Kachin conflict set to intensify – The Irrawaddy
December 9th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22630
BANGKOK — The conflict in Kachin State is set to get worse after already displacing tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom rely on support from local aid groups desperately in need of international assistance, according to a leading advocacy group for refugees.
“Tensions between the government and KIO [Kachin Independence Organization] have reached boiling point,” said Lynn Yoshikawa of the US-based Refugees International (RI), who recently concluded a fact-finding trip to the war-torn state. (more…)
Thailand wades through worst flooding in decades – Christian Science Monitor
October 12th, 2011
Thailand’s floodwaters have already killed 269 people and submerged some 3.4 million acres of farmland to the north. And Bangkok’s estimated 12 million residents are bracing for another storm.
- Women fill sandbags along canal in Rangsit, Bangkok (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Bangkok, Thailand. Shoveling sand into canvas bags, Thawatchai Siithundoin wipes the sweat from his brow and looks up at the darkening late afternoon sky.
“If it rains again, that canal will fill my house,” he says, pointing to the water lapping the roadside about four yards behind him in the northern Bangkok suburb of Rangsit. (more…)
Myanmar calls surprise halt to controversial China-backed dam – Los Angeles Times
September 30th, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-myanmar-dam-20111001,0,6135163.story
Critics led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have argued that the dam would hurt the ecology of the Irrawaddy River, displace at least 10,000 people and submerge culturally important sites.
By Mark Magnier and Simon Roughneen, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2011
Reporting from New Delhi and Bangkok, Thailand— Myanmar’s president ordered a halt Friday to work on a controversial $3.6-billion hydroelectric dam backed by China, a rare concession to the political opposition and public displeasure.
President Thein Sein said in a statement read out on his behalf in parliament that the Myitsone dam project in the northern state of Kachin should be terminated because it is “against the will of the people.”
The reversal — if in fact it proves to be one, given Myanmar’s often opaque governance — seemed somewhat surprising in a country where leaders have for decades paid limited attention to the public’s concerns. (more…)
New turns in South China Sea debate – The Irrawaddy
September 28th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22155
BANGKOK – The ongoing wrangle between China and a number of smaller neighbours over jurisdiction on the disputed South China Sea took a new turn yesterday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Tokyo.
Without mentioning China, PM Noda told reporters after the summit that both countries would increase “cooperation between coastguards and defense-related authorities”. According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, both countries “confirmed that freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce, and compliance with established international law including the UNCLOS (the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the peaceful settlement of disputes serve the interests of the two countries and the whole region”. (more…)
Wife of murdered Thai activist seeks justice – The Irrawaddy
August 11th, 2011
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21875
Thongmark Sawekjinda was sitting here when he was murdered (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand – Soft-spoken and appearing resolute despite her bereavement, Jomkwan Sawekjinda nods her head in the direction of the table to her left.
“That’s where he was shot’, she says, pointing at a concrete bench a metre away. On July 28 last, husband Thongnak Sawekjinda, an outspoken environmental campaigner in Samut Sakhon province, was about to make a mobile phone-call when two men pulled up on a motorcycle, turning in from the street outside.
The pillion passenger pulled out a gun and shot 47 year old Thongnak nine times with 9mm bullets, from behind, before the pair sped off. Thongnak died shortly afterwards in hospital. Seeking protection which never came, he told police he had been threatened during the weeks before he was murdered. The shooting came after he fronted several high-profile public protests against coal-related operations in the area. (more…)
Activists link Burma’s resource investments to ethnic fighting – The Irrawaddy
July 25th, 2011
Burmese environmentalists say that dozens of foreign investment projects linked to the country’s natural resources drive the recent increase in fighting between the army and ethnic minority groups in borderlands close to China and Thailand.
http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21756
BANGKOK - Speaking at the launch of Burma’s Environment:People, Problems, Policies, a new report from The Burma Environmental Working Group (BEWG), Naw La, a Kachin whose family has been driven from their home by fighting between the Burmese military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), said that fighting started after the Burmese Government apparently did not listen to Kachin concerns about Chinese-backed hydropower dams in the northern region of Burma.
