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DAM-L LS: Salween Watch Update #7 (fwd)
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SALWEEN WATCH UPDATE
JUNE EJuly 2000, Vol. 7.
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Introduction
Firstly, apologies for the long delay in sending out this update on the
conditions surrounding the Salween dam plans. Most of this information has
been in the public domain for some months. Another update with some of the
more recent news is two thirds complete and will follow when some checking
of details is complete.
Secondly, we would like to note that the most recent information we have
been able to gather from the field indicates that work related to the dam
is still underway in the Ta Sang area. Also the military remains active in
the area, with continual moves being made to consolidate the armys
influence over the Shan State. While movement is currently restricted by
the heavy monsoon rains and the news is not dramatic, the dam builders
continue to move gradually towards implementation of the project. There
remains plenty of reason to remain alert.
Finally, there are also dams elsewhere that are of considerable concern
about which we have little information. The SPDC claims to have built over
100 dams since the 1988 coup detat. The amount of human suffering and
ecological damage that this implies is yet to be measured Esomething we
would urge readers to help bring to light. Controversy continues to rage
elsewhere also Ein Thailand and India particularly. Meanwhile there have
been several notable victories in peoples struggles against projects that
dispossess, dissempower and impoverish them and the Nature that sustains us
all. It is good to hear that in recent months large and destructive dams
have been halted in South Korea and in Pakistan. We can hope that one of
these days we shall also be able to announce similar positive newsE
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Contents:
1. FROM SCORCHED EARTH TO FLOODED EARTH: THE GENERALS' DAM ON BURMA'S
SALWEEN RIVER; Salween Watch - Norwegian Burma Council Submission to the
World Commission on Dams, March 31, 2000
2. REFUGEES REVEAL FURTHER DETAILS OF KUNHING KILLINGS; Burma Courier No.
236, June 11- 17, 2000
3. JAPAN MAY DEFY BANS TO RESUME MYANMAR AID; The Japan Times - Wednesday,
June 28, 2000
4. BIG QUAKE SHAKES NORTHERN MYANMAR; Reuters Wire: 8 June, 2000:
00:48:00 Et
QUAKES STRIKE ASIA BUT ARE THEY LINKED?; REUTERS Thursday June 8 8:24 AM;
By Jason Szep
5. QUAKES STRIKE ASIA BUT ARE THEY LINKED? By Jason Szep, REUTERS Thursday
June 8 8:24 AM
6. PAK MUN DECLARATION; East and SE Asia Activists Unite to Protect
Rivers, Fight Dams; PRESS RELEASE, July 4, 2000
7. A JAPANESE DAM FOR BURMAS GENERALS: THE TA SANG DAM, FORCED LABOR AND
THE JAPAN CONNECTION. Press backgrounder #3 for a briefing at the Foreign
Correspondents Club of Japan by Harn Yawnghwe, Euro-Burma Office and Dr.
Thaung Htun, NCGUB representative to the United Nations, May 30, 2000.
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1. FROM SCORCHED EARTH TO FLOODED EARTH: THE GENERALS' DAM ON BURMA'S
SALWEEN RIVER
Salween Watch Submission to the World Commission on Dams. March 31, 2000
[Paper prepared by Christian Moe of the Norwegian Burma Council in close
collaboration with members of the Salween Watch coalition]
Experience with an individual dam:
Dam: Salween (Tasang) dam,
River: Salween (aka: Thanlwin) River
Country: Burma (aka: Myanmar)
Submission relates to the following WCD thematic reviews:
no. 2 Dams and Indigenous People and Vulnerable Ethnic Minorities
no. 3 Displacement, Resettlement, Reparation, Rehabilitation and Development
no. 17 Consultation and Participatory Decision Making
Summary of main points of submission:
 "Dictators' dams" are not yet history
 A 188-meter dam is planned on the Salween River in Burma's
war-torn Shan State
 Massive use of forced labour can be expected
 Forced relocations of tens of thousands of people would be made
irreversible
 Flooding, militarization and human rights abuses would displace
many more
 Any impact assessment a sham - true consultation with the
affected peoples is impossible
 Negative impacts may be counted as benefits by the military government
 An independent committee should be appointed to investigate
 No institution, private or public, should fund such projects
before Burma is democratic
INTRODUCTION
A heavily indebted military dictatorship building a mega-dam in the same
area it is carrying out 'ethnic cleansing' of the indigenous population: It
sounds like Latin America in the 1960s, but it may soon become reality in
21st century Burma. The plans for a major dam on the Salween in Burma's
Shan State are a throwback to the brutish past of dam construction. Forced
relocation is already going on in the area, forced labour will likely be
used, and there can be no meaningful consultation with the population
terrorised by the military. The planned Salween Dam will be everything the
World Commission on Dams was formed to ensure that dams are not. Unlike
Guatemala's Chixoy dam and other tragic mistakes of the past, however, it
is still avoidable.
BACKGROUND
THE SALWEEN DAM PLANS IN BRIEF:
There have been many plans to dam the Salween river at various locations.
