrated during the last two weeks to establish a just and transparent government, and as a result they have listened to us," said S. Ganbaatar, an activist with Radical Reform, one of several civic groups that claim to represent Mongolia's poor and unemployed.
The company under the spotlight, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., has not been accused of improprieties. The Vancouver-based company discovered the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold deposit in the Gobi Desert and is negotiating an agreement with the government on tax and other policies to develop the project.
"Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia received its mining licenses for Oyu Tolgoi from the government of Mongolia in 2003 based on transparent and rigorous compliance with all Mongolian laws, policies and procedures," Layton Croft, executive vice-president for corporate affairs for Ivanhoe Mines, said Monday of the government's plan.
"Ivanhoe welcomes any opportunity for open dialogue based on facts that will result in a mutually beneficial stability agreement so that the Oyu Tolgoi project will bring significant and lasting benefits to Mongolia and the Mongolian people," Croft said.
Ivanhoe has said the project will generate 117,000 jobs and boost the economy.
Last week, demonstrators burned effigies of President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Enkhbold, the speaker of parliament, and Robert Friedland, chairman of Ivanhoe Mines.
Late Sunday, doctors checked the 10 hunger strikers as protesters packed away their traditional Mongolian tents, called gers. All were in good health except for one man who had fainted.
Copper mining is a major part of the economy of this former Soviet satellite that is sandwiched between China and Russia. The country and its 2.5 million people have suffered a steep economic decline since radical free-market reforms were launched in the early 1990s.
Politicians have clashed repeatedly over how to exploit the mineral resources. The opposition accuses the government of giving away Mongolia's wealth and wants the law changed to give the government a large share of all foreign-owned mines.
© The Canadian Press 2006