Estevan, Sask. looks to canola-based diesel for jobs transition

Evan Radford, The Leader-Post

Sun., March 21, 2021, 

Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig hopes a proposed renewable diesel refinery in the area helps his city secure long-term jobs.

Two coal-fired units at SaskPower’s boundary dam are to close down this year and in 2024. “We can’t turn the clock back on that. Of course we’re looking at how do we transition for jobs in our area to keep the economic development moving forward?” he said.

To that end, Estevan is working with Covenant Energy CEO Josh Gustafson on his company’s pitch for a large renewable diesel refinery in the area.

Thanks to a provincial funding pot of $8 million over three years, the city and nearby communities have provided Covenant with $200,000 to do a feasibility study for the refinery.

Gustafson projects the refinery would process 6,500 barrels of renewable diesel per day. He said renewable diesel is different from biodiesel.

Both use oil from crushed canola seeds, but renewable diesel refines the oil in a process resembling what’s done with fossil-based crude. It means there’s little oxygen left in renewable canola-based diesel, which allows it to be used in sub-zero temperatures.

The refining process uses hydrogen and a catalyst, Gustafson said.

By using canola oil as a starting point, there’s “no ash or metals” left in a vehicle’s engine when it burns the refined product, he said.

Based on Covenant’s initial research, the company said in a media release the facility will yield “greenhouse gas emission reductions in the range of 80 to 85 per cent when compared to fossil fuel diesel.” It’s also to use recycled hydrogen in the refining process.

The renewable diesel would be sold to fuel distributors like Husky or Shell or Co-op, who would blend it into their diesel products sold to consumers.

The projected start year is 2023, though Gustafson doesn’t yet have a firm month or specific location nailed down. He hopes it will be in southeast Saskatchewan in the Estevan area.

Covenant suggests the facility’s operation will create a maximum 60 permanent jobs.

Ludwig said Estevan’s goal is to “create well-paying jobs in our community to make up for some of the potential job losses we see coming down the pike.”

Gustafson is also predicting a boost to the province’s agricultural sector, concluding based on his research the facility will create annual demand for 35 million bushels of canola seed.

Covenant Energy is based in Macoun, about 25 kilometres northwest of Estevan.

eradford@postmedia.com

Evan Radford, 
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Regina Leader-Post, The Leader-Post

EPA to review interference in science during the Trump administration

BY RACHEL FRAZIN - 03/24/21 

© Getty Images


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will look into any interference in science that may have occurred during the previous administration.

In an email sent to staff, EPA Administrator Michael Regan asked members of the agency to report any “items of concern” to scientific integrity officials.

“Manipulating, suppressing, or otherwise impeding science has real world consequences for human health and the environment,” Regan wrote in the email that was obtained by The Hill on Wednesday.


“When politics drives science rather than science informing policy, we are more likely to make policy choices that sacrifice the health of the most vulnerable among us,” he added.

An EPA spokesperson confirmed that the email was in reference to the executive order from President Biden that called on agency heads to review agency actions that were “promulgated, issued, or adopted between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.”

The New York Times previously obtained the email and reported that staffers are expected to highlight about 90 instances where scientific integrity was compromised.

According to The Times, these include the agency’s decisions on the now-scrapped Pebble Mine proposal, as well as those dealing with toxic chemicals and discounting studies on the negative impacts of a frequently used weedkiller called dicamba.

EPA head: 'COVID-19 created a perfect storm for environmental justice..

Senators eye rollback of Trump methane rule with Congressional Review...

Across various agencies, the Trump administration has faced accusations of violating scientific integrity.

Among them are reports that the administration’s COVID-19 policies didn’t always follow science and a watchdog report that found the Trump White House pushed for a correction to a National Weather Service tweet that contradicted then-President Trump’s assertion that Hurricane Dorian in 2019 was endangering Alabama.

At the EPA, the Trump administration in 2017 took down a webpage on climate change that was reinstated last week.

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Bill Gates-backed solar startup is bringing carbon-free power to the mining industry

By Matt Egan, CNN Business  

3/24/2021

Heliogen, the Bill Gates-backed clean energy startup, is bringing its field of mirrors to the Mojave Desert.

