Secretive Russia-Burma mine could displace thousands
A Russian-backed mining project in Burma’s war-torn Shan State will permanently destroy the homes and farmlands of 7,000 Pa-O villagers, according to a new report by the Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO)....
Pinpet iron factory under construction
Pinet iron Factory is still under construction, south of Taunggyi...
Pinpet Mining Construction site
Pinpet Mining...
Pinpet iron mining project
Pinpet iron factory underconstruction...
Pinpet Mining
a completed iron factory underground room...
Pinpet iron factory project
Pinpet iron factory underconstruction...
Pinpet iron factory project
Pinpet iron factory underconstrution...
Pinpet iron factory project
water pond for cleaning iron ore...
Pinpet iron factory project
Pinpet iron factory underconstruction...
Pinpet iron factory site
view of Pinpet iron factory site...
Pinpet moutain
the project start to clean trees and bushs on the moutain...
Confiscated farms in Southern Shan State
This farm has been confiscated by government.... the red flag mean villagers are no longer allowed to work in the farm....
Confiscated farm land around Pinpet iron factory site
Seized the local farm land without any compensation...
The deputy and the deposed: is this really the end of Sr. Gen Than Shwe?
For thirteen years, Sr. Gen Than Shwe and his family stayed on top of the Burmese military government, featuring prominently in nightly news and steadfastly refusing to hand power to election winner National League for Democracy.
Now the man who joined the army at 20 has been forced to retire by Deputy Sr. Gen Maung Aye because of nepotism and corruption, according to sources close to the government.
News blackout?
The news has not been confirmed but a resident at the China-Burma border insists it is genuine, saying regional commanders and those close to high profile members of SPDC have been told.
Other sources at the Burmese border also says the armies have been barred from using wireless communication which could be intercepted, a sign that the army might be trying to suppress the news.
U Hein Naing tells BBC Burmese he heard it from a reliable source who has links to the high offices at SPDC.
Impossible to for him to stay
"Every Monday, there is a military council meeting. It is during this meeting that the "five-men group" led by Gen Maung Aye decided to retire U Than Shwe because it is now impossible for him to stay in office. The "group" concluded that the army could disintegrate if U Than Shwe continues as head of the state."
The "five-men group" led by Gen Maung Aye... concluded that the army could disintegrate if U Than Shwe continues as head of the state.
U Hein Naing
U Hein Naing says the "group" consists of Deputy Sr. Gen Maung Aye, Lt-Gen Thein Sein and Gen Shwe Man who is considered an ally of the deposed leader.
The decision stems from the need to protect the integrity of the army as Sr. Gen Than Shwe seems concerned only with himself and his cronies' interests, he says.
"Even in the army, only those close to him get anywhere. This has reached a stage where Gen Maung Aye feels he has to step in and stop it."
He heard that Sr. Gen Than Shwe is charged with helping, supporting and protecting U Tay Za's businesses. U Tay Za is a Burmese businessman rumoured to be close to the Senior General's family.
Nepotism or health problems?
"U Than Shwe doesn't accept his forced retirement. But he no longer has the backing of the army and the group trying to depose him now has more power so I heard he had to agree."
U Than Shwe doesn't accept his forced retirement. But he no longer has the backing of the army.
U Hein Naing
Meanwhile, life in the capital continues to be normal. Very few people are aware of the latest news.
Rangoon watchers say the retirement could be a result of Sr. Gen Than Shwe's deteriorating health condition. They say the tight security at No (2) Military Hospital in central Rangoon since yesterday indicates he is in poor health.
A Russian-backed mining project in Burma’s war-torn Shan State will permanently destroy the homes and farmlands of 7,000 Pa-O villagers, according to a new report by the Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO).
Russian and Italian engineering companies are reportedly working together to develop a massive iron ore mine that will “decimate” Mount Pinpet or “Pinetree Mountain” in the eastern Burmese state of Shan.
The project could destroy 25 villages, permanently displacing 7,000 ethnic Pa-O’s from their traditional farmlands. Another 35,000 people who rely on the Thabet watershed on the eastern side of the mountain may also be impacted.
“Fifty people have already been forced to move and were not adequately compensated,” notes the “Robbing the Future” report. “The confiscation of vital farmlands has begun.”
And so has travel restrictions, thanks to a gated wall now stretching across the main road, surrounding the nearby iron processing plant. The wall stands ten feet high, just in front of some underground bunkers.
The gate is only open for 12 hours a day, but even then there’s no guarantee the villagers will be allowed to pass by unless the security guards let them. “Villagers who attempt to pass through the gates after closing or without permission have faced abuse” from the guards, according to the report.
Food Insecurity and fuel shortages is another major concern. For the past two years all 25 villages have been prohibited from collecting anything from the mountain, whether it’s wood or medicinal plants..Factory workers and soldiers are also known to steal food from the villagers.