Currently, the most advanced project is for a dam near the Tasang crossing
between Murng Pan and Murng Ton in southern Shan State (see Map: Annex
II).The feasibility study has been completed and surveys are now underway
for a Definite Plan. The prefeasibility study specifies that the planned
dam would be a 188 m high concrete-faced rockfill dam, with a head of 142 m
and a stated full supply level of 350 m above sea level. The reservoir
would then stretch back over 230 km from the dam wall, flooding an area of
at least 640 sq km, as well as inundating the lower parts of three
significant tributaries. Three quarters of its 3,300 MW installed capacity
would be used to export power to Thailand. Related projects include the
construction of high-voltage transmission lines. Though the developers deny
it, water diversion from Burma to Thailand is also a possibility, and
seems a more likely motive than energy exports, since Thailand is currently
experiencing an energy glut. The dam would be built by GMS Power Public Co.
Ltd. of Thailand, at a cost of at least 3 billion USD. Lahmeyer
International (Germany) and Electric Power Development Corporation (Japan)
are among the consultants.
ETHNIC MINORITIES AT RISK IN THE SHAN STATE
Shan State is the largest of the seven ethnic states in Burma, with a
population of about eight million, half of which are ethnic Shan. Other
groups include Burmans, Pa'O, Akha, Lahu, Palaung and Wa. The Shan states
have traditionally remained independent under their own rulers. When Burma
achieved independence, Shan leaders agreed to join in the Union of Burma,
in return for constitutional guarantees including the right to secession.
Conflicts arose between the Shan and the central government, and in 1958
the first of several Shan rebel groups was formed. Some ethnic leaders
sought a peaceful, political solution, but these were brutally suppressed
by the military goverment that seized power in 1962, leading to decades of
war. The Shan State Army ESouth (SSA) is still fighting Burma's military
goverment.
Burma's governing SPDC junta, one of the most brutal dictatorships in the
world, has especially targeted ethnic groups with its oppressive policies.
Continued insurgency in the Chin, Kachin, Mon, Karen, Karenni and Shan
states and the Tenasserim Division has been met with the repression of
civilian villagers under the government's "four cuts" counter-insurgency
strategy. In particular, the military government has used forced relocation
of villagers, on a scale and in a way tantamount to crimes against
humanity, to deny resources to the resistance forces. Since large-scale
forced relocation began in 1996, 1,400 villages in the Shan State have been
relocated, forcing 300,000 people to leave their homes, and driving at
least 100,000 of them into Thailand as refugees.
IMPACTS ON INDIGENOUS ETHNIC GROUPS
FORCED LABOUR IN CONSTRUCTION PHASE
There is abundant evidence showing the pervasive use of forced labour
imposed on the civilian population throughout Burma by the authorities and
the military for a wide variety of purposes, including infrastructure work
(ILO 1998:§528). Forced labour is imposed on men and women, children
and the elderly; it is accompanied by gross human rights violations, work
conditions are poor, and compensation rare. This violation of international
law led the 1999 International Labor Conference to exclude Burma from
almost all activities of the ILO. Recent reports (ILO 2000, DoL 2000) show
that no improvement has taken place. In fact, the situation with regard to
forced labour may be worsening, particularly in the ethnic minority areas.
Note, first, that forced labour has been widely used on large
infrastructure projects in Burma in the 1990s, most notoriously on the
Ye-Tavoy railroad, on the Loikaw railroad, and in connection with the
Yadana pipeline (ERI/SAIN 1996). Second, forced labour involving hundreds
or thousands of workers has been used at previous major dam and irrigation
projects, including one in Shan State, the Nam Wok (Mong Kwan) dam project
near Kengtung, completed in 1994 (ILO 1998: §447 and note). Third,
there is already forced labour near the planned dam site: Army battalions
forced villagers to work for periods of up to two weeks at Tasang
throughout 1998, splitting rocks which were then sold by the army (DoL 2000).
In conclusion, construction of the Tasang dam and associated infrastructure
is highly likely to involve the massive use of forced labour.
MILITARIZATION AND ABUSE
Already, there are reports of a military build-up at the Tasang dam site,
which has recently been fortified by units from four infantry batallions
(nos. 330, 332, 518 and 520) and by eight motorboats patrolling the river
(S.H.A.N. 1999b).
If built, the dam and power transmission lines would have to be guarded
against possible sabotage by insurgent ethnic armies. The real and alleged
security needs of the project will lead to further militarization of the
area and serve as a pretext for increased counter-insurgency measures in
the area. The military goverment may see this as an advantage, as it would
be able to suppress resistance to its illegitimate rule for the
'legitimate' reason of protecting foreign investments.
In Burma, a stronger military presence is tied to a pattern of increased
gross violations of human rights, and will exacerbate the hardships
suffered by the population. As noted by the UN Special Rapporteur: "In the
ethnic areas, the policy of establishing absolute political and
administrative control brings out the worst in the military, and results in
killings, brutality, rape and other human rights violations which do not
spare the old, women, children or the weak" (UN 1999b: §54).
