BurmaNet News, December 14, 2010

[Editor]

December 14, 2010 Issue #4103


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Post-election lawsuits fly

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Ethnic armed groups discuss collaboration

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Activists say Chinese dam hurts Myanmar traders
Mizzima: Vietnam-Burma trade forecast to rise 60pc

INTERNATIONAL
UN News Centre: Independent UN rights expert calls for release of
political prisoners in Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Daily Times (Pakistan): Aung San Suu Kyi: a tribute —Ishtiaq Ahmed
Asia Times: Myanmar's military sights ethnic victory – Marwaan Macan-Markar
Irrawaddy: Murder begets mistrust – Saw Yan Naing

PRESS RELEASE
Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation and SWAN: New dam in China disrupts
river trade at major Burma border crossing




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 14, Democratic Voice of Burma
Post-election lawsuits fly – Htet Aung Kyaw

A lawsuit is being filed against Burma’s election authority by the
opposition National Democratic Force as anger over the controversial polls
continues.

The party, which won 16 seats in the 7 November vote, is accusing the
Election Commission of failing to prosecute ballot station officials who
allegedly cast bogus votes.

Thein Nyunt Zaw, an NDF candidate in Rangoon division, said that some
officials in Rangoon’s Thongwa ninth ward had also cast votes “on behalf
of others”, a claim that has been echoed elsewhere in Burma.

Allegations of fraud have hounded the Burmese generals since the
elections, which were won in landslide victory by the junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

One of the main controversies leading up to the polls centred on the
collection of advance votes. While the government is legally allowed to
order advance votes from Burmese living abroad, or those who are unable to
reach polling booths on the day, reports of widespread coercion of Burmese
nationals prior to the day emerged.

A number of opposition parties who had observers at ballot stations during
the counting process claimed that any initial lead taken by them was
reversed after the advance votes were factored in. It is not clear however
how many of the total lodged votes were done in advance.

The USDP meanwhile has filed a complaint against Tin Tin Mar, a candidate
for the opposition Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM) party, which won only
three seats, compared to the USDP’s 873.

According to DPM general secretary, Than Than Nu, the USDP is accusing Tin
Tin Mar of vote-buying, following her victory over a USDP candidate in the
Mandalay division constituency they competed in.

“She was subpoenaed by the election commission in Naypyidaw so she will
have to go there on 29 December to give an explanation,” Than Than Nu
said. She added that a letter sent to the party by the Election Commission
alleged that a DPM member canvassing for Tin Tin Mar had promised voters
1,500 kyat ($US1.50) in exchange for the vote.

Meanwhile one independent election candidate in Mandalay’s Chanmyatharzi
township is preparing to sue his USDP rival and current health minister,
Dr Kyaw Myint, over alleged foul play and collection of advance votes.
Kyaw Myint won his constituency.

The junta announced last week that 76 percent of the more than 29 million
eligible voters had cast ballots for the elections, the country’s first in
20 years.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 14, Irrawaddy
Ethnic armed groups discuss collaboration – Sai Zom Hseng

Four ethnic armed groups have discussed the possibility of deepening
cooperation and mutual support at a meeting in Mongla, the Burmese-Chinese
border town in Eastern Shan State, which lies in the area controlled by
the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).

The meeting, during last week's Shan New Year, was attended by 
representatives from the NDAA, the Shan State Army-North, Shan State
Army-South and the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

Saengjuen Sarawin, deputy editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News
(SHAN), who also attended the meeting, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: “The
representatives analyzed the country’s current situation, reviewed what
they have done in the last 20 years and discussed their future plans.”

An officer based at the UWSA headquarters in Panghsang told The Irrawaddy
on Tuesday the meeting had been “just a normal discussion with the other
ethnic armed groups. We haven’t made any decision yet but we do intend to
support each other because we all are ethnics. We have been oppressed by
the same government.”

The UWSA, the NDAA, and the Shan State Army-North are among the armed
ethnic groups which are resisting regime pressure on them to join its
Border Guard Force (BGF) .

Sarawin said the BGF issue had caused the armed ethnic groups to “wake up”
and understand that they had to depend on each other.

As part of its campaign of pressure on the NDAA and another armed group,
the Kachin Independence Army, the regime interrupted cross-border trade at
Mongla by closing the checkpoints located on the Mongla-Keng Tung highway
in Shan State. This highway is the main trading route in Shan State and is
an important thoroughfare for goods between Burma, China and Thailand.