© Heliogen 

Los Angeles-based Heliogen harnesses the power of the sun to create the extreme heat required for mining, steel, cement and other industrial processes. The solar array pictured is not from the Rio Tinto mine, which has not yet launched the Heliogen platform.

In a bid to bring carbon-free power to heavy industry, Heliogen announced Wednesday that mining behemoth Rio Tinto plans to deploy the startup's breakthrough solar technology at California's largest open pit mine, located in Boron. Heliogen says this will be the first concentrated solar technology used to power a mine in the United States, and perhaps the world. 

 

© USGS/NASA Landsat/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images 

Heliogen's solar technology will be used to help power Rio Tinto's borax mine in Boron, California. Located in the Mojave Desert, the mine is the largest of its kind in the world.

Heliogen will use artificial intelligence and an array of 40,000 computer-vision-controlled mirrors to harness the power of the sun, almost like a smart magnifying glass. The first system at Rio Tinto will be the size of about 100 footfall fields, Heliogen told CNN Business.

The startup says its HelioHeat technology can create extreme heat — 1,000 degrees Celsius, or about a quarter of what's found on the surface of the sun. That's the kind of heat required to make cement, steel and in other industrial processes like mining that typically rely on fossil fuels to power their operations.

The announcement makes Rio Tinto, the world's second largest mining company, Heliogen's first announced customer. The partnership is a key test of whether Heliogen's technology can truly replace fossil fuels used to power large-scale industrial operations. And that could go a long way in fighting the climate crisis.

"It's not that this technology was not possible before -- just that it was not cost-effective," Heliogen founder and CEO Bill Gross told CNN Business in an email. "Heliogen's breakthrough is to make concentrated solar energy work after the sun goes down AND be cost effective compared to fossil fuel at the same time."

The companies say the partnership will allow Rio Tinto to cut its carbon footprint — while simultaneously slashing its energy costs.

"Our goal is to deliver completely carbon free energy to Rio Tinto for less than the cost of fossil fuels and with zero emission," Gross said.

Bringing carbon-free energy to nearly-century-old mine

Heliogen, backed by Gates and biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, emerged from stealth mode in late 2019 by announcing a solar breakthrough. For the first time, concentrated solar energy could be used to replace fossil fuels used in industrial processes. Last year, Time magazine named Heliogen's HelioHeat technology on its list of Best Inventions of 2020.

Now, Heliogen is teaming up with Rio Tinto on putting that technology to use.

Rio Tinto plans to use the Heliogen platform to help power the nearly-century-old California site, which mines borates, a mineral used in fertilizer, heat-resistant glass for smartphones and laptops, solar arrays and wind turbines. The mine, located in Boron, supplies almost half of the world's demaned for refined borates, according to Rio Tinto.

Normally, the facility relies on fossil fuels to make steam. But the partnership calls for Heliogen's AI-powered field of mirrors to generate 35,000 pounds per hour of carbon-free steam to help power the site.

The companies said the technology could cut Boron's carbon emissions by about 7% — equal to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road. And the Heliogen system will also capture and store the clean energy to power the mine's nighttime operations.

If this initial Heliogen installation is successful, Rio Tinto could scale up the use of the technology to reduce the site's carbon footprint by up to 24%.


Rio Tinto is spending $1 billion to shrink its carbon footprint

The companies said they would soon begin detailed planning and securing government permits. The aim is to launch the Heliogen platform next year — and explore rolling it out to other Rio Tinto sites around the world.

The Anglo-Australian multinational hopes Heliogen will help it chip away at its goal of slashing emissions nearly in half by 2030 relative to 2010 levels. Last year, process heat, which Heliogen is providing, accounted for 14% of Rio Tinto's direct and indirect emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2.

"This partnership with Heliogen has the potential to significantly reduce our emissions at Boron by using this groundbreaking solar technology, and we look forward to exploring opportunities across our global portfolio," Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said in a statement.

Rio Tinto has promised to spend about $1 billion on emissions reduction programs through 2025. The Heliogen partnership represents a multi-million dollar investment by Rio Tinto, Gross said, though the exact cost has not yet been determined.