DISPLACED PERSONS
Displacement of the population in the dam area is already underway due to
militarization and the "four cuts" relocation campaign. Massive forced
relocation in eight townships of the Shan State, affecting over 300,000
people to date, was started by the Burmese army in 1996 after a
reorganization of the Shan armed resistance. Villagers are typically given
a few days' warning to move to a relocation site, on pain of being shot.
From 1997, the junta extended the relocation program to new areas,
encompassing both sides of the Salween as well as its Nam Parng tributary
upstream from the planned dam, and including Murng Pan township, which
forms the western side of the Tasang dam site (cf. SHRF 1998).
Further displacement will occur as people flee the hopeless living
conditions in relocation camps, the increasing abuses of the military, and
the burden of forced labour, which is frequently cited by Burmese refugees
in Thailand as a motive for leaving their home country. Three quarters of
the Shan refugees interviewed by Amnesty in February 1999 had been forced
to act as porters for troops (AI 1999).
Flooding the villages will make this situation irreversible. In Kun Hing
and Murng Paeng townships alone, nearly 10,000 households, or at least
50,000 people, have been forcibly relocated. At least a third of the
relocated villages in Kun Hing township are directly on the banks of the
Salween's Nam Pang tributary, which will be flooded, and perhaps most of
the relocated villages and one relocation site in Murng Paeng will be
affected by the dam, as far as one can make out from a map study (see Annex
III.) There is little data on the number of people who have not been
relocated, but will be affected by flooding.
To the refugees and internally displaced persons from the banks of the
Salween, the planned dam would drown their hopes of ever going home. The
military government may well count it as a benefit, rather than a cost, if
the project involves massive displacement of the civilian population, and
if sites that have already been forcibly relocated are made permanently
uninhabitable.
INADEQUATE RESETTLEMENT AND REPARATIONS
Conditions in Burmese relocation centers have been described as
"life-threatening" (DoL 2000), with no or inadequate housing, sanitation,
safe drinking water, food, and medical care. Unemployment and diseases are
major problems. In Shan State as elsewhere, the army has been
systematically killing villagers caught outside the relocation sites (SHRF
1998).
Relocated people do not benefit from compensation. Instead, they are
sitting targets for continued extortion by the authorities and military.
They are both particularly exposed to demands for forced labour (AI 1999),
and particularly vulnerable to this burden, since they have had to leave
their fields and become wage laborers (UN 1999a: §42).
IMPOSSIBILITY OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND CONSULTATION
The likely impacts of such a large dam would be severe (including flooding
of arable land, reduction of biodiversity, destruction of livelihoods,
riverbank erosion, saltwater intrusion in the Salween delta around Moulmein
city, increasing the serious earthquake risk, spreading of water-borne
diseases, etc). A thorough impact assessment, based on frank and open
consultations with all affected groups - those in Shan State as well as
the variety of affected ethnic groups downstream from the dam - would
certainly be needed.
However, the planned Salween Dam represents an extreme case with regard to
public participation and consultation in dam projects: the case where no
such exercise is possible or, if undertaken, can be meaningful, due to the
pervasive climate of fear created by the authorities' gross oppression of
the affected population. Hence, any environmental or social impact
assessment would necessarily be incomplete.
It would also be a first. If any environmental impact assessments have been
carried out in Burma, they have not been made public. Also, generally
speaking, there is no framework within which an EIA could be useful: The
rule of law does not function in Burma, the constitution has been
suspended, the military junta rules by decrees which are executed
arbitrarily and without transparency, and the whole field of environmental
regulation is severely underdeveloped (cf. ERI/SAIN 1996).
In short, an impact assessment would lack the necessary input from affected
groups, may never be made public, and the military government may ignore it
- or, worse, may embrace negative social and environmental impacts as part
and parcel of its own strategy to stamp out ethnic-based resistance.
Though opposition to the dam plans cannot be openly voiced inside Burma, it
is known that some organizations representing the ethnic groups of the area
are rejecting the dam plans. Representatives of the various political
parties in the Shan State that contested the 1990 elections and
representatives of the Shan ceasefire groups met in 1999 (specific date and
location withheld), agreeing unanimously to oppose the building of the dam
at Tasang and any other plans to build dams on the Salween River in Shan
State (SSO 1999). In mid-October last, a visiting reporter found people in
villages along the Salween living in fear of the dam plans (S.H.A.N. 1999a).
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
We conclude that:
 Current plans and studies for the dam are not transparent.
 Any social or environmental impact assessment carried out for the
developers will be a sham Etrue consultation with the affected peoples and
independent evaluation of the environmental impact is simply impossible
under the present military rule.
 If built, the dam will make irreversible the forced relocations of
tens of thousands of people, and both directly and indirectly cause the
displacement of many more, aggravating the already critical situation with
regard to refugees from and internally displaced persons within Shan State.
 Like any other infrastructure works in Burma, construction of the
Salween Dam is highly likely to entail the massive use of forced labour and
an increased incidence of human rights violations.
 The problem of "dictators' dams" is not yet history. It must be
addressed by other measures than those deemed appropriate in democratic
countries under the rule of law.
