Burma Army Tells Locals to Leave Myitsone Area

Burmese authorities have told hundreds of villagers living near the site of the suspended Myitsone hydropower dam project in Kachin State to leave the area within 10 days or face the consequences, according to a local group monitoring the project.

In a statement released on Monday, the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) said that five Burma army trucks and various government vehicles entered the village of Tanghpre on March 17 to enforce an earlier eviction order.

“They ordered the villagers to get out within 10 days. They said they didn't want to see anyone in the village after that,” said KDNG spokesperson Tsa Ji, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

Most of the residents of the village had already been forced to leave their homes to make way for the Chinese-financed dam. They began returning after Burmese President Thein Sein ordered last September that the project should be put on hold because of concerns about its environmental impact.

However, China's state-owned China Power Investment (CPI), the main investor in the multi-billion dollar project, has since made a concerted effort to get it restarted.

According to Tsa Ji, officials from CPI and its Burmese partner, Asia World Co., Ltd., visited Tanghpre recently to ask the village priest to move the local Catholic church to a new location. Tsa Ji said the request was probably made because the church acts as a key center for the exchange of information.

Tanghpre's 1,075 residents have resisted pressure to leave since 2009, and are now being told that they can't remain in their homes because the site belongs to Asia World. Public buildings have already been leveled, and a new signboard has been placed in front of the demolished high school that reads: “Government Land, Stay Out.”

Since the authorities showed up in Tangphre on March 17, residents say they've seen more signs of activity at camps for Chinese workers involved in building the dam. They also report seeing vehicles patrolling the dam site.

Meanwhile, sources in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the Sino-Burmese border, claim that about 400 Chinese trucks carrying construction materials recently arrived in a Chinese border town.

It was not immediately clear if the materials were intended for use in Burma, but the sources said that they believed the trucks were preparing to cross the border.