A local source said that the NDAA could still derive income from  casinos,
rubber production, border pass fees, a magnesium mine and  vehicle taxes.

The Mongla meeting also discussed last year's attack by Burmese government
troops on NNDAA forces in the Kokang region of the Sino-Burmese.

NDDA leader Peng Jia Xiang said about 200 civilians had been killed in the
two-day battle, three of them Chinese civilians who died in artillery fire
from government troops. The clashes sent 30,000 refugees into China, where
Chinese authorities spent 10 million yuan (about US $1.4 million) in
providing humanitarian assistance to them.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 14, The Associated Press
Activists say Chinese dam hurts Myanmar traders – Panyapat Piyathamsawat

Bagnkok -- A recently built dam in southern China is hurting the
livelihoods of thousands of villagers downstream in Myanmar, environmental
activists said Tuesday in the latest complaint about management of
Southeast Asian rivers that cross national boundaries.

Two groups associated with Myanmar's Shan ethnic minority said in a new
report that the hydropower dam on the Longjiang River in China's Yunnan
province causes changes in the river's level that hinder traders dependent
on water transport.

Groups in several countries have criticized China's construction of dams
on the Mekong River and other waterways because of their impact on
downstream communities. Beijing has rejected charges that its dams are to
blame.

The report, "High and Dry," by the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization
and the Shan Women's Action Network, said local trade and transport on the
river in northern Myanmar near a border trade crossing with China has been
severely affected by unpredictable daily changes in the water level since
the completion in mid-2010 of the 360-foot- (110-meter-) tall Longjiang
Dam about 19 miles (30 kilometers) upstream.

The report estimated that some 16,000 villagers - ferry operators and the
traders and services that depend on them - have had their incomes decline
drastically, as boats face both grounding and flooding.

"The Longjiang dam represents an example of what we are facing," said
Premrudee Daoroung of the Bangkok-based, nonprofit Foundation for
Ecological Recovery, speaking at a press conference. "First, the issue of
the ecosystem of the river needs to be considered. What happens upstream
can have an immediate affect on downstream people. "

The reports said it was encouraging that "Chinese government officials
have begun to publicly state their commitment to the ecological integrity
of transnational rivers and to developing the Mekong River for the 'mutual
benefit' of all countries along the river."

But it also called for Chinese authorities "to investigate and mitigate
the disruptive impacts of the dam" and to make cross-border impact
assessments for any future dams built in China.

In April, China strongly rejected claims that its dam-building policies
are environmentally harmful. It held a one-day meeting with leaders of the
four Mekong Basin nations - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to
address climate change and other challenges to the health of the Mekong
River.

The meeting in Thailand of the member-nations of the Mekong River
Commission, along with China and Myanmar - through which flow the upstream
reaches of the river - came as the Mekong's water levels were at their
lowest in nearly 20 years.

The commission's scientists said this year's low flow and consequent
drought could be attributed to an early end to the 2009 wet season and low
rainfall during the monsoons.

____________________________________

December 14, Mizzima News
Vietnam-Burma trade forecast to rise 60pc

Rangoon – The value of bilateral trade between Burma and Vietnam has
increased almost 60 per cent year on year and will reach nearly US$160
million, according to Vietnamese deputy industry and trade minister Nguyen
Thanh Bien, in Rangoon yesterday.

His claims came today at a conference for businessmen from the two
countries on Monday at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
building held to promote bilateral trade.

Nguyen said bilateral trade values last year and 2008 were US$99 million
and US$108 million respectively. “Trade promotion activities between the
two countries are also very busy,” he said.

About 200 businessmen attended the conference and visitors exhibited
products and services in the agricultural, fisheries, household goods and
tourism sectors.

In April, Vietnam’s largest trade fair in Burma was held in Rangoon at
which 70 Vietnamese enterprises participated. Direct Hanoi-Rangoon and Ho
Chi Minh City-Rangoon flights were also launched.