 We therefore recommend that
 All information surrounding the studies, funding, and building of
the Salween Dam at Tasang should be made public immediately. All
information should be made available in local languages, not only English.
 The WCD should recommend that an independent committee be
appointed to investigate the current plans for the dam. The committee
should include representatives of affected people as well as NGOs.
 No institution, whether private or public, should consider funding
dams or other large infrastructure projects in Burma before a
democratically elected, representative government is in power. This should
also apply to export credits, investment guarantees and other schemes for
risk coverage. All ODA agencies, export credit agencies etc should follow
the lead of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in not funding
projects in Burma. Relevant organisations, such as the ILO, the UN, the
OECD and ASEAN, should pass appropriate resolutions to this effect.
 Foreign companies that engage in such projects should be liable to
be denied access to projects funded by the World Bank. The Bank should
institute a policy to this effect.
Further reading
ANNEX I lists the literature referred to in this document.
ANNEX II shows the location of the Tasang dam site on a map of Burma with
the Shan State.
ANNEX III shows an estimate of the flood area, and gives details on forced
relocation and extrajudicial killings in the adjacent townhips.
UPDATES on the Salween Dam are available from salweenwatch@yahoo.com
[Salween Watch editorial note: Salween Watch postings are most easily
accessible from www.orchestraburma.org UPDATES on the Salween Dam are available
ANNEX I: SELECTED REFERENCES
AI (1998). Myanmar: Atrocities in the Shan State. Amnesty International
Report, 15 April 1998 [ASA 16/05/98].
AI (1999). Myanmar: Update on the Shan State. Amnesty International Report,
June 1999 [ASA 16/13/99].
DoL (2000). 2000 Update on Forced Labor and Forced Relocations. US
Department of Labor.
(http://www.dol.gov/dol/ilab/public/media/reports/ofr/burma/forced.htm)
ERI/SAIN (1996). Total Denial: A Report on the Yadana Pipeline Project in
Burma. EarthRights International and Southeast Asian Information Network,
10 July 1996.
HRDU 1999. Burma Human Rights Yearbook 1998-1999. National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma, Human Rights Documentation Unit.
ILO (1998). Forced Labour in Myanmar (Burma). Report of the Commission of
Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the International
Labour Organization to examine the observance by Myanmar of the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29). International Labour Organization,Geneva,
2 July 1998.
ILO (2000). Second Report of the Director-General to the members of the
Governing Body on measures taken by the Government of Myanmar following the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry established to examine its
observance of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29). International
Labour Organization, Geneva 25 February 2000.
KHRG (1998). Killing the Shan: The Continuing Campaign of Forced Relocation
in Shan State. An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group, May
23, 1998 [KHRG #98-03].
S.H.A.N. (1999a). "Shan People Don't Want The Salween Dam." Shan Herald
Agency for News, issue no. 11-17, 25 November 1999.
S.H.A.N. (1999b). "Junta Fortifying the Salween Dam Site." Shan Herald
Agency for News, issue no. 10-6, October1999.
SHRF (1998). Dispossessed: Forced Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in
Shan State. Shan Human Rights Foundation, April 1998.
Smith, Martin (1994). Ethnic Groups in Burma: Development, Democracy and
Human Rights. Anti-Slavery International, London [Human Rights Series; 8].
SSO (1999). "Meeting position on the plans by the Burmese military regime
to build a dam on the Salween River in Shan State." Press release from the
Shan State Organisation, Chiang Mai, 10 September 1999.
UN (1999a). Question of the Violation of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms in Any Part of the World. Situation of Human rights in Myanmar:
Report of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Rajsoomer Lallah, submitted in
accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/63.
UN (1999b). Interim report on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
prepared by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights in
accordance with Economic and Social Council decision 1999/231 of 27 July
1999. Transmitted to the UN General Assembly's 54th session, 4 October 1999
[A/54/440]. United Nations, Economic and Social Council, Commission on
Human Rights: Geneva, 22 January 1999.
NOTE: The original report contained map of the Shan State showing the
location of the proposed Tasang dam site and the approximate flood area. An
improved version of the map will soon be available on request as an
attachment, or from the Burmanet / Orchestra Burma website.
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2. SHAN STATE MASSACRE
REFUGEES REVEAL FURTHER DETAILS OF KUNHING KILLINGS
BURMA COURIER No. 236, June 11- 17, 2000
CHIANG MAI, June 16 (S.H.A.N.) -- More details are emerging about the
horrifying slaughter of farming families in southern Shan state last month.
The information was provided to correspondent Maihoong of the Shan Herald
in the border district of Fang in northern Thailand by refugees who fled
the area in Kunhing township where the killing occurred. The refugee
statements corroborate and correct earlier reports from traders who heard
about the massacre while traveling through the township en route to the
border town of Tachilek.
According to the refugees, the farmers were working in rice and seseame
fields near the deserted village of Huaypu in Hsaimong tract on May 23 when
they were surprised and shot in cold blood by a column of 90 - 100 troops
under the command of Captain Than Aung of Infantry Battalion 246 based in
Kunhing town. Their bodies were only discovered when relatives later went
in search of them.
