Fighting in N.Shan state continues along Shwe pipeline route

A CHINESE TRUCK LOADED WITH OIL PIPES WAS ON THE WAY FOR CROSSING BURMA BORDER FROM JEIGAO IN YUNNAN PROVINCE.

MUSE, Burma — Fighting between the Burmese army and forces loyal to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) continues in northern Shan state, as the two sides prepare to meet tomorrow for another round of peace talks in China.

A large section of KIA territory in Shan state lies along the route of twin oil and natural gas pipelines that are currently under construction.  When completed, the pipelines will send gas and oil from Burma's Arakanese coast to China's Yunnan region.  Although the Shwe gas project may not be the primary reason behind the army's offensive against the KIO, many Burma observers believe it has certainly fueled the conflict.

On Tuesday morning clashes broke out between government troops and Kachin forces in Namtu township, the latest battle in series of deadly skirmishes that has occurred along the path of the projected pipeline corridor.  According to eyewitnesses several injured soldiers were transported to Namtu hospital.

Towards the end of last year when fighting became increasingly severe in northern Shan state, several thousand villagers who live along the proposed route of the pipelines were forced to flee their homes. Few if any of the displaced people appear to know anything about the pipeline project.

A 24-year old mother, who fled last October with her young child from a village north of Namtu which lies in the path of the pipeline, recently told the Kachin News Group that she had absolutely no idea that Burma's longest pipeline would be built near her former home.

The women and her young child now live in a refugee camp near Mai Ja Yang, she is unsure when or if she will ever go back home.

An environmental coalition opposed to the pipeline project has uncovered that two firms hired to produce Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessments (ESHIA) for both the oil and gas pipelines are Western owned.  Activists with the Shwe Gas Movement say they have repeatedly written letters to the firms to ask them to disclose the reports yet neither firm has done so.

According to the Shwe Gas Movement, China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), a firm spearheading the consortium that will build and operate pipelines, hired the Hong Kong branch of the UK-based Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to conduct the ESHIA for the oil pipeline.

 A Canadian-owned firm based in Thailand called International Environmental Management Co., Ltd. (IEM), was also hired to conduct the ESHIA for the gas pipeline.

It is unclear whether either firm foresaw in their assessments that the pipeline route would be engulfed in fierce fighting between the Burmese government and KIO.

The initial pipeline route would have avoided most of the KIO's territory, however in early 2011 the pipeline route in Shan state was altered significantly. Under the old route the pipeline was slated to continue east at Hsipaw and reach Lashio before heading north to Kunming, but under the new route the pipeline makes a near 90 degree turn at Hsipaw heading directly north into KIO territory.

According to a senior Kachin Independence Army officer based in Shan state, repeated strikes by the KIO's armed wing against government targets has caused the Burmese army to lose at least 31 troops in northern Shan state over the past two weeks.