People have been fleeing their homes because of fighting related to the Thanlwin Dam projects according to a statement by Burma Rivers Network issued on 19th January.
Sai Khur Hseng a spoke person for Burma Rivers Network said most of the armed clashes are happening in Shan State.
He said: “The Kunglong Dam project was signed off in 2009. In that year the Border Guard Forces (BGF) and the Kokant group [The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army or MNDAA] fought against each other in intense battle clashes. The fighting is ongoing in Shan State. In the last two months we have seen fighting near the Tasang (Mongtom) and Nongpha dams and people have had to flee their homes.”
Road construction for the Kunglong Dam project has already caused residents from 60 villages to lose their homes and farmland. In Karen State there was fighting between the Democratic Karen Benevolence Army (DKBA) and government forces near the site of the Hatgyi Dam project last October, which caused 2,000 people in the area to flee their homes according to the statement.
Last year over 61,000 people signed a petition saying they were opposed to the planned dams on the Thanlwin River.
Sai Khur Hseng said: “The campaign for signatures started in March 2014 and over 60,000 people have signed so far.”
The signatures have mainly come from Shan, Karen, Karenni (Kayah) and Mon state and have been collected with the help of other organisations according to Sai Khur Hseng.
In the areas where the dams are planned forest trees are being cut down and cleared killing wildlife and affecting the environment.
The Burma Rivers Statement also pointed out that military-linked companies are logging and mining in the proposed flood zones for the dams before they are flooded when the dams are built.
Sai Khur Hseng said: “Women and children have lost their educational future [by being always relocated]. By clearing the forest in the areas where the dams are being constructed it affects the environment. Other people are benefitting from the products and resources that come out from that process [forest clearing], we have nothing left. That loss cannot be compared to anything else. How will they feel if all the gold, mineral products and natural resources in their areas are sold? How many people are benefitting from the country’s education and health sectors? When we look back at this they are just all losing out.”
He also said that Burma could develop in a democratic way if the dam projects were halted and the ceasefire was implemented,
The Thanlwin dam projects will produce 15,000 Megawatts electrical power, and its 90% will be sold out to China and Thailand.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
