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dam-l LS: Dam protest staged in US
The Nation: July 15, 2000
Dam protest staged in US
WASHINGTON - Protesters marched from the
Thai embassy here to the World Bank
headquarters on Wednesday, in support of Thai
villagers who claim their livelihoods have been
wrecked by two huge dams.
Some 30 demonstrators handed letters of protest
to the Thai ambassador over the effects of the Pak
Mool and Rasi Salai dams in northeastern
Thailand, before marching through the streets of
downtown Washington with a message for World
Bank President James Wolfensohn.
Villagers have seized the Pak Mool dam and the
Rasi Salai dam in northeastern Thailand since late
last month, calling on the authorities to open flood
gates and offer compensation for what they claim
are dwindling fish stocks.
The Thai government cites environmental studies
which say the dams have had no impact on the
fish population.
It says families displaced by the Pak Mool dam,
completed with the help of World Bank finance in
1994, "received exceedingly generous
compensation".
"The Thai government must understand that the
international community will not tolerate any
violence against the villagers currently occupying
Pak Mool," said Washington protest leader Gila
Neta of the International Rivers Network (IRN).
"Several of the protesters here today are intending
to fast if the villagers' demands are not met."
Villagers involved in the Thai protests quote a
World Commission on Dams report which said 56
species of fish have disappeared in the Pak Mool
vicinity.
The IRN says the Pak Mool dam has forced the
resettlement of 912 families, who received
inadequate compensation.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Don
Pramudwinai yesterday confirmed that the Thai
embassy in Washington DC had received protest
letters from the groups and said they had been
informed of the latest progress in the
government's handling of the issue.
Protesters at the Pak Mool dam in Ubon
Ratchathani yesterday allowed officials of the
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat)
to repair the power plant and remove water
hyacinths from the dam, but said they would not
move from the site until the government issued an
order to open the dam's sluice gates.
The Egat later put up a notice thanking the
Assembly of the Poor, which led the protest.
Meanwhile, more than 400 protesters in Bangkok
said they would return to Ubon Ratchathani today
after a neutral committee set up to settle the
conflict agreed all eight sluice gates of the Pak
Mool dam should be kept open for four months a
year.
Leaders of the protest, staged next to the
Government House, said they were satisfied with
the resolution, although Banthorn Ondum, head of
the neutral committee, had asked for four more
days to set up the Pak Mool dam sluice gates
opening committee.
Banthorn explained that his committee's mission
ended on June 27 and therefore a new committee
was necessary to carry on the assignment.
Banthorn said they were in the process of
selecting the new committee, which would have
no more than 10 members. The committee's head
might be the provincial governor and would
comprise Egat officials, academics,
representatives of the Assembly of the Poor and
villagers. Priority would be given to local people, he
added.
Banthorn said he would propose that the
government also set up a permanent committee to
handle dam-related policy.
He assured that the committee's resolution and
proposal would be submitted to the Interior Ministry
soon.
Protesters, mostly fishermen, have seized the Pak
Mool dam since May 15, demanding that all of the
dam's sluice gates be opened to allow fish to go
upstream and spawn. They claim the number of
fish has diminished drastically as a result of the
dam, threatening their livelihood.
Agence France-Presse, The Nation
LAST MODIFIED: Thursday, 15-Jun-00 14:27:48
EDT
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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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