Money and energy fuelling war between Burmese military and ethnic minorities
by Yaung Ni Oo
Activists and environmentalists blame infrastructural and natural resource development. The latter enriches the country’s leadership at the expense of the people. In Karen State, thousands of families are homeless because of a road. Mytisone (Kachin) dam will cause serious damages; the Chinese company that is building it wants seven more.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – Economic interests worth billions of dollars in infrastructural (for example, dams) and natural resource development are behind the virtual civil war between government forces and ethnic minorities in Kachin State (northern Myanmar), this according to Burmese environmentalists and activists. In their opinion, dozens of projects promoted or funded by foreign interests, especially Chinese groups and companies, are fuelling tensions between armed groups and the military. Caught in the middle, the civilian population is the victim of forced confiscations, murders and rapes, whilst the natural environment is at risk for serious and permanent damages.
The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed winged of a local ethnic minority in the eastern part of the country on the Thai border, has successfully blocked the construction of a road link to the US$ 8 billion Dawei port and industrial estate mega-project.
The building of the 160-kilometre road has already affected the local population, displacing at least 2,000 families who have had to abandon their homes without adequate compensation.
Installed in April, the Burmese government that emerged from the November 2010 phony election apparently sold the land along the road to investors and businessmen with connections to the country’s political-military leadership.
The economic reforms and privatisations promised by the government have been a pretext to favour acolytes and businessmen loyal to the military junta. In general, property laws in Myanmar are vague and interpreted in favour of the powerful.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Myitsone dam on the Irrawaddy River in the northern state of Kachin on the Chinese border (pictured) continues to be controversial. After years of truce, the civil war between the Burmese military and the armed rebels of the Karen Independence Army (Kia) started again in June. Already dozens of people have been killed or wounded.
Human rights activists and environmentalists note that foreign investments contribute to the violent escalation, in particular Chinese companies that are pouring billions of dollars in the coffers of the military, thus disrupting the life of people and the environment.
The Myitsone hydroelectric dam is also very dangerous, at least according to an internal report by the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the Chinese multinational in charge of the project, which says that the dam would cause serious problems for the area as well as the country as a whole.
Despite its own studies, the CPI plans to go ahead with seven more mega-dams on the Irrawaddy River.
Overall, some 48 hydropower projects are planned or under construction, 25 of which are mega-dams similar to Myitsone. They will cost an estimated US billion, generate 40,000Mw of electricity, and earn the Burmese government an estimated US$ 4 billion in annual revenue.
The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed winged of a local ethnic minority in the eastern part of the country on the Thai border, has successfully blocked the construction of a road link to the US$ 8 billion Dawei port and industrial estate mega-project.
The building of the 160-kilometre road has already affected the local population, displacing at least 2,000 families who have had to abandon their homes without adequate compensation.
Installed in April, the Burmese government that emerged from the November 2010 phony election apparently sold the land along the road to investors and businessmen with connections to the country’s political-military leadership.
The economic reforms and privatisations promised by the government have been a pretext to favour acolytes and businessmen loyal to the military junta. In general, property laws in Myanmar are vague and interpreted in favour of the powerful.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Myitsone dam on the Irrawaddy River in the northern state of Kachin on the Chinese border (pictured) continues to be controversial. After years of truce, the civil war between the Burmese military and the armed rebels of the Karen Independence Army (Kia) started again in June. Already dozens of people have been killed or wounded.
Human rights activists and environmentalists note that foreign investments contribute to the violent escalation, in particular Chinese companies that are pouring billions of dollars in the coffers of the military, thus disrupting the life of people and the environment.
The Myitsone hydroelectric dam is also very dangerous, at least according to an internal report by the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the Chinese multinational in charge of the project, which says that the dam would cause serious problems for the area as well as the country as a whole.
Despite its own studies, the CPI plans to go ahead with seven more mega-dams on the Irrawaddy River.
Overall, some 48 hydropower projects are planned or under construction, 25 of which are mega-dams similar to Myitsone. They will cost an estimated US billion, generate 40,000Mw of electricity, and earn the Burmese government an estimated US$ 4 billion in annual revenue.
.png)
See also
