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| Opium Turns Hillside Town Into ‘Widow Village’ Posted: 09 Jan 2015 05:04 PM PST  A Chin hunter walks through a poppy field where large trees were felled to make way for poppy cultivation. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) KANZAM, Chin State — New Year's Eve passed quietly in Kanzam, a small village in northern Chin State. While other villages in remote Tonzang Township were busily preparing for a celebration, this one remained eerily still. Kanzam's old and weather-beaten Catholic chapel was barred shut and entirely without décor. No bells were ringing, no churchgoers singing, no priest stood in the chapel, once the holy heart of this pious village. Bordering India's Manipur and Mizoram states to the west and Sagaing Division to the east, Tonzang Township is Chin State's most mountainous and sparsely populated area, with little to no access to roads. Kanzam village dates back more than a century, its remaining residents said, and in the past it has been home to up to 100 people. In the 1990's, they said, a new crop was introduced to the hill-dwelling agrarians. Since opium crept into their lives, the village population dove to 22. There is not a single living man in his 30's left in Kanzam. In fact, the village is home to only three males, all around the age of 18. Neighboring villages refer to it with a spooky epithet—Widow Village—because drug use has claimed so many of its men. Only three children attend the local primary school, as their parents tend poppy fields and brew rice liquor in the daytime. "Drug dealers come through forests on mountain ranges, they don't use main roads," Chin State Police Chief Myint Lwin told The Irrawaddy after a recent visit to the desolate town. He explained that dealers from Moreh, in India, and from Sagaing Division's Tamu and Kale cross into the obscure terrain to buy raw opium, which was in high demand around 2010. At its peak, he said, the product brought in between 1 and 3 million kyats (US$1-3,000) per viss, a Burmese measurement equal to about 1.6 kilograms, or 3.6 pounds. As demand waned, however, prices dropped to around 700,000 kyats for the same yield. Despite the steep decline in value, poppy cultivation was still easier and more profitable than most other crops, so production remained steady. A rise in addiction followed naturally from increased production, and while the village's men were the first to fall, women have also become users. Mang Lian Lung, a woman from Kanzam, said that the drug helps her make it through long and difficult days in the fields. "I became addicted to opium while working at a poppy farm," she said. "The job is tiring, but smoking opium keeps me active. I know it's not good, but I can't help it." 'Poppy Made the Mountains Bald' The rugged top of the Arakan Yoma mountain range bulges through the center of Chin State, the poorest, sparsest and least connected of Burma's administrative regions. The climate and soils vary throughout the state, where many still rely on traditional agricultural practices. Villagers said that opium became a hot crop in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when drug and arms dealers from neighboring Sagaing Division paid villagers to take up cultivation. State police said the crop later seeped into other areas in the northern part of the state. Farmers adapted to the new production cycle: they cut and burn hillside forest in April and May, till in July, sow the seeds in August and September and harvest from December to March. The practice hasn't gone unnoticed, leaving a distinct mark on an otherwise untouched landscape. A hunter lamented that the felling of large trees to make room for poppy "has made the mountain bald." The complete history and scale of the problem in Chin State is still unknown. The United nations has been involved in anti-narcotics activities in Burma since 1974, but the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted its first cultivation survey in Chin State just last year. Only a negligible amount of the country's 670-ton annual production potential comes from Chin State (most of the country's opiates are sourced from the "golden triangle" where Shan State borders Thailand and Laos), but the new data shows cause for concern. Tonzang and nearby Tedim townships were areas of interest when the UNODC made rounds. Its research, drawn from field visits, interviews and various imaging systems, found that about 1,100 hectares of land were under cultivation in Chin State in 2014. A lack of any previous data meant that no trends could be yet be identified. To those who live there, however, the pattern is clear. Ba Min, chairman of the Kale district chapter of the National League for Democracy, said the drug problem "has become serious," and that local law enforcement and government officials are exacerbating the problem. Bribery and other forms of corruption are rampant, he said, hampering efforts to curb drug production and trafficking. "It is quite clear who is involved," he said. "It's an open secret." Authorities and locals are both hopeful that development will ease the dilemma, pinning their hopes on a new road being built from the coarse mountainside to Sagaing Division. Ease of transport will likely make a variety of crops more profitable for farmers, as they will no longer be faced with the choice of selling drugs to traffickers or walking seven miles to the nearest marketplace. "We don't grow poppy because we love it," confessed Mang Lian Kai, one of the three young men left in Widow Village. "We promise, we will never grow poppy again if a road and a mobile network are built." The post Opium Turns Hillside Town Into 'Widow Village' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Jan. 10, 2015) Posted: 09 Jan 2015 04:00 PM PST Burma Offshore Gas Project Faces Axe One of Burma's most promising offshore oil and gas projects is on an investment cancellation list drawn up by developer PTTEP if global oil prices continue their fall. The Thai state-owned oil company said its M3 Block in the Gulf of Martaban, where promising gas discoveries have been