Residents of forty-two villages in Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine State, issued a list of mandates that need to be met before they will cease protesting the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be implemented in their area.
The demands, issued on 9 October, include implementing regulations for local area development, paid compensation for seized land, increased career opportunities for those within the SEZ and the systematic resettlement of relocated villagers.
Tun Lwin, from the Kyaukphyu Social Network, told Mizzima that Kyaukphyu Township residents held a meeting in the village of Simaw where they discussed how to avoid suffering the same grievances as those they endured during the building of the Kyaukphyu-Kunming and Shwe gas pipelines.
“In the Shwe gas pipeline project, [involved authorities] made us many promises and then imprisoned us when we staged protests after these promises were broken,” Tun Lwin said. “Now, we simply want to avoid similar injustices. We will protest this SEZ project until our demands are fulfilled.”
“We are not going to spoil this project. We demand only what we deserve. We will welcome this project if our demands are met,” he said.