Among those killed was one of the porters who was accompanying the column
and who made an appeal on their behalf. The refugees said that the
villagers were all from relocation sites near Kunhing town. Those
interviewed put the number in the fields at 64, but there were reports that
others in isolated areas were also killed.
Among the victims of the slaughter so far identified by the refugees are:
Loong Pu, 54, Zai Kam, 51, Zai Nyunt, 30, Zai Htun, 22, all men from
Hsaimong village; Zai Mya, 21, Zai Ko, 19, Zarngla, 49, Kanna, 53, all men
from Hueypu village; Loongmy, 57, and Loong Htawn, 41, both from Pahpa
village and Nang Kya Oo, 47, and Nang Hseng, 30, both women from Pahpa
village; Nang Oong, 25, Nang Pwang, 23,and Nang Pan, 21, all three women
from Huay Markhpa village; Pa La, 50, a woman from Namaw village; Pa Pwang,
49, Pa Khurhwan, 52, and Nang Hsenghawng, all women from Nazook village.
Interviews with the refugees clarified the location of the massacre in
Hsaimong tract south of the Kunhing - Namzarng highway rather than in
Kenglom tract, as reported by the traders who brought the first reports of
the incident. The Shan Herald report said it had corroborated the locale of
the slaughter with an independent source.
Sources told the Shan Herald correspondent that the killings were carried
out in revenge for the deaths that occurred during a May 8-9 ambush of a
Burmese army truck caravan along the Kunhing -Takaw stretch of the same
highway by a Shan State Army strike force. Reports at the time indicated
that at least seven of those traveling in the Burmese army convoy had been
killed and five others wounded, including some high-ranking officers.
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3. JAPAN MAY DEFY BANS TO RESUME MYANMAR AID
The Japan Times - Wednesday, June 28, 2000
YANGON (Kyodo) Japan may resume official development assistance to Myanmar
as part of aid to countries surrounding the Mekong River, according to a
document obtained by Kyodo News on Tuesday.
The document was presented to the Myanmar government and served as the
basis for discussions at a two-day workshop on Japanese support for
Myanmar's economic reforms. The workshop ended Monday in Yangon.
Although assistance to Myanmar alone would be unlikely, it could be
extended as part of efforts to help countries along the Mekong River to
cope with deforestation, narcotics trafficking and social problems, it states.
The support -- planned for Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand --
is described as "region-wide basic humanitarian assistance" in the document.
The document was prepared by researchers at the Finance Ministry's
Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, in cooperation with experts in Japan.
But Japan's plan may attract criticism from the United States and European
countries, which have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar for delaying
democratization and suppressing human rights. especially following the
International Labor Organization's decision earlier this month to punish
the country for using forced labor.
A Foreign Ministry source said Japan believes putting Myanmar's stagnant
economy on the right path, rather than imposing sanctions, will help move
democratization forward. The document states that Yangon should improve its
deficit-ridden finances, integrate its official and market exchange rates
into a single rate system, and promote industrial activities through
infrastructure improvements and trade liberalization.
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4. BIG QUAKE SHAKES NORTHERN MYANMAR
Reuters Wire: 8 June, 2000: 00:48:00 Et
YANGON, June 8 - An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale shook
Myanmar's northern Kachin state bordering China and India early on Thursday
and officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the
remote area. An official at the Meteorology and Hydrology Department told
Reuters the epicentre of the quake was in Kachin state about 1,440 km (900
miles) north of the capital Yangon.
Two hours later another quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale rocked the
same area, he said. "We think the epicentre may be at a very sparsely
populated area," he added.
The Yunnan earthquake bureau measured the tremor at 7.3 on the Richter
scale, a provincial official told Reuters by telephone. The Hong Kong
Observatory measured the first Myanmar quake at 6.5.
He said the epicentre was 140 km (85 miles) north of the Myanmar town of
Myitkyina. The Hong Kong Observatory put the epicentre 170 km (105 miles)
north of the town, which is around 1,000 km (600 miles) from Yangon, the
Myanmar capital.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in China because the areas
most affected were along the border between the two countries which were
difficult to reach, the official said.
An earthquake bureau official in the Yunnan district of Liuku told Reuters
many buildings in the area had been damaged, but there were no immediate
reports of any collapsing. "We all ran out of our houses when we felt the
earthquake. It shook things off tables," the official said.
The Indonesian island of Sumatra was hit on Sunday by a big 7.9 earthquake
that killed at least 120 people and injured nearly 1,300.
[SW note: According to the Seismic Intensity Zoning Map of China, produced
by Chinas State Seimological Bureau, Yunnans border with Burma is one of
the seismically active zones in the whole of China. Another major
earthquake of 7.3 on the Richter scale was recorded on the Shan EYunnan
border in 1995. This gives a different impression than that given by the
data available from the Burmese and Thai geological maps, which show much
of Shan State as a geologically stable area of sedimentary rock with no
major faults that might be activated by the weight of many millions of tons
of water sitting on the land.]
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5. QUAKES STRIKE ASIA BUT ARE THEY LINKED?