Rio Tinto is also hoping to repair its reputation after the company destroyed a sacred Indigenous site in Australia last year. The destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia led to the resignation of former CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques, who got a huge payout for 2020 nonetheless.


Using AI to fight the climate crisis

Concentrated solar power is not brand new.

This use of mirrors to reflect the sun to a single point has been used previously to generate electricity and to create heat for industry. In Oman, it is used to create carbon-free power used to drill for oil.

But Heliogen says it takes this a step further by using AI and other sophisticated technology to align thousands of mirrors to a single point, creating far hotter temperatures than were possible in the past.

Now, Heliogen must convince industrial companies like Rio Tinto to ditch fossil fuels for the sun.

"Heliogen is being bombarded with customers from all over the world," Gross said, "from every industry ranging from metals, to cement, to utilities, to Hydrogen production."

 Rallies held in 20 cities across Myanmar despite rising death toll

An anti-coup protester throws a molotov cocktail towards police at Taketa township in Yangon, Myanmar Saturday, March 20, 2021. Protests against the coup continued Saturday in cities and town across the country, including in Mandalay and Yangon. (AP Photo)

March 21 (Reuters) -- Demonstrators in Myanmar maintained their dogged opposition to military rule on Sunday despite a rising death toll, with two more people killed as the junta appeared equally determined to resist growing pressure to compromise.

The country has been in turmoil since the military overthrew an elected government led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, bringing an end to 10 years of tentative democratic reform.

One man was shot dead and several were wounded when police opened fire on a group setting up a barricade in the central town of Monywa, a doctor there said as a community group issued a call on Facebook for blood donors.

Later, one person was killed and several were wounded when security forces fired on a crowd in the second city of Mandalay, the Myanmar Now news portal reported.

At least 249 people have now been killed since the coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group.

The violence has forced many citizens to think up novel ways to express their rejection of a return to army rule.

Protesters in some 20 places across the country staged candle-lit, nighttime protests over the weekend, from the main city of Yangon to small communities in Kachin State in the north, Hakha town in the west and the southernmost town of Kawthaung, according to a tally of social media posts.

Hundreds of people in the second city of Mandalay, including many medical staff in white coats, marched in a "Dawn protest" before sunrise on Sunday, video posted by the Mizzima news portal showed.

"Failure of the military regime, our cause our cause ... federal democracy, our cause our cause," the crowd chanted as the sky was beginning to brighten and birds called from trees lining deserted streets.

Protesters in some places were joined by Buddhist monks holding candles while some people used candles to make the shape of the three-fingered protest salute.

Others came out later on Sunday, including the crowd in Monywa, where police opened fire.

"Sniper, sniper," people can be heard shouting in a video clip shortly after the man was shot in the head and more shots rang out.

The spokesman for the junta was not available for comment but has previously said security forces have used force only when necessary.

State media said on Sunday that men on motorbikes attacked a member of the security forces who later died. The military said two policemen were killed in earlier protests.

'FOREIGN INSULTS'

The junta says a Nov. 8 election won by Suu Kyi's party was fraudulent, an accusation rejected by the electoral commission. Military leaders have promised a new election but have not set a date.

Western countries have repeatedly condemned the coup and the violence. Asian neighbors, who have for years avoided criticizing each other, have also begun speaking out.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have denounced the use of lethal force and called for the violence to stop. The Philippines has expressed concern.

Indonesia and Malaysia want an urgent meeting of Southeast Asia's regional grouping, of which Myanmar is a member, on the crisis.

But the military, which sees itself as the sole guardian of national unity and ruled for nearly 50 years after a 1962 coup, has shown no sign of even considering back-tracking on its seizure of power.

Coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing visited the Coco islands, one of Myanmar's most strategically important outposts, 400 km (250 miles) south of Yangon, on Saturday and reminded members of the armed force there that their main duty was to defend the country against external threats.

The state-run Kyemon newspaper prominently featured a quote from independence hero Aung San, Suu Kyi's father, who in 1947 said: "It is everyone's duty to sacrifice their lives and defend and fight back against foreign countries' insults."

