More than 1,500 Burmese troops are currently on their way to reinforce government positions in northern Shan state, as the Burmese military continues an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) Eighth Battalion, according to KIA sources in the area.
The KIA's Eighth Battalion presently controls a long stretch of northern Shan State slated to be the route of the Shwe pipeline project, which will deliver oil and gas from Burma's Arakan coast to China's Yunnana region. Currently the Eighth Battalion is under attack at key points along the pipeline route. This includes Namtu, Mandong, Nam Hkam (or Nam Kham) and KIA positions near Muse close to the Chinese border.
KIA officials on the ground in Shan State say that the Burmese army is prioritizing sending troops to the area to capture territory for the Shwe pipeline, a multibillion dollar project that when completed is expected to give Burma's government huge annual revenues.
KIA officials in northern Shan State said that most of the 1,500 troops have already arrived in the state and are currently being deployed to the front lines that surround the KIA's Eighth Battalion.
Today in Muse, a convoy of more than 30 transport trucks carrying troops and supplies arrived from Kachin state, according to eyewitnesses in the area. The newly arrived troops were previously deployed in combat against the KIA’s 27th and 12th battalions in southern Kachin State. The reinforcements belong to Meiktila-based Light Infantry Division No. 99 and Myitkyina-based Northern Regional Military Command, the Kachin News Group learned.
On January 19, as representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) met with Burmese government representatives in China for the second day of talks, Burmese troops repeatedly opened fire on the KIA's Eighth Battalion positions in the Mandong area. Mandong which is also on the pipeline route stayed in KIA hands, according to sources on the ground.
On January 20, heavy fighting broke out in the Nam Sung area, also controlled by the KIA's Eighth Battalion. According to KIA officials more than 20 Burmese soldiers were killed during this battle.
Shwe pipeline's impact assessments conducted by Western firms
A report published last year by the Shwe Gas Movement, an environmental coalition opposed to the pipeline project, reveals that the two firms tasked to conduct Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessments (ESHIA) for both of the twin oil and gas pipelines are Western owned.
China National Petroleum Company, the leading firm in the consortium that will build the twin pipeline project, hired the Hong Kong branch of the London headquartered Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to conduct the ESHIA for the oil pipeline. CNPC also hired International Environmental Management Co (IEM), a Canadian owned firm based in Bangkok, to conduct the ESHIA for the gas pipeline.
It is unclear whether either firm predicted the conflict currently unfolding along a good portion of the pipeline's route in northern Shan State.
Originally the twin oil and gas pipelines were supposed to miss most of the KIA controlled territory, however in early 2011 the official pipeline route in Shan state was shifted westward making a near 90 degree turn at Hsipaw where the pipeline route now heads north into KIA territory. Previously the pipeline was slated to continue east at Hsipaw and reach Lashio before heading north to Kunming, a route that would have passed through much less of the KIA’s territory.
