Dakota Access activists triumph

Native American tribes and environmental activists celebrated in North Dakota on Sunday after the US Army Corps of Engineers said it would withhold a permit for a stretch of the planned Dakota Access Pipeline.

“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works said in a statement. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”

Nevertheless, the decision is not final, especially after President-elect Donald Trump came out in support of the project.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, backed by activists more recently joined by some 2,000 US army veterans, has been protesting the building of a section of the pipe which runs through sacred burial sites and water sources for months.

In response to several acts of sabotage, including the unprecedented shutting-down of five major oil pipelines in October by environmental groups who said they acted in solidarity with the Dakota Access protesters, authorities in recent weeks have arrested a number of activists and journalists and implemented harsh measures against the protesters at the Standing Rock site.