Thousands of civilians trapped as rebel groups in Myanmar fight for influence as a China-driven economic boom looms
In this picture taken on January 13, 2019, a woman with her child walks past a poster at a monastery-turned-temporary shelter for internally displaced people in Hsipaw, Shan State.
The unrest is fiendishly complex, with a web of ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's military for land, resources and autonomy. The potential riches of controlling the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor is a "huge factor" behind the current clashes, said Yangon-based independent analyst David Mathieson.There have been cyclical attempts by Shan rebel factions to encroach on rivals' territory, but now they are turning on each other with increased ferocity.
A Chinese-funded dam at Myitsone on the Ayeyarwady river in northern Kachin state was mothballed in 2011 after widespread protests over the environmental damage likely to be wrought while returning little to local people.If completed, the $3.6 billion project would flood an area twice the size of Singapore and displace thousands.
Meanwhile, the still-powerful military -- known as the Tatmadaw -- has declared a temporary ceasefire in Shan. Back in the monastery civilians are caught between factions warring over a bonanza they are unlikely to ever benefit from.
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