INDIANS WANTS BUNKER BOMB TEST ON THEIR LAND HALTED

ONE WORLD - Native Americans want U.S. authorities to cancel plans to
detonate 700 tons of explosives on what they say is tribal land in
Nevada. The planned explosion, scheduled for June 2 some 90 miles from
Las Vegas, is aimed at aiding U.S. efforts to develop "bunker buster"
weapons capable of penetrating solid rock. Officials have suggested the
test would constitute the largest non-nuclear, open-air blast in the
test site's history. . .

"We are opposed to any further military testing on our lands," said
Raymond Yowell, chief of the Western Shoshone National Council.

The site of the latest proposed test sits on the land recognized under
the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley as part of the tribe's national
territory, Shoshone leaders said, and the U.S. military therefore has no
right to use it. The U.S. government disagreed and has asserted its
ownership of the land.

"Without going through a lot of detail, the issue of ownership of the
land area occupied by the Nevada Test Site, and for that matter very
large sections of Nevada and Utah, is very complex (going back to the
Ruby Valley Treaty) and in our eyes has been resolved," said Kevin
Rohrer, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration,
which operates the test site.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1985 that the Shoshone had been paid
in full for the land under the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946 "and
thus the land is property of the United States Government," Rohrer said
in an email. . .

Shoshone elders rejected the government's position and last month won a
victory in their fight to reclaim territory when the Geneva-based UN
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in a report
that Washington's claim to the Western Shoshone land "did not comply
with contemporary human rights norms, principles and standards that
govern determination of indigenous property rights."

Among other things, the panel cited special concern over the existence
of nuclear waste dumped on tribal territory without consulting and over
the objections of the Western Shoshone people. The 18-member panel also
asked Washington to "freeze, desist and stop" actions being taken
against the Western Shoshone Nation.

In the ruling, CERD also cited concern over weapons testing at the
Nevada Test Site as well as efforts to build a high-level nuclear waste
depository at Yucca Mountain.

Tribal elders said Washington's plans to proceed with the June test in
the face of the UN panel's findings was a slap in the face of the
international and Native American communities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/45361306871144719531