Bangladeshis flee as tensions rise over Myanmar dam

Bangladeshis flee as tensions rise over Myanmar dam
REUTERS

JAN16: Bangladeshi villagers are fleeing their homes along the border with Myanmar as tension mounts over Myanmar's plan to build a dam on a river dividing the two countries, border officials said on Tuesday.

"Over 3,000 people have already left their homes for safety as both the countries concentrated forces along the border," Mostaque Ahmed, chairman of bordering Howaikong village council told Reuters.

Military officials said earlier Myanmar had deployed 35,000 troops along the 320-km (200-mile) border, and Bangladesh has nearly 20,000 soldiers facing them.

The two sides exchanged gunfire across the river on Monday.

Bangladeshi officials said military-ruled Myanmar started building the dam last week on the river Naf, some 100 km (62 miles) south-east of Cox's Bazar, but halted construction after the shooting.

Myanmar said it was building a weir on the river to protect an island from erosion triggered by a dam Bangladesh built a year ago.

"Locals on the Bangladesh side had built a concrete dam on the bank of the Naf river last year despite the protest made by Myanmar," Myanmar's ambassador Ohn Thwin told Reuters.

The Bangladesh dam caused the erosion of the Kyi island in Myanmar's territory, Thwin said. "In order to prevent further erosion of the Kyi island Myanmar decided to erect a weir on Dafari creek," he added.

Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury said his country was making efforts to reduce the tension but declined to elaborate on Thwin's comments.