Several former political prisoners and other activists staged a protest in Myitkyina today against the Myitsone dam project. The protesters carried banners denouncing Chinese Power Investment (CPI), the Chinese state-owned company behind the billion-dollar project which was “suspended” by Thein Sein in 2011 but has not been cancelled entirely. The protesters want the project to be completely cancelled and oppose efforts by CPI to resume the project.
The protesters began their journey from a monastery and have been marching towards the Myitsone dam site, located some 27 miles from Myitkyina. The protesters are carrying banners from the League of Former Political Prisoners and are marching alongside a truck plastered with a banner which reads “Stop the Myitsone Dam Project Immediately”.
U Ye Htut Khaung, a former political prisoner who organized the protest, told the Kachin News Group that the protesters were very upset with CPI: “We have to alert people again because CPI is planning to resume the dam construction. We learned that China apparently supported Burma financially for the December SEA Games in order to resume dam construction.”
According to Ye Htu Khaung, the protesters also want to inform the Burmese and Chinese governments as well as CPI that the dam's construction is completely impossible because the entire population of Burma opposes the project as it will severely impact the upper waters of the Irrawaddy River—the vitally-important, historic waterway which runs through Myanmar’s heartland and has sustained the region’s agricultural society for thousands of years.
This evening the activists plan to stay in Kachin State’s Dum Gan village and meet with local villagers to discuss their campaign. They will then continue walking to the Myitsone dam site tomorrow.
More than 40 protesters are taking part in the march towards the dam. Many of them are from religious organizations, while others include members of the Kachin State Democracy Party and local community-based organizations, Ye Hut Khaung said.
During his interview with KNG Ye Htut Khaung also said the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) should raise the Myitsone dam issue during peace talks scheduled for next week between the KIO and the Burmese government in Myitkyina.
In March 2011, the KIO wrote a letter to Chinese authorities calling for a halt to the dam project. The letter said the KIO had ‘informed the [Burmese] military government that the KIO would not be responsible for civil war if it broke out because of this hydropower plant project and the dam construction’.
In June 2011—only a few months after sending the letter—the KIO's 17-year ceasefire with the central government collapsed, resulting in armed conflict between the KIO and Burma’s military which has continued intermittently for over three years.
