Mongolian demonstrators end protest

Some 200 demonstrators -- including 10 hunger-strikers -- have ended their protests over alleged government corruption and the mishandling of mineral wealth in Mongolia after the country's leaders agreed to investigate their complaints.

The activists had been camped in a square in the capital Ulan Bator for two weeks when their demonstration ended late on Sunday.

They were demanding that the government obtain favorable terms from a Canadian mining company's concession to mine huge copper and gold deposits in the southern Gobi region or resign.

The demonstrators gave up their protests after Mongolian Prime Minister Mieagombo Enkhbold and his Cabinet ministers agreed to form working groups to investigate agreements signed with foreign mining companies under previous governments.

The groups will also look into mining licensing issues and work together to amend the Mongolian minerals law, passed in 1997, which protesters say favors foreign mining companies.

"We demonstrated during the last two weeks to establish a just and transparent government, and as a result they have listened to us," said S. Ganbaatar, an activist with Radical Reform, one of several civic groups that claim to represent Mongolia's poor and unemployed.

The company under the spotlight, Ivanhoe Mines, has not been accused of improprieties. The Vancouver-based company discovered the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold deposit in the Gobi Desert and is negotiating an agreement with the government on tax and other policies to develop the project.

Ivanhoe has said the project will generate 117,000 jobs and boost the economy.

Last week, demonstrators burned effigies of Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Enkhbold, the speaker of parliament, and Robert Friedland, chairman of Ivanhoe Mines.

Late on Sunday, doctors checked the 10 hunger strikers as protesters packed away their gers -- traditional Mongolian tents. All were in good health except for one man who had fainted.