made, is one of five foreign investments now facing the axe. "If average oil prices fall to $55 a barrel, PTTEP and the PTT group may adjust investment plans. We could put a brake on [Burma's] M3 projects," PTTEP chief executive Tevin Vongvanich told a Press briefing in Bangkok this week. PTTEP signed a production-sharing contract with Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise in 2004 and has carried out surveys and some exploratory drilling in the 6,200 square kilometre (2,400 square mile) sea block. As the operator of the block with an 80% ownership PTTEP was scheduled to "continue a drilling campaign preparation for 5 appraisal wells and 1 exploration well" in 2015, the firm said on its website. PTTEP's minority partner with 20% is Mitsui Oil, a Japanese company. The M3 Block is in the same area as the Zawtika gas field which is also managed by PTTEP and began producing natural gas in 2014. Burma is receiving about 50 million cubic feet of gas per day from Zawtika but the bulk of production, about 250 million cubic feet per day, goes to Thailand. Uncertainty over PTTEP's M3 project coincides with concerns that the 5-year low global oil price may also affect some of the production sharing contracts currently being negotiated in Burma for 20 new offshore blocks. Licenses were granted last March to a number of foreign oil companies but to date only one has been converted into an actual exploration contract. Japan 'Ignores Land Rights Issues' in Haste to Invest in Burma Japanese companies have been accused of putting business before local rights in Burma in Tokyo's "attempt to curtail China's influence in Asia". Aided by the government-funded Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), companies have brushed aside land ownership rights, notably at the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a report in the Wall Street Journal said. "Haste and irresponsibility have so far undermined Japan's reputation as a friendly regional neighbor and have the potential to derail Burma's fragile peace process while exacerbating human rights concerns," it alleged, under the headline 'Japan's Misadventures in Burma'. The report was written by two analysts with the Burma Partnership, a collection of Burmese and foreign rights groups campaigning for democratic development. The Thilawa SEZ involves Japanese corporation heavyweights Marubeni, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, but "villagers have been forced to make way…often through coercion by Burmese authorities". "Around 300 people have already been relocated and thousands more will have to move during future phases of the project in return for inadequate compensation, poor quality housing, reduced livelihood opportunities and worsening access to essential services," said report authors Rin Fujimatsu and Alex Moodie. The report said the Burmese business partners in Thilawa working with the Japanese corporations are led by a man still on the US sanctions list, Dagon Win Aung. JICA is also involved in industrial project plans in Karen and Mon states where "resources remain heatedly contested," the report said. UN human rights representative Yanghee Lee will include issues relating to theft of land, or poor compensation for land taken for commercial developments, as well as the suppression of public protests against development projects, during her visit to Burma. She is in the country until Jan. 16. Mining Firms Line Up for Chin State Operations Surveys by a "joint task force" are being carried out in Chin State following applications for mining operations, a report said. "We are surveying the areas where about 26 mining companies have applied to conduct exploration in Chin State. If the companies ensure transparency, and the operations are beneficial to the local communities which also give their consent, we intend to approve them," state mining and forestry minister Kyaw Nyein, was quoted by Myanmar Business Today saying. Chin State has nickel, chromite, iron, copper, aluminium and limestone reserves, the minister said. However, he conceded that only the Naypyidaw government has authority to issue mining permits. There is ongoing local opposition to a project by a Chinese firm to extract nickel from the Mway and Phar mountains in the Tedim township area. Jade Trade 'Undermined' by Anti-Corruption Campaign in China A continuing crackdown on corruption in China is having an adverse knock-on effect on Burma's jade trade, a report said. Sales of jade slumped towards the end of 2014 and do not look promising for 2015 because many regular Chinese buyers are staying away, traders were quoted as saying by the Myanmar Times. Those that visit Burma are demanding price cuts, the traders said, and the availability of quality jade stone has deteriorated because armed conflict in Kachin State has disrupted mining operations. "China has also conducted a high-profile crackdown on its own corrupt officials, which some [traders] are blaming for falling interest from the country's buyers," the report said. The crackdown on corruption in China, led by President Xi Jinping, is one of the toughest and most public seen in the country for many years and has affected all areas of the economy. Burma-Laos Linking Bridge over Mekong to 'Open in March' An US$18 million bridge across the River Mekong linking Burma with Laos is ahead of construction schedule and is now expected to open in March, reports said. The bridge, more than 500 meters (1640 feet) long, is being financed by the governments of the two countries. On the Burmese side it starts at Kainglap in Shan State. The bridge is primarily intended to carry heavy commercial trucks and other vehicle traffic and will not be open to pedestrians or cyclists, said the regional tourism newspaper TTR Weekly. Construction supervisor Xaysongkham Manotham told local media that construction is more than 90% complete and ahead of schedule so should be ready for opening in March, TTR Weekly said. The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (Jan. 10, 2015) appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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