In an open letter to Hu Jintao, President of People’s Republic of China today, ethnic Kachin social activists have requested China once again to put a stop to the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam construction project.
Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), the local social activity group made the request to the President of China on behalf of Kachin communities, who are suffering because of the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State and are facing insecurity, forced relocation and arrest by the Burmese military junta.
“We appeal to you to immediately halt the forced relocation and destruction of the villages of those opposed to this project…” said the letter.
“The construction of this dam is against the will of local people and violates China’s own dam construction guidelines as well as international standards,” it added.
The junta has ordered over 1,000 civilians from Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships to forcibly relocate all the residents of Tang Hpre and other villages from the dam project site. If villagers refuse to leave, their houses, schools and churches will be destroyed said the letter.
The leader of the Village Solidarity Committee (VSC), which was formed with 13 members to resist forced relocation in Tang Hpre village said, in their village almost all youth and men and he fled because of the junta trying to arrest them.
Regime officials arrested and interrogated hundreds of local Kachin people after the April 17 serial bomb blasts in the dam construction site. The VSC leader said all villagers are innocent and cannot contemplate such violent action. They only attempted to resist relocation peacefully.
“This is not only a problem for us but for all because Mali Hka (Irrawaddy in Burmese) river is the main water source for millions of people. So everybody should stop it being destroyed,” he said.
Chinese president Hu Jintao and Irrawaddy Myitsone dam project in Kachin State, Northern Burma.
Irrawaddy River is approximately 2,170 kilometers long and flows through the centre of the country.
The VSC leader said dam construction was not stopped even after the bomb explosions. Now fresh batches of Chinese workers are coming in.
The junta beat up and arrested villagers during interrogations on the bomb blasts. The repression forced a lot of villagers to flee their homes, said the VSC leader.
Environmentalists have warned that at least 15,000 villagers living around the dam project site are apprehensive of forcible relocation by the junta.
Overseas Kachin in Bangkok, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Wellington had submitted a letter earlier to the Chinese Embassy to be forwarded to Premier Wen Jiabao but only the Singapore Embassy responded.
The Myitsone hydropower dam project is being implemented by China’s China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) along with partner Asia World Company and Burmese Junta’s No. 1 Ministry of Electric Power.
