MONGOLIA: Hundreds of Mongolian protesters occupy Ulan Bator's Freedom Square to call for an end to government corruption and foreign control of minerals and resources

Record ID: 322336

  • Title: MONGOLIA: Hundreds of Mongolian protesters occupy Ulan Bator's Freedom Square to call for an end to government corruption and foreign control of minerals and resources
  • Date: 18th April 2006
  • Summary: (W2) ULAN BATOR, MONGOLIA (APRIL 14, 2006) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS WALKING ON FREEDOM SQUARE CLOSE UP OF PROTESTERS WALKING AND SHOUTING SOLDIERS RUNNING ACROSS STREET POLICEMEN STANDING IN LINE PROTESTERS HOLDING FLAGS CLOSE UP OF PROTESTERS WALKING SOLDIERS AND POLICEMEN MAN GIVING SPEECH AND PEOPLE LISTENING CLOSE UP OF MAN GIVING SPEECH CLOSE UP OF PEOPLE LISTENING PROT
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mongolia
  • Country: Mongolia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3TX2DT7ZW6V2WXD6KPTQA5UNN
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Mongolian protesters occupied Ulan Bator's Freedom Square on Friday (April 14, 2006) calling for an end to government corruption and foreign control of minerals and resources.
    Protesters marched around the parliament building, some camping out in traditional round, white "ger" tents pitched on the flagstones.
    Twenty-six Mongolian MPs walked out of parliament in solidarity with the protesters.
    The MPs, mostly from the opposition Democratic Party, vowed not to return to parliament, or the Great Hural, until the government responded to protesters' demands, which include calls for increased transparency in negotiations with foreign miners for investment terms in exploiting mineral deposits.
    The protests happened as Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. negotiates an agreement with the government that would set the investment terms for a planned copper and gold mine in the Gobi desert.
    The company says its planned 1.2 billion U.S. dollar investment for the mammoth project would eventually bring billions of dollars in taxes and thousands of construction and mining jobs to Mongolia.
    But protesters say the government must win better terms and meet broader demands for transparency and accountability.
    The MPs in the walk-out also denounced the use of force on Thursday (April 13) that lead to scuffles on the square with police and the destruction of a ger and the removal of several others.
    Mongolians converged on the square in January to protest against parliament's dissolution of the government.
    The crisis began when more than half the cabinet, all members of the MPRP, which ran Mongolia as a Soviet satellite for much of the 20th century, quit the government of Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, a Democrat.
    Power shuffles are not new in Mongolia. Four governments were formed in four years the last time the Democrats were in power, between 1996 and 2000.
    But since the 1990 elections, Mongolia has proved to be one of the most stable states in Central Asia.
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