Myitsone dam prayer service leads to police summons

BAPTIST FOLLOWERS IN TANG HPRE HELD EASTER SUNDAY AT CROSS IN IRRAWADDY MYITSONE DAM SITE,27 MILES NORTH OF MYITKYINA.

BAPTIST FOLLOWERS IN TANG HPRE HELD EASTER SUNDAY AT CROSS IN IRRAWADDY MYITSONE DAM SITE,27 MILES NORTH OF MYITKYINA.

BAPTIST FOLLOWERS IN TANG HPRE HELD EASTER SUNDAY AT CROSS IN IRRAWADDY MYITSONE DAM SITE,27 MILES NORTH OF MYITKYINA.

A Kachin Baptist pastor's Easter prayer service at an historic cross at Myitsone dam site resulted in police demanding that he appear for questioning, according to sources close to the incident.

Rev. Nlam Brang Nu from Tang Hpre, a village forcibly relocated in 2010 to make way for the officially suspended mega dam project, was ordered to appear before police at the Aung Min Thar relocation site one day after holding the prayer service at the cross on a mountain near his old village.

According to our sources the reverend declined to obey the police summons.During the service, the reverend led a group of more than 50 followers in prayer urging the protection of the sacred confluence of the Mali Hka and N’Mai Hka rivers, known as the Myitsone.  The service was held at a location overlooking Tang Hpre village where church two old crosses remain in defiance of local authorities demands that they be taken down.

The two crosses were built on the mountain by members of the Baptist and Roman Catholic Churches in Tang Hpre.   According to local residents both crosses are over 100-year old.

Although local authorities have demanded that the crosses be taken down both crosses currently remain in place.  The Baptist cross was later modified by parishioners, according to Tsa Ji, a spokesperson of Kachin Development Networking Group which has been closely following the situation at the Myitsone.

The special prayer service was held in support of the historic crosses remaining in place and too honor the Irrawaddy river, according to participants.

The Myitsone dam project is being led by China's state-owned China Power Investment Corporation and its Burmese partner Asia World, owned by Lo Hsing Han (or Law Sit Han) and his son Steven Law, alleged by the US government to be involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.

The two notorious firms have stepped up their so far unsuccessful public relations campaign to convince former residents of Tang Hpre that the dam will be good for their future and good for the environment, said Tsa Ji. The firms are also offering more financial compensation to displaced families who have lost their land, according to former villagers.

According to relocated villagers from Tang Hpre, government officials at the Aung Min Thar relocation site have threatened villagers telling them “No one can stay” at Tang Hpre after the Water Festival, which ended April 16.

On April 14, a group of about 100 soldiers arrived at Tang Hpre to prevent anyone from trying to return to their now destroyed homes, according to villagers.

Despite President Thein Sein's surprise announcement last year that the controversial dam was officially suspended none of the thousands of villagers forcibly relocated to make way for the dam have been allowed to return to their homes. Instead all buildings in the five forcibly relocated villages have been destroyed.

CPI continues to keep a large group of its workers at the Myitsone dam site. A recently leaked memo written by Chinese officials to their Burmese counterparts reveals that construction on the dam will soon be restarted.