Water may become the next big sacrifice – once the mine and processing plant is fully operational. “Villagers fear that pollution from the mines could damage the Thabet stream, potentially making fish toxic and in turn destroy crops that depend on the stream for irrigation.”
In addition, the project threatens to “radically alter” the environment, “decimate” the Pinetree Mountain, and cause rampant deforestation and loss of habitat.
For details on these an all other concerns about the Pinpet mining project, download the PYO’s report. You can do so at their website, paoyouthorganization.blogspot.com
Shrouded in Secrecy
As daunting as these concerns are, at the moment they are being overshadowed by the secretive nature of the project. “They are hiding what they’re doing behind walls and fences, but we will be the ones to suffer the effects of these projects”, says Khun Chan Khe, a spokesperson from the PYO.
It’s leading to a lot of speculation that we might not even be talking about an iron project. It might be uranium. Or both.
“Robbing the Future” mentions a recent announcement from Burma’s Ministry of Energy that there are five uranium deposits in the country. Pinpet was not mentioned as one of the sites, but several villagers have stated that uranium is located southwest of the village of Leng Ngock, on the edge of the mountain. Several villagers have also reported servicemen claiming the factory will be used to process both iron and uranium. A military camp has been set up on the mountain.
Then there’s the May 2007 announcement from ROSATOM, the Russian Atomic Energy Agency, stating it had “reached a deal for ‘cooperation in the design and construction in Myanmar of a centre for nuclear research… including a nuclear reactor.’ The announcement came about one year after the Russian-based steel company Tyazhpromexport (TPE) announced it was backing the Pinpet factory.
There is more speculation and rumor, all of which is being “compounded by growing evidence that Burma is strengthening its ties with North Korea, who last month successfully tested a nuclear bomb,” says the Democratic Voice of Burma.
While none of the speculation has been confirmed, “Villagers are extremely worried and fearful” that, in addition to their own displacement, their loss of culture and livelihood, not to mention the abuses, food shortages, and environmental destruction—they may also have to face radioactive contamination.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s controversial two-day trip to military-ruled Burma to discuss the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and conditions in the country prior to the 2010 elections has been widely criticized as a failure. Eight previous diplomatic visits by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari also failed to dent the intransigence of the military regime.
However, the reason for the UN’s inability to effect positive change in Burma has less to do with these failed diplomatic visits than with the remaining obstacles at the UN Security Council.
Conventional wisdom suggests that China’s permanent seat on the Security Council and its policy of non-interference in Burma, a policy no doubt underscored by Chinas well-documented interest in maintaining access to Burma’s natural resources, has prevented effective UN action on Burma.
Much less attention, however, has been paid to the obstacle posed by Russia. Like China, Russia has a permanent seat on the Security Council and also blocked a 2007 UN draft resolution that would have applied enormous pressure on the regime. Russia also has interests in Burma’s natural resources, and perhaps in cooperating with the regime’s increasingly public nuclear ambitions.
Since 2006, I have been monitoring an iron ore mining project unfolding around my village in a remote ethnic Pa-O area in war torn Shan State, led by the state-owned Russian company Tyazhpromexport.
The company has invested upwards of US$150 million and is constructing an iron processing plant only 10 kilometers from the Burmese Army’s Eastern Command. This command is responsible for fighting in several areas of Shan State, and Burmese army soldiers have raped, beaten, mutilated, tortured and murdered civilians in their ongoing suppression of ethnic minorities. I, my colleagues, and other organizations have documented these abuses.
The Russian processing plant, which is sited in the Hopone Valley located at the east of the Shan State capital of Taunggyi, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It is equipped with underground bunkers and is surrounded by two ten-feet-high cement walls and barbed wire.
The direct impact of the project has already been severe: 55 people have been forcibly relocated out of three villages to make way for the factory, and 11,000 acres of farmlands have been confiscated by local authorities on behalf of the company. Complaints by the villagers to local government offices were summarily dismissed.
Preparations for the first of a series of open pit mines in the area by Tyazhpromexport have also begun. Barring a radical change in the way the regime and its corporate partners do business, the forced relocation of approximately 7,000 ethnic Pa-O people living directly around the site is all but certain.
Erosion and the release of mining waste into our main water source, the Thabet Stream, is also a serious concern. This would affect 35,000 people downstream. The company is already diverting the stream to their factory, leading to unusually low water levels this year.
However, there is an even more serious aspect to this operation. In May 2007, one year after Tyazhpromexport declared its involvement in the iron ore project, Russia’s atomic energy agency Rosatom announced that it had reached a deal for cooperation with the Burmese regime on a nuclear program. No further information about this nuclear cooperation has been made public, but suspicions are rife that it is linked to the Hopone Valley mining project.
