"Myanmar junta troops and police try to evict villagers near Chinese copper project" 9 August 2023

Junta troops and police have told the residents of a village near a Chinese-run copper project in Myanmar’s Sagaing region they will be forcibly evicted if they don’t leave, locals told RFA on Wednesday.

China’s state-owned Wanbao Company runs the Letpadaung Copper Project in Salingyi township in a joint venture with a company owned by Myanmar’s military.

It fenced off Wet Hmay village on August 6, on the pretext that the village is in the mine’s project area, and told all 35 households to move out of the village permanently.

On Tuesday, Wanbao officials summoned six villagers and told them to inform all residents that they needed to leave as soon as possible...company officials told the [village] representatives if they didn’t get an immediate response they would take no responsibility for the actions of the troops and police...

Residents said junta troops have already occupied many parts of Wet Hmay and have been threatening locals and telling them to leave.

Wanbao has repeatedly attempted to enclose the village with a fence, but villagers have objected, delaying the project. Locals claim that this time is different because soldiers and police have been dispatched to clear out the village and fence it off.

RFA contacted the junta spokesperson for Sagaing region and Wanbao but nobody answered.