Vietnam’s total trade value would reach around US$139.1 billion this year,
the minister said, of which US$64.4 billion would account for exports and
US$74.7 billion, imports.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

December 13, UN News Centre
Independent UN rights expert calls for release of political prisoners in
Myanmar

An independent United Nations human rights expert today urged the
Government of Myanmar to release at least 2,202 prisoners of conscience
still detained one month after the freeing of Aung San Suu Kyi, saying
many of the prisoners are seriously ill as a result of harsh jail
conditions.

“As Myanmar attempts to move forward in its democratic transition and the
new Government seeks to establish a new era of peace and prosperity for
the people, it is critical that prisoners of conscience be released
immediately and unconditionally,” said Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

“These are individuals who were imprisoned for exercising their basic
human rights, the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,” he said.

He voiced sadness at the death on 8 December of 50-year-old U Naymeinda,
who was also known as Myo Min or Nay Win. He was a Buddhist monk and the
145th prisoner of conscience to die in prison in Myanmar since 1988.

Mr. Naymeinda had been arrested for distributing leaflets supporting a
pro-democracy demonstration on 9 September 1999 and was charged under the
Unlawful Associations Act and the Emergency Provisions Act and sentenced
to 20 years in prison.

His health deteriorated when he was transferred to Moulmein Prison in Mon
state far from his family, making it difficult for them to visit and
provide essential food and medicine, a practice that is used frequently to
further punish not only the prisoners but also their families, Mr.
Quintana said.

The Special Rapporteur also voiced deep concern about reports he received
on several prisoners in Cell block 4 in Insein prison, who appear to be
suffering from malnutrition-related diseases as well as tuberculosis.

Releasing the prisoners of conscience, said Mr. Quintana, would be a
strong signal that the new Government intends to uphold fundamental
freedoms and would be welcomed by people inside and outside the country.

He recalled that before the legislative elections on 7 November, the
Government had indicated that it might release some prisoners, but that
has not happened.

According to Myanmar’s Government, the revision of national laws –
particularly those used to convict many of the prisoners of conscience –
is on its agenda and will be one of the matters taken up by the
parliament.

“All prisoners of conscience should be released in advance of those
deliberations,” Mr. Quintana said.

UN independent experts, including Mr. Quintana, report to the Geneva-based
UN Human Rights Council. They work in an independent and unpaid capacity.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 14, Daily Times (Pakistan)
Aung San Suu Kyi: a tribute —Ishtiaq Ahmed

Aung San Suu Kyi is a shining beacon of hope and virtue for all those who
seek democracy by peaceful means and through the forgiveness of enemies.
She herself said in a recent interview that she bore her tormentors no ill
will, and that she hoped the military men of Myanmar would resume their
rightful role as “heroes” of the country

In these dreary and dismal days when Pakistan seems to be sinking into the
quagmire of religious extremism and terrorism, and the government seems
helpless to act against such destructive forces, it is some relief to note
that a beacon of hope still burns on the eastern border of our
subcontinent. On November 13, 2010, the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi
was released after long years of house arrest and political isolation by
the ruling military junta.

Her father, Aung San, was the founder of modern Myanmar. He negotiated
with the British for the independence of his country but was assassinated
in 1947 by his opponents. Aung San Suu Kyi was only two years old at the
time. She spent many years abroad, first with her mother who was an
ambassador and later when she studied at Oxford and worked at the UN in
New York. With her English husband, Michael Aris, a specialist in Buddhist
culture, she raised a family living in Bhutan and Japan.

Her entry into politics was largely accidental. In 1988, when she was
visiting Myanmar to call upon her ailing mother, the then military junta
fell from power. As a result, there were mass demonstrations against
military rule, but another set of generals took over. She addressed a
pro-democracy public meeting in the capital city of Rangoon. That
catapulted her into the leadership of the democratic movement. From that
time onwards, there was no turning back.

In 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 59 percent of
the national votes and 81 percent (392 of 485) of the seats in the Burmese
parliament. The military junta, thoroughly corrupt and oppressive,
however, refused to recognise the result and Aung San Suu Kyi was placed
under house arrest. From July 20, 1989 onwards, she remained in that
situation for almost 15 of the next 21 years. In current times, her
incarceration is therefore the second longest after that of the legendary
South African anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela. During this period,
her husband fell ill with cancer and died in England. He had been refused
permission to visit her by the generals, and she herself decided not to
leave the country to visit him, afraid that the generals would not allow
her to return. Measure by this the sacrifice that this couple made for the
sake of the Burmese people.

The popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar has never been in doubt. She
developed a line of resistance that can be called Gandhian, peaceful but
principled and unyielding before the brute might of the state. Her
Buddhist background helped her get through long years of isolation with
dignity and patience. She rejected several overtures from the military
rulers to share power with them. The world responded to her situation by
conferring upon her several awards among which the Nobel Peace Prize in
1991 is the most prestigious.

Such support certainly played an important part in compelling the military
to release her when her latest term of house arrest (on a trumped-up
charge) finally expired earlier this year. However, before she was
released, the junta had arranged an election in which a party enjoying its
blessings supposedly won 80 percent of the votes. It remains to be seen if
this will suffice to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from gaining her rightful
place at the helm of politics through the democratic process.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a shining beacon of hope and virtue for all those who
seek democracy by peaceful means and through the forgiveness of enemies.
She herself said in a recent interview that she bore her tormentors no ill
will, and that she hoped the military men of Myanmar would resume their
rightful role as “heroes” of the country. By this, she no doubt meant that
they should give power back peacefully to the people and return to
defending the country, as well as aiding in its economic development. Let
us hope we shall one day see her in her proper place as the leader of a
free and peaceful Myanmar.

Can we in Pakistan learn something from her? The answer must be a definite
yes. The most important thing to note should be that peaceful resistance
to tyranny and brute force can be very effective. This she has amply
demonstrated by suffering in isolation, away from her children and other
family members. On the few occasions the world saw her on television
waving to her supporters waiting outside her house, her smile was enough
to indicate that she remained undeterred and unbroken.

The second thing we can learn from the Burmese democracy champion is that
the pursuit of power alone should not be the reason for being in politics.
Had Aung San Suu Kyi wanted she could have been in power a long time ago
by entering into a shady deal with the military junta. In Pakistan,
unfortunately, our leaders will do anything just to get into power.
Ultimately, such politics are myopic and self-defeating. It is possible
that she may have to wait a long time before she can come to power. It is
even possible that she may never achieve this and the generals may again
put her under house arrest or much worse. However, I have no doubt that
she has already served her people very well by remaining steadfast to her
principles, and thus incorruptible.

The third thing to be learnt is subject to her coming into power. The
military junta has been systematically oppressing ethnic and religious
minorities. I know this because a student at the National University of
Singapore is writing her PhD thesis under my supervision on the forced
expulsion of the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Most of them have taken
refuge in Bangladesh while others have fled to Thailand, Malaysia and even
beyond. The Rohingyas are not the only group that the military persecutes.
Several other minority groups also suffer because of the narrow,
exclusivist nationalism of the military regime. I know that not only the
pro-democracy Burmese majority but also the ethnic and religious
minorities in that country look up to Aung San Suu Kyi for leadership to
restore the peaceful, pluralist type of society that Myanmar always was.
She is a beacon of hope for democracy, human rights and minority rights.

The writer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm
University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South
Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at
billumian at gmail.com
____________________________________

December 14, Asia Times
Myanmar's military sights ethnic victory – Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK - An ongoing clash along the Thailand-Myanmar border, pitting
government troops against ethnic insurgents, is raising the specter of
more violence in areas that the military sees as the final frontier to
putting the country under the grip of one army for the first time in over
six decades.

The fighting that erupted in early November, when a brigade from the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked and occupied the Myanmar
border town of Myawaddy, has already seen some 35,000 civilians from the
Karen minority flee across the Thai border for safety.

Reports of the death toll remain unclear in the wake of the regime troops
retaliating and taking back areas from the DKBA. Some Myanmar activists
monitoring the fighting from the Thai border town of Mae Sot say as many
as four people were killed in the intensive fighting.

"The situation is serious and the [Myanmar] regime seems to be very
angry," says Win Min, a national security expert currently living in
exile. "It is a show of force that they can fight all [ethnic insurgent]
groups at the same time and pressure other armed groups not to make
coordinated attacks against the regime."

This latest trigger to simmering tensions in an area where a civil war has
raged for decades is a plan Myanmar's military regime unveiled in April
2009 to bring the patchwork of ethnic insurgent troops along its borders
under the command of the Tatmadaw, as the military is called.

