The announcement was made on August 23 after a meeting between 24 villages and representatives of three regional civil societies at the Hnan Phae Taung village Monastery, 7 miles away from Kyauk Phyu township.

On August 2, the residents made 4 demands, namely to provide electricity for villages in the Shwe Natural Gas Pipeline region, to construct roads to link the villages, to build rural healthcare centers, schools and wells, and payment of full compensation for all seized land and for land on which dredged mud from the project construction is dumped.

“They are only trying to pay compensation for dumping dredged mud and have ignored our other demands. So we have added another demand, release of the 10 Ma Day Kyun protest leaders who are charged with Section 18”, said U Maung Aye, representative from Laikhamaw Village.

The 10 protesters are residents of Ma Day Kyun who were charged by the police in April for leading a protest demanding regional development programs and compensation for the seized land in the Shwe Natural Gas Pipeline region.

“CNPC is aware of the fact that Regional Development Programs must be implemented when they do business in international countries. But they have a covert mutual understanding with the government and they want to hide it from the people. Therefore, the civil societies have made a humble request to them. We do not have a choice but to keep demanding and take up further actions if they keep ignoring our demands”, said U Tun Lwin, the leader from Kyauk Phyu.