REUTERS Thursday June 8 8:24 AM ET
By Jason Szep
TOKYO - The earth moved in Asia Thursday as powerful aftershocks rocked the
west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, and a series of earthquakes
jolted China, Myanmar and Japan.
Experts said last Sunday's quake in Indonesia's Bengkulu province,
measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, may have led to a shift in the huge
tectonic plates deep under Asia's seas, prompting the burst of seismic
activity this week.
Professor Ding Jianhai of China's State Seismological Bureau said the
Sumatra, Myanmar and China quakes all occurred along the Eurasia seismic
belt stretching from the Mediterranean sea through the Himalayas to
Indonesia. He described the belt as ``very active'' and said he believed
all the tremors were related.
``According to our estimates, there are about average 18 earthquakes at
more than seven on the Richter scale globally in a year, mainly in two
belts, the Euroasia belt and the belt around the Pacific,'' he said.
Two earthquakes rocked Myanmar Thursday, occurring within two hours in the
remote northern Kachin state. There were no reports of casualties.
About 26 minutes after Myanmar's first quake, China's southwestern province
of Yunnan felt a tremor measuring 7.3, about 85 miles north of the Myanmar
town of Myitkyina. An earthquake bureau official in the Yunnan district of
Liuku told Reuters many buildings in the area had been damaged, although
there were no immediate reports of casualties.
XXxx<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o0XxxX0o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xxXX
6. PAK MUN DECLARATION
PRESS RELEASE, July 4, 2000
East and SE Asia Activists Unite to Protect Rivers, Fight Dams
Anti-dam and river protection organizations in East and SE Asia have united
to form a regional network to fight dams and protect rivers in East and SE
Asia. At the First East and SE Asia Regional Meeting on Dams, Rivers and
People, held in Kong Jiam, Ubon Ratchathani Province from June 28-July 2,
more than 60 participants from fourteen countries announced their intention
to "unite our struggle at the local, national and international level so as
to stop the funding of dam projects in East and SE Asia and to restore
rivers to the communities who depend on them."
Mr. Chainarong Srettachau, Director of Thai NGO Southeast Asia Rivers
Network, the local organizer for the meeting, said, "the joining together
of groups from all over East and SE Asia will provide a powerful force to
protect the rights of communities who depend on rivers for their survival.
We have recognized that we share common problems caused by dams the
appropriation of local communities' rights to their rivers and water
resources by governments and private developers. By joining forces we will
drive a stake through the heart of the dam-building industry in this region."
Participants at the meeting, which included dam-affected people from
Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Cambodia, together
with allies from across the region, produced the Pak Mun Declaration, which
calls for:
* A moratorium on large dam construction until the problems created by
existing dams have been rectified and reparations made to affected communities.
* The decommissioning of dams which have created irreversible social,
environmental and cultural destruction, and an immediate stop to the
financing of dam projects by bilateral and multilateral organizations,
particularly the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for
International Cooperation.
Participants visited Pak Mun and Rasi Salai dams in Thailand, where
villagers have occupied the dams and are demanding the permanent opening of
the gates. Participants told the villagers that they would work to support
their struggle to restore the Mun River.
Ms. Joan Carling, Secretary-General of the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance, an
indigenous peoples' organization in the Philippines which is fighting the
Japanese-funded San Roque dam, told the villagers at Pak Mun and Rasi Salai
"You are not alone. People from 12 countries in the East and SE Asia
region, and from the United States, Norway and Australia, have come here
today to express our support for your struggle. We can see that the Pak Mun
and Rasi Salai dams serve no useful purpose, and that the gates should be
permanently opened to restore the Mun river. We call on the Thai government
to stop hesitating and comply with your demands, for the sake of the people
and the river."
<<<ends>>>
For further information, please contact Mr. Chainarong Srettachau, Director
of South-East Asia Rivers Network, + 66 53 221157, searin@loxinfo.co.th.
The full text of the declaration is as follows:
PAK MUN DECLARATION
Demanding a moratorium on dam construction, decommissioning of existing
dams, reparations for dam-affected people
Approved at the First East and SE Asia Meeting on Dams, Rivers and People
Mae Mun and Mekong Rivers, Kong Jiam, Thailand. July 1, 2000
We, the people from 12 countries of East and Southeast Asia namely Korea,
China, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Taiwan, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Malaysia and Hong Kong, representing organizations of
dam-affected people and their allies, have gathered here at the mouth of
the Mun River (Pak Mun) in order to express our unity in strengthening the
peoples power and supporting our struggle against the injustices that we
are now encountering.
We have exchanged our experiences both at the local and regional level and
recognize that all of us are facing similar kinds of problems caused by
dams. Dams have brought about the destruction of rivers and the lives and
livelihoods of villagers. Dams undermine the rights of people, their
community and culture as well as destroying the environment, all of which
are basic needs for their survival.
In order to protect the rights and livelihood of people and rivers, our
demands are as follows;
1. A moratorium on large dam construction in East and SE Asia until the
problems created by existing dams have been rectified and reparation made
to affected communities. Further, dams which have created irreversible
social, environmental, and cultural destruction must be decommissioned and
the rivers restored.
