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EDICOLA / KIOSK | LADINBolzano/Bozen, Göttingen, Berlin, 28. June 2006
The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) warned on Wednesday
of the displacement of up to 100,000 members of the Nationalities
of the Karen, Shan and Karreni for the construction of four high
dams on the Salween River in the east of Burma. "The smallest of
the ethnic group of the Yintalai, which numbers only 1,000
people, is threatened by extinction through the massive project
because their entire habitat will be destroyed", reported the
GfbV Asia correspondent, Ulrich Delius. 96 villages on the
Salween have already been compulsorily evacuated and destroyed.
The dams are planned to provide up to 16,000 megawatts of energy
and above all to supply electricity to Thailand. It was reported
from Peking on Tuesday that they are to be built by the state
Chinese construction company Sinohydro together with the state
Thai energy office EGAT. Sinohydro also plays a major part in the
construction of the controversial Merowe dam in the Sudan.
Since the army has for years been carrying out compulsory
migration almost three quarters of the previous 85 villages in
the construction area of the Weigyi dam have already disappeared
from the map, said Delius. 28 villages are still to be flooded
and 30,500 people driven out. In the area in the lower part of
the 2,400 km long Salween the military presence has been
drastically increased. Previously the Burmese army had only ten
bases there, but now there are 54 military camps armed with heavy
artillery.
On the orders of the soldiers Karen people were recruited as
compulsory workers on road-building in areas which were covered
with land-mines. Most of the Karen living in this fertile area
fled to the neighbouring country of Thailand for fear of the
army. But about 5000 Karen are still hiding in the woods. They
are suffering from lack of food and medicaments. The Karen, who
are in the main Christians, and other nationalities in the
multi-national country have been struggling since 1948 for the
granting of autonomy which had been promised them. In the spring
of 2006 Burma began the displacement of 15,000 Karen with a new
military offensive.