Bishop of Bahia on hunger-strike

The bishop of the diocese of Barra in the Brazil in the federal state of Bahia is defending the interests of his community in an unusual way. Out of protest against the diversion of the Rio São Francisco Dom Luiz Flávio Cappio has been now on hunger-strike for a week. In an open letter he accused the President of Brazil, Ignacio Lula da Silva, of breaking his word and deceiving the people of Brazil. "We share the concern of the bishop about the ecological balance in the arid part of Sertão and the existence of the people living along the river and are also concerned about their health"?, said Yvonne Bangert of the Department for Indigenous Peoples at the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Tuesday in Göttingen. "We have also written to President Lula da Silva in this matter."

34 Indian areas and 153 settlements of the Quilombolas (Afro-Brazilians) lie in the area covered by the “Transposiçãoâ€?, as the project is called. The inhabitants are fishermen and small farmers. Their existence is in danger because the Transposição will dry out to an even greater extent the Rio São Francisco, which is already suffering from the dams of Sobradinho and Itaparica. The people living directly alongside the river must in addition count on being moved to another area.

The Transposição is a prestige project of the Lula da Silva government. Two channels measuring together 700 km are to bring the water of the river via several large pumping stations to the north, where it is to be used primarily for sugar and fruit plantations, for breeding prawns and for the steel-works in the Fortaleza area. Just four percent of the water is intended for use in the private households, whose needs are also very great.

"In spite of the fact that not all the licences have been issued, the excavation work for the channels began already in the summer of 2007�, criticised Bangert. "

The first people to fight for their existence are the approximately 9,000 Tumbalalá and Truka Indians near the building-site not far from the town of Cabrobó. They have already lost their best rice-fields through the Sobradinho dam. Through the new drop in the level of the river there will now be even less fish.â€?

In October 2005 Bishop Dom Luís (oder Luiz? NP) Cappio forced the construction work to be suspended with an 11-day hunger-strike. At that time the government promised a dialogue which would have the purpose of finding an ecological alternative assuring the small farmers and fishermen with an adequate supply of water. This dialogue was however after a short time broken off by the government. For this reason Bishop Dom Luís (oder Luiz? NP) accuses the government of deceiving the people. He has stated that he will only end his hunger-strike if the military, which is at present carrying out the construction work, is withdrawn from the site and the project finally stopped.

Because the project does not make sense either from an ecological or an economic view the World Bank refused a credit. The Indians and the Quilombolas were not included in the planning although their land rights are affected. So Brazil is now infringing the convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation ILO, a subsidiary organisation of the UN, which protects the land rights of indigenous peoples. Brazil ratified the Convention in 2002.