2. The bilateral and multilateral organizations must stop financing dam
projects. Development assistance should not be spent on destroying the
lives of the people. The transnational corporations, private companies and
private banks must also abolish their investment in dam-building projects
that do not do justice to people.
3. Governments, dam-building companies, dam industry consultants, the World
Bank, private banks and the Asian Development Bank, who are all
responsible for the havoc wreaked upon our communities by large dams, must
pay proper reparations to all dam-affected communities.
4. Critical and independent inquiries on the rationale and justification of
proposed dam projects should be carried out. Integrated Resource Planning,
demand side management and conservation of natural resources should be
prioritized. Cheaper, cleaner and better alternatives to dams should be
undertaken to meet actual needs of people for energy and water.
5. No development projects should be built without the voluntary, prior and
informed consent of all affected people. Information regarding proposed
projects must be disclosed, in a timely and transparent manner, to the
general public and, especially, to people directly impacted from such
projects. Further, we demand democratic reforms throughout the region to
increase freedom of speech, press and assembly so that people can
participate without fear in the decision-making process regarding the use
and management of their resources.
6. The oppression of indigenous peoples by dams and other projects should
be stopped. We demand that the cultural, social, economic and land rights
of indigenous peoples be fully recognized and respected.
7. We oppose the privatization of rivers and water resources. We also
oppose the control of rivers and water resources by illegitimate and
repressive governments, as in Burma. Access to water is a basic human
right. Rivers must be in the hands of the people, not the private sector or
military regimes.
In order for our demands to be implemented, we declare that we will unite
our struggle at the local, national and international level so as to stop
the funding of dam projects in East and SE Asia and to restore rivers to
the communities who depend on them.
Water for Life, not for Death!
Ao Khuan kuen bpai, ao Dhammachat kuen ma! Take your dams back, give us
nature!
Endorsed by
· Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives, Hong Kong
· Assembly of the Poor, Thailand
· Cultural and Environmental Preservation Association, Cambodia
· Church World Services, Cambodia
· Coalition of Concerned NGOs Against Bakun Dam, Malaysia
· Committee Against the Yongwong Dam Project, Tong River, Korea
· Cordillera PeoplesEAlliance, Philippines
· Earth Rights International, Thailand
· Friends of the Earth, Japan
· Friends of the People, Thailand
· Group of Villagers Affected by Hua Na Dam, Thailand
· Group of Villagers to Protect the Yom River (Kaeng Sua Ten), Thailand
· Indigenous Peoples Development Centre, Malaysia
· Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, Korea
· Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KSK/Friends of the
Earth-Phils), Philippines
· LRA, Indonesia
· Meinung Peoples Association, Taiwan
· Mekong Watch, Japan
· National Dam Opposition Network, Japan
· Sagami River Campaign-Symposium, Japan
· Sahabat Alam Malaysia
· SOS Selangor, Malaysia
· South-East Asia Rivers Network, Thailand
· Taiwan Environmental Action Network, Taiwan
· TUNOD KSM Alliance of Indigenous Organizations in Sierra Madre
Mountain, Philippines
· Villager Committee to Restore the Mun River, Thailand
· Villager Committee to Protect the Lam Dom Yai River, Thailand
· Villager Committee to Protect the Rub Ror River Basin, Thailand
· WALHI, Indonesia
· WALHI Papua, Indonesia
· Wildlife Fund Thailand
· Yayasan Tanah Merdeka, Indonesia
XXxx<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o0XxxX0o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xxXX
7. A JAPANESE DAM FOR BURMAS GENERALS: THE TA SANG DAM, FORCED LABOR AND
THE JAPAN CONNECTION.
Press backgrounder #3 for a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents Club of
Japan by Harn Yawnghwe, Euro-Burma Office and Dr. Thaung Htun, NCGUB
representative to the United Nations, May 30, 2000.
Now, with financing from Japan, Burma is planning to dam the Salween to
export electricity to Thailand. Although only in the planning stage, the
project is already causing massive human rights abuses in Burmas Shan State.
The dam, to be located at Ta Sang in southern Burmas Shan State is 80
kilometers from the Thai border. At 188 meters high, the dam will be the
tallest in Southeast Asia, creating a reservoir 230 kilometers long,
flooding an area of at least 640 sq. km, storing approximately one-third of
the Salween's average annual flow. The cost of building the dam will be at
least US $3 billion.
In the last four years, Burmese troops have intensified their military
operations in the Shan State, resulting in the forced relocation of more
than 300,000 people. In 1999, troops from four Burmese army battalions
took up positions to guard workers from the Japans Electric Power
Development Corporation (EPDC), a quasi-governmental company. Human rights
reports from the area indicate those battalions are using forced labor and
committing other abuses.
Forced Labor
According to the 1998 International Labor Organization (ILO) finding on
forced labor in Burma, rendered by a quasi-judicial proceeding, there is
abundant evidence that the SPDC military pervasively uses forced civilian
labor for the construction and maintenance of military camps and other
infrastructure. A 1998 Human Rights Watch Burma Report states that the use
of forced labor has not abated but appears to have increased with the
collapse of the economy.
