(Received from reporter Robert Bryce)

(The following speech was given by Tom Beanal, a leader of LEMASA, the tribal organization in western Papua New Guinea, who is suing Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Freeport-McMoRan, Inc., in U.S. federal court for human rights violations that have occurred at the company's mine. He gave this speech at Loyola University on April 28, 1997.)

Thank you very much to the organisers at Loyola University for inviting me to be here this evening. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet with you here again in this place after our meeting here last year. I'm very happy to share information and update your knowledge about the struggle for justice and peace of Indonesian citizen -- the Amungme people in Irian Jaya (West Papua) who are affected by the operation of the US mining company Freeport.

I'm here in the United States to meet with my lawyer, Mr. Martin Regan, of Regan & Boshea, to revise and resubmit by lawsuit against Freeport after the recent decision by the honorable judge John Duval of the federal district court here in New Orleans. There has been much misleading information and disinformation spread around Indonesia, and especially to the local communities in Irian Jaya, that my claim against Freeport has been thrown out of court. So I'm here to hear directly from my lawyer about the truth of the current situation.

Our struggle for the protection of the environment (lands, forest, rivers, animals) and people of Irian Jaya (West Papua) from the uncaring mining operations by Freeport is not something that is exaggerated, romantic or important only for the Amungme and other indigenous people. When we say that the environment for us is our "mother" we mean that human beings are an integral part of the environment and therefore each one of us has to be mindful of and accountable to the limitations of the environment. Modern people do not recognize the special relationship of indigenous people to the environment. But for the indigenous people, their view of their natural surroundings teaches them ecologically sound principles to care for the environment in a sustainable way. For the indigenous people, destroying the environment means damaging the lives of human beings.

It is clear that Freeport, with its careless exploitation of the environment for more than 30 years, has damaged 30,000 hectares of rainforest as well as the Ajkwa and Kopi rivers. This environmental damage has affected thousands of local people, primarily the Amungme and the Kamoro, who depend on these natural resources for their food, water, and other basic needs, livelihoods and cultural practices. Freeport is not honest and does not want to acknowledge these problems. The company denies every kind of effort by the local people peacefully to express concern about the company's impact on their lives and the environment.

Indonesia's Minister of Environment, Sarwono Kusumaatmaja, spoke about the problems with Freeport in February at a workshop in Irian Jaya. According to press reports of the meeting, he said that Freeport had been careless in its mining operations in Irian Jaya (West Papua), and has made mistakes that have damaged the company's credibility. He noted in particular, the need for the company to improve its tailings management system and emphasized that the social problems resulting from Freeport's operations must be solved.

Rather than resolving the environmental problems, Freeport now plans to expand its production, resulting in an increase in the amount of waste rock deposited into local rivers from 125,000 metric tonnes to 300,000 metric tonnes per day. This information comes from the latest terms of reference for the Environmental Impact Assessment that the international consulting firm Dames & Moore will carry out regarding Freeport's proposed increase in production.

I am concerned that there will be more problems as a result of the proposed expansion of Freeport's operations, including the takeover of local people's lands and further environmental destruction. Rather than having a genuine dialogue with the local people to resolve problems, Freeport has unilaterally decided to give 1% of its annual gross earnings to seven local foundations that it helped establish. These foundations are the Amungkal Foundation, LEMASKO, and foundations for the Ekari, Dani, Moni, Damal and Nguda peoples.

My organization, LEMASA, was formed as a representative organization and foundation for the mountain people living in the Timika area. Until last year, Freeport recognized LEMASA as the legitimate representative of these people and me as one of its leaders. Now, rather than acknowledging LEMASA as a representative foundation for the mountain tribes, Freeport has decided to help establish these other seven organizations. This is resulting in the division of and conflicts among the local communities, which has led to violence in recent months with very serious consequences.

Eleven people from the Amungme and Dani communities have been killed since January of this year. The Kamoro are a very traditional people and really depend for their lives on the environment. Now they have difficulties in getting clean water from the Ajkwa River and Freeport has targeted their villages downstream from the mine as a site for dumping tailings. Because of Freeport's plans, the Kamoro living there have been ordered to leave their lands.

In closing, I suggest we might sit down together to think and talk about the relative importance and benefits of human beings, environment and gold.