Indonesia Update
Published by MAC on 2006-03-20
Indonesia Update
20th March 2006
Demands by West Papuan for the closure of the Freeport-Rio Tinto Grasberg mine last week reached an unprecedented level, with the Indonesian authorities clamping down hard on protestors. Three policemen and a soldier have already been killed.
Newmont's exploration on Sumbawa has also triggered violent community opposition. And a new report sugests that, at the present rate of exploitation (including by mining companies), all the country's forests will have disappeared by the year 2221.