Forced labor involving thousands of workers has been used on previous major
dam projects, including the Nam Wok dam in Shan state completed in 1994.
There are compelling reasons to believe that the Ta Sang dam development
will also involve the SPDC's use of forced labor, such as:
In the January 1999 report submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights,
Special Rapporteur, Mr. Rajsoomer Lallah, received reports of villagers
from Murng Pan, Larng Khur, Murng Ton and Nam Zarng being forced to work by
the SPDC army for periods of up to two weeks splitting rocks near the
Salween River crossing of Ta Sang.
SPDC's widespread practice of using forced labor for construction of
infrastructure projects is well documented and publicized. The Yadana gas
pipeline project brought worldwide attention to such inhumane practices.
Forced relocation
Human Rights Watch reports an intensification of civilian forced relocation
and the subsequent human rights abuses inflicted by the SPDC military from
1996 to 1999, especially in the Shan State. Forced labor, forced
portering, forced relocation and extrajudicial killings have in the last
four years dramatically increased throughout the Shan State of northern Burma.
Forced displacement is occurring in precisely the same areas that dam site
surveyors began feasibility studies on the proposed dam site. From 1997,
the SPDC military extended its relocation program in Shan state to include
both sides on the Salween river, as well as the Nam Parng tributary
upstream from the planned dam, and including Murng Pan township, which
forms the western side of the Ta Sang dam site.
Already, there are more refugees from Burma than there are people in
Kosovo. Aid groups estimate that more than 500,000 are internally
displaced within Burma. Upwards of 100,000 more are in camps along the
Thai Burma border and Thailand estimates that at least another 500,000 are
in Thailand outside the camps. The largest group of refugees are Shan. If
the dam is to proceed, the number of Shan seeking refuge in Thailand in
order to escape SPDC's forced relocation program and its subsequent human
rights abuses will increase substantially.
The Japanese Connection:--Japans Electric Power Development Co.s Work on
the Ta Sang Dam
Japans Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC) has been hired to
conduct feasibility studies on the Ta Sang project for the Government of
Burma. EPDC is a quasi-governmental company, controlled by the Japanese
government. On international projects EPDC typically provides feasibility
studies and arranges project financing.
The Salween River area of the Shan State is a war zone. Since mid-1999,
the Burma Army has been fortifying positions along the Salween River near
the dam to protect the companiesEincluding EPDC--have been carrying out
feasibility and survey work. Units from 4 Infantry Battalions, 330, 332,
518 and 520, numbering 400-500 troops took up positions on both sides of
the river at Tasang. (Source, SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: JUNTA FORTIFYING
THE SALWEEN DAM SITE 4 October, 1999). Refugees arriving in Thailand are
reporting abuses by the troops from these battalions.
EPDCs ten shareholders are the Ministry of Finance, with 66% and nine
electric power utilities, collectively owing 33.3%. Japans Cabinet has
slated EDPC to be privatized by 2002. See
http://www.epdc.co.jp/english/index.htm
The use of a Japanese quasi-governmental company to carry out the
feasibility studies hints at what will likely be the most significant
Japanese connectionfunding. At US $3 billion, the project dwarfs Burmas
ability to pay. Thailand, still recovering from the Asian financial
crisis, is also in no position to pay for such a risky project. Western
governments are intensely opposed to funding any projects that benefit the
military regime until it begins a transition to democracy. The World
Banks own regulations prohibit it from involvement. Nor is the private
sector likely to pick up the tab. The Thai developer, GMS Inc., is by any
reasonable accounting standard bankrupt and was delisted from the Thai
stock exchange.
Which leaves the Japanese treasury, probably by way of the Asian
Development Bank.
The Japanese government has been secretive about its involvement in Tasang
but it has recently announced a resumption of aid to Burma for small and
medium sized companies. Japan also recently funded, under the guise of
humanitarian aid, an extension of the runway at Rangoons airport to boost
the tourism industry by allowing larger jets to land.
For more information on the massive forced relocation, forced portering,
forced labor and other abuses in the Salween area, see:
Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC), 6-15-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
104-0061, Japan
Phone: 03-3546-9385; Fax: 03-3544-1819; Website: http://www.epdc.co.jp
A Dam for Burmas Generals, a report by Terra, a Thai environmental NGO
http://www.mhoneshweyee.com/mar00/032500a.html
The Burma Armys Salween River offensive
http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg95/khrg9512.html
Killing the ShanE a report by the Karen Human Rights Group
http ://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg98/khrg9803.html
XXxx<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o0XxxX0o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xxXX
Backdated Salween Watch Hotmailouts are available online at the following
address:
http://www.orchestraburma.org/environment/
Salween Watch also periodically checks its hotmailEand yahooEaddresses.
Apologies for slow responses, checking will be more frequent in future. The
addresses are:
Salweenwatch@hotmail.com
salween_watch@yahoo.com
XXxx<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o0XxxX0o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xxXX
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