No improvement in Teberebie, Ghana

At the end of February 2009 the Austrian FIAN- activist Brigitte Reisenberger visited the Iduapriem gold mine.

The Iduapriem gold mine of the South African company AngloGold Ashanti literally eats up more and more farmland of the Teberebie resettlement village. FIAN accompanies the case since 2001 and started an urgent letter action in April 2008. In this letter campaign the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and AngloGold Ashanti have been urged to provide access to land and clean water to the communities on the concession of the Iduapriem mine. Since then no substantial improvements have been noticed. To fact the situation has worsened. For the people of Teberebie it is getting continuously more difficult to find land which they can cultivate. The lack of access to land violates their Right to Food on a daily basis. The at least 50 meters high waste rock dump has become bigger and bigger, and is now only a few meters away from the village.

Especially in Adisakrom – a small village not far from Teberebie – the water situation has worsened. The community members complain about the lack of access to clean water, caused by AngloGold Ashanti’s Iduapriem gold mine. The village’s lifeline was the river Angonaben. Today one cannot drink water out of it. The people of Adisakrom complain about skin eruptions and gastro-intestinal diseases. They blame the gold mine for polluting the river water. The borehole constructed by AngloGold Ashanti offers no adequate alternative. As soon as one boils the water a thin layer appears on the water surface. In Adisakrom the Right to Water is being violated day by day. Only who is able to afford it has access to clean drinking water. The community members of Adisakrom depend on irregular water supplies. For money, the water packed in small plastic bags is given to the community members.

Go to the photo gallery with impressions of the journey to Teberebie and Adisakrom…