Villagers forced off their land by businessmen

LASANG AWNG WA (LEFT) AND ITS TROOPS.

Villagers from Bwi Daw claim two businessmen have forced them off their land at gunpoint.

Residents say Lasang Awng Wa and U Min Nyo have confiscated their land near Mali Hka River in Kachin State to expand a Djenkol Bean tree and fish farm.

A local said U Min Nyo threatened the villagers when they tried to return to their farms.

“U Min Nyo shouted at us as to not come back and grow paddy,” said the villager.

One Bwi Daw resident told the Kachin News Group, or KNG the businessmen have already destroyed about 30 acres of farm land which belonged to five families.  Thirty families have been landless since early April.

“The group destroyed our farms with tractors. We tried to discuss the matter with both of them. But we were only able to talk to Min Nyo. He told us we're too late. They already own the land. We have lost all hope for getting our land back to cultivate patty. We are very frustrated,” said the villager. 

The business men said the families are not entitled to the land because they don’t have permits. Before the land seizure most of the land was occupied by widows, said villager Ma Naw.

The villagers believe Lasang Awng Wa sold the confiscated lands to U Min Nyo.  Now that their livelihoods are ruined the residents are struggling to put food on the table to feed their families. Most moved to the area in 1992 to form Bwi Daw village. 

Lasang Awng Wa group have been operating in the Gwi Htu Pa valley since 2007. During this time they have continued to expand base of operations in the area surrounding Bwi Daw.

Land confiscations by business men or local officials in Kachin state are common. There is typically there no legal recourse for those who have been evicted.

Hundreds were forced off their farms to make way for the controversial Myitsone Dam which was being built by Burmese government contractors Asia World and CPI on the Irrawaddy River.  Although the dam project has been postponed none of the residents have been allowed to return to their land.