Suu Kyi, 75, faces accusations of bribery and other crimes that could see her banned from politics and jailed if convicted. Her lawyer says the charges are trumped up.

Australia's SBS News reported that two Australian business consultants were detained as they tried to leave Myanmar, but it was not clear why. The broadcaster quoted an Australian foreign ministry spokeswoman as declining to comment on the two for privacy reasons.

Burma

French Energy Giant Halts Myanmar Hydropower Project Over Human Rights Concerns

Anti-coup protesters carried a protester who was wounded during a crackdown by security forces in Yangon. / The Irrawaddy

By THE IRRAWADDY 20 March 2021

French energy giant Électricité de France has suspended a hydropower project worth more than US$1.5 billion (2.11 trillion kyats) in Myanmar’s Shan State over human rights concerns as the military regime continues to use lethal force to crack down on anti-coup protesters across the country.

As of Friday, more than 230 civilians had been killed by the junta’s security forces in their crackdowns on peaceful pro-democracy protesters in the country.

Électricité de France (EDF) notified human rights groups on Friday that it has halted development of the Shweli-3 Project, including the activities of its subcontractors. Led by EDF, the 671 MW project was being jointly developed with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and locally owned Myanmar Ayeyar Hinthar Company.

The companies received a Notice to Proceed in 2018 under the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government. It was expected to generate 3 billion kWh of electricity annually for the national grid and supply power to more than 8.5 million residents across the country.

In February, coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the regime would “continue to implement” existing hydropower projects. Since the Feb. 1 coup, however, human rights concerns among foreign investors have cost Myanmar the opportunity to implement billions of dollars’ worth of projects. In early February, work on a $1-billion modern industrial hub backed by Thailand’s largest industrial estate developer, Amata Corporation, was suspended due to fears that sanctions would be imposed by Western countries.

Japanese beverage giant Kirin also ended its beer business partnership with a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate, Myanma Economic Holdings Public Co. Ltd. (MEHL), following the coup. Moreover, prominent Singaporean businessman Lim Kaling pulled out of a joint venture with ties to MEHL that operated the country’s most popular cigarette business.

EDF said it adheres to fundamental human rights principles and the conventions of the International Labor Organization, as well as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, in every project in which it takes part. The company said it is following developments in Myanmar in close collaboration with French and European Union authorities.

Human right groups Justice for Myanmar and France-based Info Birmanie welcomed EDF’s decision, saying proceeding with the project would have involved doing business with the military junta, whom they described as criminals and said were deliberately killing peaceful protesters in what amounted to crimes against humanity.

Sophie Brondel, coordinator of Info Birmanie, said EDF’s decision to suspend the Shweli-3 hydropower project is a milestone and indicates the way forward for French companies in Myanmar.

“We especially call on all companies with ties to the junta to cut those ties. Businesses have a responsibility to stand on the side of democracy and to make sure they are not fueling the junta. Status quo is not an option,” Brondel said.

Human rights groups are putting pressure on international businesses to cut ties with the military regime over concerns that their investments would fund the regime’s brutal treatment of its citizens.

Recently, rights groups and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a committed formed by elected lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy government, have repeatedly urged major foreign-owned oil and gas companies including France’s Total SE, Malaysia’s Petronas, Thailand’s PTT and South Korea’s POSCO to suspend business ties with the military regime.

France's EDF says Myanmar dam project halted over coup

By AFP

PUBLISHED:  21 March 2021 

NGOs say human rights violations are 'systemic' in the region of the hydropower project

An international consortium has suspended a $1.5-billion hydropower dam project in Myanmar in response to last month's military coup, consortium member Electricite de France, a French utility, said Sunday.

Nearly 250 people are confirmed dead in protests since the February 1 military coup, according to tolls compiled by NGOs, and more than 2,300 others have been arrested.

International condemnation from Washington, Brussels and the United Nations has so far failed to halt the bloodshed.

"The project is suspended," an EDF spokesman told AFP on Sunday of the dam project.

The Shweli-3 671-megawatt project, still at an early planning stage, is run by a consortium of EDF -- which is majority-owned by the French state -- the Japanese Marubeni conglomerate and local company Ayeyar Hinthar.