Local people in my community are worried. Uranium occurs naturally alongside iron ore and the military regime’s Ministry of Energy has acknowledged the existence of uranium deposits in Burma. Extreme travel restrictions have been imposed against local people by the Burma Army around the iron project, and there has been an almost complete lack of public information about the project, to a degree unusual even for the reclusive Burmese regime. Local villagers have quietly heard from staff insiders that the factory will be used to process both iron and uranium.
The Burmese regime’s nuclear ambitions are no secret. For years it has been sending students to Russia to study nuclear technology, and it has normalized relations with North Korea, the world's problem child playing with nuclear arms, despite a problematic history between the two nations. Recently, The US tracked a North Korean ship that was thought to be headed for Burma’s shores with arms and ammunitions, in violation of a UN Security resolution against Pyongyang. The vessel turned around and returned to North Korea.
Japanese authorities arrested three men in June for allegedly attempting to send weapons-making technology to Burma at the behest of North Korean agents, and photos have been distributed showing an intricate tunnel system throughout Burma being constructed with North Korea’s help.
The idea that a Russian firm might be quietly mining uranium in the country is by no means so far-fetched.
Whatever the case, the widespread human rights abuses connected to the project are no less worrying.
We don’t expect Ban Ki-moon’s visit to change our plight in any significant way. What is really needed is a way to subvert the so-called policies of “non-interference” at the UN Security Council so it can do its job to protect against the military regime’s ongoing threats to international peace and security.
Khun Chan Khe is an ethnic Pa-O and the General Secretary of the Thailand-based Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO). Recently the PYO released firsthand documentation on the Russian-led mining project in a report entitled “Robbing the Future.”
Burma Newscasts reported that Russian and Italian engineering companies are reported to be involved in the development of a huge iron ore mine in Burma’s eastern Shan state that campaigners say could displace more than 7,000 homes.
The already volatile Shan state is home to Burma’s second largest iron ore deposit, on the site of Mount Pinpet. Excavation of the site began in 2004, and work includes the conversion of around 11,000 acres of surrounding land for construction of a cement factory and iron processing plant.
The Pa-O Youth Organization in a report released said that more than 25 villages’ home to around 7000 mainly ethnic Pa-O people could be destroyed by the Pinpet Mining Project.
Robbing the Future report said that “Fifty people have already been forced to move and were not adequately compensated. The confiscation of vital farmlands has begun, leaving over 100 families without the primary source of their livelihood and sustenance.”
Mr Khun Ko Wein spokesperson from PYO said that villagers had very little, if any input on the plans for the project. He said that “The government doesn’t talk to the villagers, they don’t negotiate with the villagers regarding plans for the mining project, and they don’t really discuss in advance what they are going to do.”
The report points to Russian company Tyazhpromexport as being the major foreign investor in the Pinpet Iron Factory, with USD 150 million so far channeled into the project.
Another concern of PYO’s is the link between the Pinpet mine and rumors that Burma is mining uranium, a key ingredient for nuclear weaponry.
According to the report, Burma’s Ministry of Energy has officially announced the presence of five uranium deposits in the country, although has not publicly stated that these will be mined. Speculation that uranium exists near the Pinpet site has added fuel to the rumors, with some locals fearing that the mine could be being used as a cover to exploit and refine uranium. Such rumors have been further compounded by growing evidence that Burma is strengthening its ties with North Korea, who last month successfully tested a nuclear bomb.
June 29, 2009 (DVB)–Russian and Italian engineering companies are reported to be involved in the development of a huge iron ore mine in Burma’s eastern Shan state that campaigners say could displace more than 7,000 homes. The already volatile Shan state is home to Burma’s second largest iron ore deposit, on the site of Mount Pinpet.
Excavation of the site began in 2004, and work includes the conversion of around 11,000 acres of surrounding land for construction of a cement factory and iron processing plant.
The Pa-O Youth Organisation (PYO), in a report released today, said that more than 25 villages home to around 7000 mainly ethnic Pa-O people could be destroyed by the Pinpet Mining Project.
“Fifty people have already been forced to move and were not adequately compensated,” said the Robbing the Future report.
“The confiscation of vital farmlands has begun, leaving over 100 families without the primary source of their livelihood and sustenance.”
A spokesperson from PYO said that villagers had very little, if any, input on the plans for the project. “[The government] don’t talk to the villagers, they don’t negotiate with the villagers regarding plans for the mining project - they don’t really discuss in advance what they are going to do,” said Khun Ko Wein.
The report points to Russian company Tyazhpromexport as being the major foreign investor in the Pinpet Iron Factory, with $US150 million so far channeled into the project.
Russia maintains strong ties with Burma despite the country’s ruling junta being under mounting international pressure over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi and documented state-sanctioned human rights abuses.
An Italian company, Danieli, which claims to be one of the world’s leading suppliers of equipment to the metals industry, is also highlighted in the report.
