10 June 2026 By Cherry May
MYITKYINA, Myanmar — A powerful coalition of 129 civil society and Kachin organizations has issued a stern ultimatum to Myanmar’s military junta, demanding an immediate and permanent halt to recent attempts to revive the controversial Myitsone mega-dam project, warning that the move will drag the region into a far more volatile phase of armed conflict.
The joint declaration was published on Tuesday, 9 June, timed to mark the grim 15th anniversary of the resumption of the civil war in Kachin State. The coalition asserted that the junta’s aggressive maneuvers to restart the suspended multi-billion dollar hydropower project at the source of the Ayeyarwady River represent a deliberate provocation that will profoundly deepen socio-political divisions and court catastrophic ecological disasters.
The crisis unfolds against a backdrop of devastating humanitarian collapse. Since the reactivation of the Kachin conflict in June 2011, the military regime’s reliance on indiscriminate airstrikes and scorched-earth campaigns has forced the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state to skyrocket to at least 244,500. Local aid networks warn that the unverified figure on the ground is likely significantly higher.
According to the joint text, the military high command is weaponizing human suffering by systematically cutting off internet access and shutting down major transport arteries, effectively engineering an artificial blockade to prevent emergency aid from reaching displaced populations.
“The Ayeyarwady River is the primary lifeblood of Myanmar, and attempts to destroy it must be stopped,” the coalition stated. The 129 signatory groups called directly on international donors to increase humanitarian funding and bypass junta restrictions by routing assistance directly into territories administered by ethnic revolutionary forces. Furthermore, they urged global leaders to deploy multi-layered diplomatic and economic leverage to halt the regime’s daily, unprovoked air campaign.
The Myitsone project—originally funded by Chinese state-backed corporations—was officially shelved in 2011 following an unprecedented nationwide public outcry regarding its severe environmental impact and the displacement of dozens of indigenous villages.
However, since the beginning of this year, the unrecognized administration of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has desperately sought to court foreign capital by moving to reactivate the dam, a strategy independent analysts view as a bid to secure geopolitical backing from neighboring superpowers amid crushing structural defeats on the battlefield.
As the civilian population, ethnic administration organs, and grassroots environmental defenders unify their resistance against the dam’s revival, observers warn that any physical move by the military to break ground on the Myitsone will irrevocably shatter any prospects of regional stability, plunging northern Myanmar deeper into an unchecked humanitarian catastrophe.
