Radio Mundo Real

Eight small-scale farmers from Tanzania were arrested late 2016 in Malawi, after entering the country legally invited by national organizations to know more about the impacts of uranium mining, which is the object of many exploration projects in Tanzania.

The inhabitants of areas near the uranium mining project called Tanzania’s Mkuju River Project (MRP) in Natumbo District, in Ruvuma Region, are worried about this activity in the area. Farmers were trying to obtain more information in the neighbor country, where uranium mining is far more developed.

The farmers arrested were kept for two days at a police station and then taken to court. They were accused of being spies that were trying to find out if Malawi was building nuclear weapons in the Kayerekera mining area, in Karonga District. Human rights organizations, among others, have warned about the violation of many of the rights of Tanzanian farmers.

Justiça Ambiental (JA!) – Friends of the Earth Mozambique, in the framework of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) of Southern African countries, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 17-18, interviewed lawyer Flaviana Charles, who defended the imprisoned farmers and is member of Business and Human Rights Tanzania.

The Tribunal was organized by the Southern Africa Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and allowed eight countries of the region to talk about the impacts caused by the pressure of transnational corporations.