AN uncontacted tribe faced off a bulldozer as it razed their forest to the ground.
The dramatic footage shows the moment the clan, called Hongana Manyawa, warned the outsiders to leave.
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Two men in the video raise sticks in their hands to scare the excavator away as it continues to make path for nickel mining.
The bulldozer driver then revved the engine, prompting the men to flee.
Hongana Manyawa people live on Halmahera island, the largest of Maluku islands, located in Indonesia.
They choose to live away in the rainforest, far from the outside world, with an estimated 300-500 people in the tribe.
But Hongana Manyawa could face extinction as their homes get demolished for a massive nickel mining project.
Survival International, a non-profit organisation, sounded the alarm over the disturbing video.
According to the NGO, many of the tribe members had to flee from the mining which destroyed their ancestral land and polluted their rivers.
Huge areas of their territories have already been allocated to mining companies from Indonesia, France, Germany and China.
This comes as Indonesia plans to become “a major nickel producer for the electric car battery market”.
Companies including Tesla are investing billions into the project.
Weda Bay Nickel (WBN) – a company partly owned by French mining company Eramet-has a massive mining concession over the areas that overlap with the uncontacted tribe.
The company began mining in 2019 and now controls the largest nickel mine in the world.
The footage of the bulldozer is believed to be filmed near WBN-controlled territories.
Survival International called the incident “a brutal disregard both for international law and for human life”.
The non-profit warned the mining and electric car companies of “a genocide” their violations could cause.
They reminded them of other uncontacted peoples whose existence was wiped out in other parts of the globe.
Survival International’s Director Caroline Pearce said: “This video documents a human rights catastrophe unfolding. It shows that the logging and mining operations on Halmahera are invading deep into the rainforests of the Hongana Manyawa.
“These mining companies should stay out of the Hongana Manyawa’s land, period. We call upon the Indonesian government to urgently recognize and protect the Hongana Manyawa’s territory.”
According to Survival International, there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the world.
In the heart of Amazon, there are still hundreds of mysterious settlements untouched by civilization.
Some released footage shows how these groups live self-sufficiently in the dense rainforest in the far west of northern Brazil.
Oblivious to the modern world, they are rarely caught on camera and fear the contact with the outsiders which can be deadly for the tribes.
Aside from the disease risk, the outside world poses a threat of violence.
For example, land grabbers have erased a tribe in Amazon in 1995, leaving only one survivor.
He has been spotted felling a tree after spending 22 years alone in the jungle.
Ten members of another Amazonian tribe were hacked to death by ruthless gold miners out to seize their land.
Aiya Zhussupova
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