Papuan tribes seek compensation from mining giant
Updated
A tribal chief in Indonesia's Papua Province has launched a campaign to get compensation from US mining giant Freeport for environmental damage to his homelands.
He says tailings from Freeport's huge gold and copper mine are causing more widespread ecological damage.
Indonesia's Antara news agency says the claims are bein made by the chief of the Kapiraya tribe, Fabianus P.
It quotes him as saying several rivers in his tribe's Kaimana district are polluted, killing wildlife and poisoning water sources while fouling parts of the Etna Gulf coastline.
He says people are facing water shortages because their rivers are contaminated by chemicals and he has hired lawyers to file a law suit against Freeport Indonesia over the alleged environmental damage.
Environmentalists say the mine pollutes the World Heritage-listed Lorenz National Park.
The firm disputes the claims.