“The KIO (Kachin Independence Organisation) sent many letters to Naypyidaw and to the Chinese Government, objecting to the Myitsone dam”, he said, “and warning that there could be civil war if the dam is not stopped”. (more…)
US Delay Means Burmese Must Wait on Oil Payment Disclosures – The Irrawaddy
April 19th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21130
New US rules outlining requirements for oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments, including Burma, have been postponed until August at the earliest.
Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall St. Reform Act, passed in 2010, requires publicly traded companies listed on US stock exchanges to disclose how much they pay foreign governments to acquire drilling and mining rights in the given countries. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was scheduled to publish rules governing Section 1504 on April 15, but has now delayed their release.
The SEC rules will likely cover some of the estimated 27 companies invested in Burma’s natural resource sector, possibly including Chevron, China National Offshore Oil Company, Daewoo, PTTEP (Thailand), Total and others. (more…)
Pakistan Floods: Awaiting succour in Sukkur – Irish Examiner/Eureka Street/Crikey/SouthAsiaMasala
August 26th, 2010
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/08/26/pakistan-dolphins-play-as-floods-bring-intense-suffering/
SUKKUR, Pakistan. On the road in from the airport, the water shimmered under the moonlight as men, women and children sat in the dark, near the would-be lakeshore. During the day, river dolphins can usually be spotted in the nearby river. It sounds idyllic, you might think, but not so. This dusty and ramshackle town is at the front-line of one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters in living memory. Usually there is no water lapping up at the roadside, and the only people there would be those out for an evening snack after the daytime Ramadan fast. But since torrential monsoon rain sent the Indus River spilling onto towns and farmland the length of Pakistan, an area the size of England has been deluged.
Watching the waters rise again. Shahdadkot, Sindh province (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
In downtown Sukkur, I spoke to Ashraf, who said he had left his family at the outskirts, before coming into town to buy some food. “We managed to gather up some of our possessions before the waters came, but we did not have much warning. Our home is under water completely. I have enough money to feed my children for another couple of days, that is all.” Like a few more flood victims I encountered, he had to pay three times the normal price for a bus to the city, as opportunists capitalise on people’s desperation, to make a quick rupee. (more…)
US dips into Mekong politics – Asia Times
August 13th, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LH14Ae01.html
BANGKOK – China’s dam building on the upper reaches of the Mekong river is raising hackles with downstream countries and providing the US with another strategic theater to counterbalance China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia.
The rising controversy comes alongside a range of new US initiatives in Southeast Asia, including recent US-led multilateral military training exercises in Cambodia, joint US-Vietnam naval training exercises, US-Vietnam discussions on sharing nuclear fuel and Washington’s announcement that it will re-engage with Kopassus, Indonesia’s controversial special forces unit.
The recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Hanoi was overshadowed by Sino-American rivalry, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying that the US was willing to mediate in territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea. Many Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, believe Beijing increasingly views the contested maritime area as a Chinese lake.
China’s foreign minister Yang Jichi responded bluntly to Clinton’s remarks by saying that they amounted to “an attack on China”, before reminding Southeast Asian countries that China is a big country, implying that individually they are small. (more…)
Mekong Dams Could Destabilize Region – The Irrawaddy
August 12th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19214&Submit=Submit
BANGKOK––Uncoordinated decision-making and unilateral initiatives not only threaten the Mekong River area environment and livelihoods, but could affect security in Southeast Asia.
With four out eight Chinese dams already built on the Lancang, the name for the Upper Mekong River inside China, and nine more either in place or awaiting construction on the river’s middle and lower reaches in Cambodia and Laos, the jury is still out on how these dams will impact on the region. Environmental damage could also damage the economies in the region, in turn causing political strife within the affected countries and damaging the relations between countries. (more…)