The company, who in 2007 confirmed that they operate in Burma, was unavailable for comment. Another concern of PYO’s is the link between the Pinpet mine and rumours that Burma is mining uranium, a key ingredient for nuclear weaponry.
According to the report, Burma’s Ministry of Energy has officially announced the presence of five uranium deposits in the country, although has not publicly stated that these will be mined.
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2665
Speculation that uranium exists near the Pinpet site has added fuel to the rumours, with some locals fearing that the mine could be being used as a cover to exploit and refine uranium.
Such rumours have been further compounded by growing evidence that Burma is strengthening its ties with North Korea, who last month successfully tested a nuclear bomb.
Secretive Russian Mining Project in Burma set to Destroy Homes of 7,000
Villagers suspect links to Russia-Burma uranium plans
A Russian-backed mining project that plans to excavate an entire mountain southeast of Taunggyi in Burma’s war-torn Shan State will destroy the homes of 7,000 villagers and impact a further 35,000, according to a report released today.
Robbing the Future, based on exclusive research and photos from the Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO), details the unfolding development of the country’s second largest iron deposit by Burma’s regime and Russian state-owned Tyazhpromexport.
Ongoing construction of an iron processing plant 10 km from the Burma Army’s Eastern Command, nearby an area where recent fighting has flared up, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The factory is equipped with underground bunkers and surrounded by two ten feet high cement walls and barbed wire.
Fifty five people have already been forcibly relocated out of three villages to make way for the factory and 11,000 acres of farmlands have been confiscated by local authorities. Complaints by the villagers to local government offices were dismissed.
Preparations for the first of a series of open pit mines have also begun. These will decimate the mountain, and the homes of 7,000 people living directly around it.
The erosion of mine heaps and the release of tailings into the valley’s main water source, the Thabet Stream, stand to affect 35,000 people downstream. Diversion of the stream to the factory has already led to unusually low water levels this year.
Extreme travel restrictions and a lack of public information about the project are fueling rampant local speculation that uranium will also be mined on the mountain.
“They are hiding what they’re doing behind walls and fences, but we will be the ones to suffer the effects of these projects. The foreign companies are taking advantage of the lack of rule of law in Burma to exploit our resources and are robbing our future” said Khun Chan Khe, a spokesperson from the Pa-O Youth Organization.
Local suspicions are heightened by a Russian Atomic Energy Agency announcement in 2007 of plans to build a nuclear reactor in Burma. The Italian company Danieli is also believed to be involved in the project.
Media Contacts: Khun Chan Khe (Burmese) +66 85 288 4211; Khun Ko Wein (English) +66 83 152 8050
View the full report at: http://www.paoyouthorganization.blogspot.com
FBR REPORT: Girl Gang Raped and Man Has Hands Cut Off by Burma Army soldiers in ShanState
Shan State, Burma
4 June, 2009
A 15-year-old girl was raped by 12 Burma Army soldiers in ShanState according to information from the PaO National Liberation Organization. The soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 426, including battalion commander Nyunt Oo, raped the girl on May 14 in an orange grove where she had been working. She is now in Taunggyi hospital.
Soldiers from the same LIB cut the hands off U Khun Lon, 35, from Kawn Tai village, Tan Yaan village area, Hsi Hseng district, southern Shan state, on May 18. The 13 soldiers forced the villagers together, tortured them and accused them of communicating with the resistance groups. Another man called Win Bo was hit several times with the butt of a rifle and seriously injured. The soldiers also burned down a house and took Win Bo and a further 18 villagers to Chee Ta Lee temple and tied them up. An attack on Burma Army soldiers on May 3 in the same area left 12 of these soldiers dead.
U Khun Main, 43, headman of Pan Nyo village in Sai Khow village area, also Hsi Hseng district, was cut around his head with a machete and beaten with rifle butts on May 23 by soldiers under Captain Sun Aung from the same LIB. He was seriously injured and is confined to his bed according to the PNLO.
On May 20, the LIB 421 led by Major Yae Htut came to Daw Na Kalu village on the Shan/Karenni border and stole from the villagers. They took five and a half kyat Tha of gold (worth approx US$2,619) and 11 silver coins worth about US$70 and 1.57 million kyat in cash (worth approx US$ 1,246). The soldiers also stole animals and told the villagers in East Paung Chaung they could not leave the village between 6pm and 6am.
According to information from the PNLO, since May 24, LIBs 425 and 426 are not allowing the PaO National Organization to go east of the road connecting Ho Pong and Hsi Hseng and are arresting anyone in camouflage clothes.
Some 500,000 PaO live in ShanState. The PNO signed a ceasefire with the SPDC in 1991, but soldiers of the PNLO continue to fight for independence.
The "five-men group" led by Gen Maung Aye... concluded that the army could disintegrate if U Than Shwe continues as head of the state.