But not all the armed ethnic groups have agreed to join the ranks of the
planned Border Guard Force (BGF), which will come under Tatmadaw's direct
command. Among those resisting the Myanmar monopoly of military power is
the DKBA.

"The regime is going to fight smaller or weaker groups that have resisted
the border guard transformation, and the DKBA fits the regime's target,"
Win Min explained during an Inter Press Service (IPS) interview. "The
regime has tried to control all of Burma [Myanmar] by occupying the ethnic
areas bit by bit every year."

Signs of possible clashes in areas that are home to the Kachin and Shan
ethnic communities are being reported in the Myanmar exile media. The
rebel groups from these minorities were among the 17 ethnic armed groups
that signed ceasefire agreements between 1989 and 1995 with the junta.

An area near the Chinese border is currently in the grip of an uneasy
peace, states Human Rights Watch (HRW), the New York-based global rights
lobby. "The tension with the ceasefire groups is set to continue in 2011,
as fighting has also flared in parts of Shan State [due] to the BGF
scheme."

The military, which has held political power since a 1962 coup, is
dominated by the Southeast Asian nation's Burman majority. Arrayed against
them are 135 registered ethnic groups, which account for nearly 40% of the
country's 56 million population.

Yet ever since Myanmar got independence from the British colonialists in
1948, it has been divided along ethnic fault lines that have prevented
Burman domination over the entire country. In the early years of
post-independence,over half the country was beyond the reach of the
central government in Yangon.

The balance has shifted dramatically since then, with the Tatmadaw now
400,000-strong and controlling substantial parts of the country, and some
45,000 ethnic rebel troops standing in the way of the army's total
domination.

Such a feat over past two decades has left the Myanmar military with the
thinking that soldiers are the only force to unify the country. "When the
men in uniform looked to the past, they saw a country that tended to fall
apart into little pieces and that had always needed to be melded together
by force," writes Thant Myint-U, a respected Myanmar historian, in The
River of Lost Footsteps.

"They saw themselves in a long line of national unifiers and saw their
task as unfinished," added Thant in his book, which charts the story of
the country during and after British colonization. "In their imagination,
there remained the challenge of nation building, of creating and promoting
a new Myanmar identity."

Myanmar's 2008 constitution, which was approved in a referendum plagued
with irregularities, personifies this military vision for the country more
than the two previous charters, 1947 and 1974.

Following the general election on November 7, the country's first poll in
20 years won by a pro-junta party under questionable circumstances, the
military regime is marching to reach new heights through the enforcement
of the 2008 charter in early 2011.

This constitution is unequivocal about the military's place in power,
stating that the country can have only one army - the Tatmadaw.

"The junta has already given an ultimatum to the ethnic rebel groups to
join the BGF under the command of the army, otherwise these groups will be
declared illegal," says Kheunsai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald Agency
for News, a media outlet covering Myanmar from northern Thailand.

The military regime will use its twin weapons - a parliamentary majority
and the constitution - to place the issue of the BGF on the agenda of the
new government, he told IPS. "They will submit a motion to make all groups
come under the Tatmadaw."

____________________________________

December 14, Irrawaddy
Murder begets mistrust – Saw Yan Naing

Distrust between the Burmese military government and the ethnic ceasefire
groups remains high after regime troops murdered six soldiers who belonged
to the KNU/ KNLA Peace Council, also known as the Karen Peace Council
(KPC).
The victims were captured by regime troops in a raid on Nov. 30 and were
later tortured, murdered and burnt by troops from Infantry Battalion 230
led by Thant Zin. Their bodies was founded on Dec. 8 in jungle in Karen
State, eastern Burma.

The KPC, an armed ethnic Karen cease-fire group, broke away from the Karen
National Union (KNU) in 2007 and made peace with the regime.

Angrily responding to the murders, KPC spokesperson  Timothy Laklem, said
the regime troops deliberately killed the six KPC members because the
group had not joined the junta’s border guard force (BGF).

“They [regime] are not a government, they are criminals. They have a
warlord mentality and they killed our men because we don't want any part
of their warlord mentality and BGF,” he said.

He said the KPC did not join the BGF because it did not represent the
whole nation including the ethnic groups and was only a regime tool to
maintain power, having nothing to do with democratization and progress for
the people of Burma, said Laklem.