NGOs welcomed the decision, with Justice for Myanmar calling Shan state, where Shweli-3 is located, a region with "ongoing conflict and systemic grave human rights violations".

In a letter to Justice for Myanmar and published on the NGO's website, EDF said "the respect of fundamental human rights" was a condition for all of its projects.

Several NGOs have also been pushing French energy giant Total to pull out of Myanmar, with Greenpeace accusing the company of being one of the military regime's main financial contributors.

Total issued a statement Friday in which it said it conducts its activities "in a responsible fashion, with respect for the law and for universal human rights".

"We are concerned by the current situation and we hope that a peaceful resolution, reached through dialogue, will allow the Myanmar people to pursue their quest for peace and prosperity," the statement said.

Burma

Two More Including 16-Year-Old Boy Killed as Myanmar Regime Continues Crackdowns

The security forces who took part in a crackdown on anti-regime protesters in Karen State's Hpa-an on Thursday morning.


By THE IRRAWADDY 25 March 2021

Two more people were killed and several injured in four locations on Wednesday night and Thursday morning as Myanmar’s security forces continued their brutal raids.

The protest-related death toll since the Feb. 1 coup stood at 262 as of Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, police and soldiers opened fire indiscriminately as they raided Aung Pin Lae ward in Mandalay’s Chanmythazi Township.

During the raid, a 16-year-old boy was reportedly killed and three people were injured when regime forces started shooting.

A Mandalay-based charity group told The Irrawaddy it had been unable to retrieve the body of the slain boy or assist the injured, as police and troops opened fire on ambulances on Wednesday night.

Since a confrontation in the area between the regime’s security forces and anti-regime protesters on March 21, police and soldiers have conducted a series of deadly raids targeting not only protesters but also bystanders, pedestrians and residents in Aung Pin Lae, Aung Tharyar and Mya Yi Nandar wards.

The raids have claimed the lives of more than 20 people, including three children aged 6, 15 and 16.

Meanwhile, in Mandalay Region’s Kaukpadaung Township, a 23-year-old man was shot dead and three people were injured at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night during a deadly crackdown by security forces against a nighttime anti-regime protest.

On Thursday morning, several people were injured as security forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters in Shan State’s capital Taunggyi and in the Karen State capital, Hpa-an.

Despite the daily deadly crackdowns, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets day and night to show their defiance of military rule.

Myanmar Protest Death Toll Climbs As Regime’s Troops Keep Shooting

Topics: Aung Pin Lae, bystanders, Children, Coup, crackdown, death toll, deaths, injured, killed, Military, Police, protesters, raids, regime, security forces, shootings, soldiers, ward

Guest Column

Thailand Must Be a Friend to the People of Myanmar

Anti-regime protesters confront security forces in Yangon on March 16. / The Irrawaddy

By KASIT PIROMYA 25 March 2021

Ten years ago, when Myanmar’s then-ruling junta initiated a series of reforms to open the country up after decades of military rule, I was Thailand’s foreign minister. I remember well how myself and other ASEAN foreign envoys met regularly with our Myanmar counterpart ahead of Myanmar’s 2010 general election—a heavily flawed vote, but one that would pave the way for some form of democracy in the country.

These meetings were typically informal, taking place over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, but were important in assisting the Myanmar government in keeping to its plan of moving beyond its isolationist rule, and being accepted into the international fold. Through these meetings, ASEEAN in many ways became the midwife in Myanmar’s reform process.

There were well-documented flaws in the years of quasi-civilian rule that followed, including in the National League for Democracy government, which came to power following the country’s first free and fair election in decades, held in 2015. Yet, there can be little doubt that improved job opportunities and greater freedoms were cause for optimism among much of Myanmar’s population and the regional and international communities.

With the Feb. 1 coup, those gains have been stripped away, and the country’s economy now stands on the brink of collapse, while every day the military commits violence towards unarmed protesters. The current crisis in Myanmar is not good for anyone: not the Myanmar people, not Thailand, not ASEAN.

