Rebel leader sees lasting damage from dam

Rebel leader sees lasting damage from dam

Four months after the Bangkok-based MDX Plc began its touch-up survey at Shan State's Tasarng dam site, Shan resistance leader Col Yawdserk has expressed his fears that the harm done on the population would far outweigh the benefits from the dam. 

"The damage on the people will be a lasting one," he said in reply to S.H.A.N.'s inquiry. "We must (therefore) ask our people whether or not they really want it." 

Asked what his opinions were on the anti-dam activities of local, regional and international NGOs, he replied, "The environmental NGOs' job is to see that there is no destruction of the natural surroundings as well as wildlife. I therefore support what they are doing." 

He also did not believe that there would be any construction soon. "As long as there is no agreement reached between the Burmese military and the ethnic nationalities, we believe no construction can begin," said the leader of the Shan State Army "South". 

However, he also indicated the group has yet to take any definitive position on the issue. "We work for the people," he insisted. "The RCSS (Restoration Council of Shan State, the SSA's political wing) alone cannot make decisions on the subject. A reply without consulting them first will not be appropriate." 

He has yet to mention how soon the consultations will take place. The SSA "South" has been maintaining the "non-positional" position since 1998, when the GMS Power, a subsidiary of MDX, began its feasibility studies at Tasarng. 

Other Shan opposition groups are reportedly against its construction which they claim would only worsen the ongoing human rights, environmental and political situation the country is undergoing. Among the SSA "South" itself, the most outspoken against the Tasarng dam is Lt-Col Moengzuen, whose 758th Brigade is active in the western part of the Salween. 

As part of the Conference on International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) in Chiangmai, 8-11 June, a workshop on the Salween dams, where a number of activists from Burma participated, was held yesterday (10 June).