“This [murder] is an outrage. We will take action and bring the
perpetrators to justice,” he said, urging the Burmese government to stop
all brutality against the Karen people.

The KPC held a meeting on Tuesday and decided to write a letter to Maj-Gen
Thet Naing Win, Chief of Bureau of Special Operations (BSO) 4 and a former
commander of Southeastern Regional Command, urging him to take action
against those responsible.

“They have to be accountable to the families of the murdered soldiers.
They have to pay one million Thai baht [US $33,000] to each family,” said
Laklem.

Some sources reportedly claimed that the government killed the Karen
soldiers as they suspected them of joining in the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army's (DKBA) Brigade 5 attack on government troops.

Commenting on this accusation, Laklem said, “There is no evidence
supporting this. They [regime] always come up with accusations like this.
It is their mentality.”

A Karen observer close to the DKBA said the six Karen soldiers had not
attacked junta troops and were not involved in the fighting. They did not
run away as they reportedly thought that the junta army would not harm
them.

Tension has been increasing as fighting erupted since the general election
on Nov. 7 between Burmese government troops and Karen armed groups
including DKBA Brigade 5 and the KNU.

The situation has became more complicated and unstable as several armed
groups are involved in the border fighting. However, whether fighting
escalates depends on the regime, say observers.

If the government orders further attacks on the Karen armed groups, no
trust can remain and only more violence can be expected, said Poe Shan,
acting director of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), adding that as
fighting increases, so does suffering among the civilian population.

“More protection is needed for refugees. Frequent fighting destabilizes
the whole area and villagers become too afraid to return home to tend
their farms ,” he said.

According to rights groups, many villagers are still hiding in the jungle,
afraid to cross into Thailand and face possible forced repatriation by the
Thai authorities.

Laklem said the military regime has neither respected the peace agreement
it made with the KPC nor the cease-fire agreements they made with the
other ethnic armed groups even though the ethnic groups tried to work
hamoniously toward  long-term peace with them.

Seventeen ethnic ceasefire groups reached cease-fire agreements with the
regime after 1989, according to a Burmese government figure, but most of
the strong ethnic militias such as United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the
Kachin Independence Army rejected the junta’s BGF.

“We can’t rebuild our relationship at this moment as trust cannot be
one-sided. It has to come from the government as well,” said Laklem,
adding that the Karen militias were deeply suspicious of the military's
intentions.
Commenting on the state of relations with the ethnic minorities, an
official at the headquarters of the UWSA in Panghsang on the Sino-Burmese
border said, “How can we believe them [regime] when they never do the
right thing.”

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 14, Shan Women’s Action Network and Shan Sapawa Environmental
Organisation
New dam in China disrupts river trade at major Burma border crossing

A recently built hydropower dam on the Longjiang River in China's Yunnan
Province is causing severe disruption to thousands of villagers relying on
cross-border trade in Burma's northern Shan State, according to a new
report by local Shan researchers.

The report "High and Dry" by the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation
and the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), exposes how local trade and
transport across the Shweli River (the Burmese name for the Longjiang)
near Muse and Namkham has been crippled by unpredictable daily
fluctuations in the water level since the completion of the 110-meter tall
Longjiang Dam about 30 kilometers upstream in mid-2010.

An estimated 16,000 villagers relying on ferrying of goods near Muse, the
main China-Burma border trade crossing, have seen their income cut
drastically by the continual drops and surges in the water level, which
have caused both grounding and flooding of the ferry boats.

"The people of our village live, eat and work with the river. People
cannot work when the water suddenly rises and falls like this," said an
impacted villager.

The villagers are calling urgently for the Chinese authorities to
investigate and mitigate the disruptive impacts of the dam, while the
authors of the report are requesting that trans-boundary impact
assessments are carried out for any future dams built in China.

"Impact assessments for dams should be carried out for the entire length
of the river, regardless of national boundaries. Whether for the
Longjiang, Mekong or Salween,

China should consider the health of our shared rivers and all the
communities that rely on them,” said Sapawa spokesperson Sai Sai.

There has been increasing international debate about the downstream
impacts of China’s dams on the Mekong River. There are also 13 dams
planned on the Salween River in China.

The full report can be viewed on www.shanwomen.org

Contact persons:
Sai Sai                         (+66) 83 152 4415
Nang Moan Kaein       (+66) 81 992 1121