As a body that played such an important role in helping to initiate the reforms in Myanmar, ASEAN not only has the right, but the responsibility, to act decisively and take concrete actions to ensure that Myanmar’s generals end the violence, reverse their coup, respect the will of the people, and allow democracy to prevail in Myanmar.

Such a move will require leadership from some of ASEAN’s member states. Since the Feb. 1 coup, however, Thailand has not demonstrated this.

Thailand played an important role in the opening of Myanmar 10 years ago, particularly as the ASEAN chair in 2009, encouraging Myanmar to release political prisoners, and to be inclusive of all political parties in the leadup to the 2010 election.

Sadly, I have been deeply disappointed by my government’s response—or lack thereof—regarding the violence and chaos that has been unleashed in our neighboring country.

On the day of the coup, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha described the situation as “an internal affair” for Myanmar, while Thailand’s most recent statement on the crisis, issued on March 11, expressed sadness about the loss of lives and called on “all sides” to exercise restraint and flexibility. This as Myanmar’s security forces have turned their guns on largely peaceful protesters in recent weeks, killing more than 200 people.

It is in Thailand’s best interests to respond effectively. With Myanmar’s economy, and government apparatus, on the brink of collapse, the country is at a tipping point. A further deterioration of conditions in Myanmar would almost certainly lead to a refugee crisis in Thailand, placing greater strain on its resources, while chaos and fighting at the two countries’ borders would risk the proliferation of illicit goods, notably arms and drugs. The risk of the spread of COVID-19 would also increase.

Instead of standing on the sidelines, Thailand should use its relationship with the Myanmar generals to ensure they immediately stop the ongoing bloodshed, and help them realize that they are isolated at home and abroad: The entire nation is uniting against their illicit power grab and the region has had enough of having to defend them in the global arena.

Thailand should publicly and proactively support efforts made by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, which have all pushed for the bloc to play a direct role in addressing the disastrous situation in Myanmar. Last week Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for a special ASEAN leaders’ summit to discuss the situation in Myanmar.

The meeting should include an invitation to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, to establish a strong and decisive joint response to the ongoing crisis. It would also offer an opportunity to arrange a joint delegation between ASEAN and Schraner Burgener to travel to Myanmar to monitor the situation and help negotiate a democratic solution.

Thailand should support such a meeting, and extend an official invitation to the UN Special Envoy to come to the region. Thailand must also ensure that all those escaping Myanmar are allowed to seek asylum and be granted protection as refugees.

Beyond the special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar, one immediate step the grouping should also consider would be to not extend any invitation to the junta’s officials to attend its meetings as long as the violence against peaceful protesters continues.

Until now, ASEAN has hidden behind its much-criticized “principle of non-interference” as an excuse for not stepping up on the Myanmar issue, yet when member states demonstrate the political will to act, the non-interference principle is effectively ignored. In 2005, for example, ASEAN leaders pressured Myanmar to forfeit its role as the bloc’s chair the following year after the US and EU governments threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings. After the devastation of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the grouping was also able to engage with Myanmar’s generals, who had rejected international assistance, and played a crucial role in ensuring humanitarian assistance reached affected communities.

The breaking of the non-interference rule has not only occurred in the context of Myanmar. When I was Thailand’s foreign minister, ASEAN intervened to help put an end to a border dispute between ourselves and Cambodia.

So it’s clear that ASEAN could do more; it is just a matter of political leadership and willingness. Thailand should be at the forefront of the group’s response and play the significant role it once had in the region’s foreign policy.

Thailand’s government was a friend to the Myanmar people in the past, assisting in helping to bring an end to decades of military rule. Instead of standing on the side of Myanmar’s generals, who have wrought devastation on the country, it’s time for our government to support the Myanmar people, and be their friend once again during their time of need.

Kasit Piromya is a board member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), and is a former Thai foreign minister.

This article was first published in The Bangkok Post.

Burma

Myanmar Energy and Electricity Staff Pressured to End Strike

Ministry of Electricity and Energy staff on strike. / The Irrawaddy


By THE IRRAWADDY 24 March 2021

Naypyitaw — Striking Ministry of Electricity and Energy staff in Naypyitaw say they are being pressured to return to work.

