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>
>SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: THAIS BUY INTO SHAN REBEL POWER PLAY
>21 December, 1998 by William Barnes
>
>A Thai dam builder has asked tribal Shan rebels in the Golden Triangle
>war
>zone if it can build a hydroelectric barrage across the Salween River.
>
>The Shan States Army has already given the developer, MDX, permission to
>
>survey the area, Shan sources say.
>
>The moves will increase suspicions that one of the reasons Rangoon is so
>
>determined to crush the rebels is to gain a free hand to exploit the
>area's
>natural resources.
>
>The Burmese army has thrown hundreds of troops into the area in an
>attempt
>to knock out a faction of the Shan States Army that has been demanding
>autonomy. A third of a million people have been thrown off their land
>and
>hundreds killed.
>
>Both Thailand and enterprises in the Chinese province of Yunnan have
>previously shown a keen interest in developing the Shan state's
>hydroelectric potential.
>
>Such enthusiasm has alarmed environmentalists, who have pointed out that
>
>the authoritarian Burmese Government is hardly likely to bother itself
>much
>with the impact on the environment.
>
>Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding with Burma in mid-1997 to
>take 1,500 megawatts of hydroelectric power by 2010.
>
>Burma's ethnic rebels have a long history of squeezing taxes from Thai
>entrepreneurs logging and trading across the border. But although the
>money
>might be tempting, the risk is that the guerillas will find themselves
>in
>the same position as the Mon in Burma's southern panhandle, Tennasarim.
>
>The New Mon State Party agreed -- under pressure -- to allow an
>international consortium to build a controversial offshore gas pipeline
>across its territory. The deal allowed the Burmese army to flood the
>area
>with troops, effectively killing off lingering Mon resistance.
>
>"The cash might look good, but the cost may be what hard-won liberty you
>
>have left," one Shan exile said.
>
>MDX, Ital-Thai and Japan's Marubeni have teamed up to examine the
>hydroelectric potential of Burma.
>
>But the biggest obstacle to the construction of any infrastructure
>project
>in the country is more likely to be the Asian economic crisis -- which
>has
>seen demand for electricity slump -- than any guerilla group.
>
>Reply-To: cwaterp@del3.vsnl.net.in
>Source: BarmaNet, Dec.22, 1998.
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Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 12:32:46 -0800
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Subject: LS: SCMP Hydroelectric plans in Burma.
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