“The government should not proceed with a dam so strongly opposed by local people. It will only fuel conflict in Shan State,” said Khur Hseng, a spokesperson of the Action for Shan State Rivers.

The recent dam disaster in Laos, which caused scores of deaths and evacuation of thousands of villagers, has instilled fear of possible dam breakage among communities along the Namtu. The feasibility study for the ill-fated Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam project was carried out by the Swedish firm AF Consult, the same group which designed the Yeywa dam, the only existing dam on the Namtu, completed in 2011.

The Upper Yeywa dam is the most advanced of four planned dam projects on the Namtu. The Upper Yeywa dam is situated in Kyaukme township, northern Shan State, and involves companies from China, Switzerland, Germany, and Japan.

So far, the EU is refusing to reveal which EU members are still providing training, but Germany and Austria offered training only last year. If the EU think they are doing the right thing then surely they have nothing to hide, why not reveal details of the training? However, so far the EU is keeping details of the training a secret.

At the same time, the EU is spending €30 million on training the military controlled Burmese police force, which framed and arrested two Reuters journalists for exposing a massacre of Rohingya.