Around 150 striking Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE) staff said they had received phone calls threatening suspension and prosecution if they fail to return to work. They said they were also told to leave their government accommodation.

However, staff remain in their quarters because the ministry has issued no official notice on their case.

“If they dismiss us and ask us to leave the staff quarters with an official letter, we will leave. But that still would not comply with rules for civil servants,” said a ministry employee.

Most of those on strike are junior staff and the phone threats were made by managers who chose to work for the military regime, said a striking EPGE employee.

“Some ministries have issued official notices but we have received no notifications, only threats from senior officials,” said the employee.

Most of the ministry’s projects have stalled because of the civil disobedience movement against the regime which started in early February.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications, Myanma Railways and other government departments have dismissed hundreds of striking staff and are evicting them from their accommodation.

Government employees went on strike against the military in 1988, after which many were dismissed, demoted or transferred to remote areas.

Burma

Nation of Ghost Towns Defies Myanmar Junta With ‘Silent Strike’

A deserted neighborhood in downtown Yangon on Wednesday. / The Irrawaddy

“I have never experienced that kind of silence in my life, not even during the COIVD,”  said a city resident.

By THE IRRAWADDY 24 March 2021

Myanmar was a nation of ghost towns Wednesday as opponents of the military regime collectively shamed the junta’s recent claims of “normalcy” in the country by staying home and shutting down their businesses in city after city.

People across the country were on “Silent Strike” as part of their ongoing opposition against the military regime that grabbed power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government on Feb. 1 by staging a coup.

Since mid-February, major cities across the country have been reeling from chaos caused by violence and deadly crackdowns by soldiers and police on anti-regime protesters. Shops and markets have cut their business hours short due to frequent and fatal confrontations between security forces and protesters on the streets. Many closed their businesses entirely out of fear. Roads that used to be crowded with traffic are now blocked by barricades set up by protesters to deter the advancement of troops.

Beginning last week, the regime launched a serious effort to reopen businesses by force and clear roadblocks with the occasional use of forced labor, grabbing anyone they saw on the road or from their homes.

Then they trumpeted on state-owned and military-controlled media that “markets and malls at some townships in Yangon (Myanmar’s business hub) have reopened as situations returned to normalcy.”

In response to the regime’s claim of normalcy, people campaigned online to launch a one-day silent strike partly to prove that the claim was wrong and also to demonstrate another form of defiance against the junta.

On Wednesday, roads in major cities like Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw, Monywa and others were mostly deserted.

A nearly empty road in Yangon as the people of Myanmar

 observed “Silent Strike” against the regime on Wednesday. 

/The Irrawaddy

Major businesses like the country’s biggest retail malls like City Mart, Ocean announced they were closed. Taxi and delivery service Grab suspended its service. Local wet markets turned dry as they only opened a few hours in the morning to let people buy necessities. Even corner stores like ABC and City Express were closed. Wholesale markets were no exception. Even protesters took a day off.

With a handful of cars on the road and few people out to shop for necessities, downtown Yangon on Wednesday was reminiscent of the COVID lockdown period that the city underwent nearly one year ago. On some shady roads of the city, stray dogs napped safely under the hot mid-day sun as there was no vehicle traffic to interrupt their freedom.

Myanmar second biggest city, Mandalay, totally plunged into silence after 8 a.m. Wednesday. The city’s busiest area near Zay Cho market was totally deserted, according to witnesses. Buddhist monks who normally went around the city in the morning to receive food and other offerings broke their ritual on Wednesday.

“I have never experienced that kind of silence in my life, not even during the COIVD,” said U Kyaw Thiha, a city resident.

The 40-year-old added that the strike on Wednesday was a testament of the people’s unity when it came to saying no to the junta.

“We have no leader telling us what to do. People just join together out of their conscience to oppose the dictatorship,” he said.

LIKE GHOULS FROM PRECINCT 13

Burma
Myanmar Security Forces Snatch the Bodies of Those They Have Slain

The funeral ceremony of 16-year-old teashop waiter is seen before the dead body was taken by force by the military regime.

By THE IRRAWADDY 24 March 2021

Security forces of Myanmar’s military regime are trying to seize the bodies of those they killed when they fired on anti-regime protesters, bystanders and pedestrians in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city.

