Asia Highway

A substitute location has been found in the Karen State’s Hpapun Township to run a rock quarry for the Asia Highway project after the suspension of the quarry in Lun-nya-taung, the Karen State Minister of Environment, Forestry, Mines, and Road and Communication Saw Pyi Thar said. A Chinese contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), has been producing stone materials…

Karen community based organisations have condemned the Asia Highway project for displacing local communities who had the “misfortune of standing in the way of transnational interests” in a report. The report, entitled ‘Beautiful Words, Ugly Actions: The Asian Highway in Karen State’ documents a range of community concerns regarding the Asia Highway project, which is part of a much larger…

Local residents said mortars and gunfire exploded yesterday morning on the new Myawaddy-Kawkariek Asia Highway. A Karen soldier stationed close to the area and who heard the shooting said. “The explosions sounded like three mortars and four or five shots of small guns. It lasted for about 10 minutes. The shooting seems be from the hillside close to the road…

In an open letter to the Karen National Union Chairperson General Mutu Sae Poe, on Saturday 29 August 2015, a coalition of international based Karen groups accused the KNU leader that by attending the Burma government’s opening ceremony of the Asian Highway as a ‘special guest’ he would be adding a veneer that would allow the government to ignore recent…

The Burma Army was quick to replace its South-Eastern Division Commander, following his failure to prevent the recent closure of the Asia Highway due to fighting between the DKBA and government troops. Major General Tin Maung Win was replaced by Brigadier General Myo Win attached to the Military Operation Command 19. A security specialist based on Thai-Burma border who requested…