A Mandalay-based charity group assisting wounded people and providing funeral services to those killed by security forces told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that since March 5 they have had to conduct four funeral ceremonies without bodies because those killed had been cremated by the security forces themselves.

The group also said that the number of bodies taken might be higher because many of the dead and wounded were taken away by security forces after a series of recent shootings in the city.

Security forces conducted a series of raids in several wards in Chanmyathazi Township including Aung Pin Lae, Aung Tharyar and Mya Yi Nandar over three days after a confrontation between them and peaceful anti-regime protesters on March 21.

During the deadly raids, at least 20 people were killed and about a hundred were injured, according to residents and charity groups.

On Monday, security forces, claiming they need to conduct an autopsy, interrupted a funeral ceremony in Chanayethazan Township. They took the body of a 16-year-old teashop waiter slain in a Sunday night raid by force.

A video from Mandalay also shows a man who appears to be dead being loaded onto a prisoner transport vehicle by the security forces and people in plainclothes.

On March 4, security forces in Mandalay exhumed the body of a 19-year-old woman who was shot dead by soldiers and police on March 3 in a crackdown against anti-regime protest.

The next day, Myanmar’s military regime refused to admit responsibility for killing the woman, saying the lead in her skull did not match police riot-control rounds. However, media members witnessed security forces also using deadly air-guns firing lead pellets during the crackdown.

Military forces in Mandalay also refused to admit the killing of a 26-year-old man, who died at a military hospital after not getting proper treatment for wounds to his head and his leg received when security forces fired live rounds on Feb.20. Instead, the military insisted the man died of COVID-19.

Charity groups providing funeral services for those killed said that earlier in the conflict between protesters and security forces the military would transfer the bodies of those who were killed to the families after performing an autopsy.

However, they later stopped transferring the bodies back to families.

Mandalay residents believe that military forces want to avoid responsibility for their killing and reduce the death toll by manipulating autopsies.

The elder sister of a 6-year-old girl named Ma Khin Myo Chit, who was shot dead by the security forces on Tuesday afternoon, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that they held a funeral ceremony for the girl secretly because security forces are searching them.

The girl was shot to death at close-range during a house raid at Aung Pin Lae in Chanmyathazi Township. The frightened girl was slain while being hugged by her father.

(Initial reports were that Ma Khin Myo Chit was 7 years old. The family now confirms that she was 6.

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The funeral of a 6-year-old girl named Ma Khin Myo Chit is held by the family in Mandalay secretly.

During the raid, a 19-old-man, the girl’s brother, was also beaten and taken away by security forces.

The family member said that security forces also searched their house again last night while they all were away from home. Now, they are hiding at another location in the city, the victim’s sister said.

“Their brutal behavior is beyond tolerance. There is no word to describe their actions,” said the elder sister of the 6-year-old girl.

Also, family members of another victim — Ko Chan Thar Htwe, 21, who was shot dead by the security forces on Tuesday’s morning — left their home in Aung Thayar ward in Chanmyathazi Township on Wednesday after security forces began enquiring in the neighborhood about their location.

At a time when there were no protests in the street, Ko Chan Thar Htwe was deliberately shot in the head by security forces from long range while he was in front of his house and attempting to get inside on Tuesday morning.

Ko Than Niang Htun, brother of the victim, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that security forces arrived near their home on Tuesday afternoon while they were sending his brother’s dead body to the hospital.

He said that they held the funeral ceremony for his younger brother secretly on Tuesday after moving to two locations.

“Even after my brother has been killed, all our family members had to run away of them,” said Ko Than Naing Htun.

On Tuesday, two more people aged in 36 and 27 were also killed by police and soldiers during raids against the residents at Aung Pin Lae ward in Chanmyathazi Townsip.

During the recent deadly crackdowns in several Yangon’s townships, Bago, Pyay and Mandalay, bodies of victims have been taken away by security forces.

Amid the deadly crackdowns, tens of thousands of people across the country have taken to the streets to defy the military rules.

As of Tuesday, about 260 people have been killed by the security forces of military junta during their shooting against the anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents.

  

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