
Residents of a village located near the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Region’s Salingyi Township say they have been completely closed in by a fence constructed late last week.
Wet Hmay, a village of around 50 inhabitants, was surrounded last Thursday by security forces as posts were put in for a barbed-wire fence, residents said.
As of Sunday, the fence was nearly complete, they added.
Located just east of the mine site, the village had around 100 households until 2010, when most residents were forcibly relocated.
Nearly half of those still living there are children or elderly residents with nowhere else to go, according to locals, who said they were not given any warning about the move.
“Neither Wanbao nor the military provided us with any information about the fence. They just put it up without telling us,” said one resident, referring to the Chinese state-owned company that operates the mine together with the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, Ltd, a military-owned conglomerate.
“Wanbao relies on the military, which has been doing whatever it likes since seizing power. So Wanbao is also treating people unfairly,” he added.
While there were no reports of protests or arrests in the area over the weekend, some residents said that several shots were fired by security forces at the scene.

There are a number of villages around the mining project that are still inhabited, despite efforts to force residents to leave.
Among them are Se Te and Zee Taw, located south of the mine. In June of last year, defence forces based in the villages attacked junta troops in retaliation for killings carried out near the neighbouring village of Moe Gyo Pyin.
There are a number of armed resistance groups active in the area. In April of last year, they called for the closure of the mine, which has long faced opposition from local residents.
Since then, there have been numerous reports of local people being murdered by regime forces stationed in the area to protect the Chinese-backed project.
According to figures compiled by anti-junta groups based in the area, at least 17 local civilians have been killed near Letpadaung since the February 2021 coup.
Thousands have also been displaced by the regime’s efforts to secure the mine and the surrounding area.
In early June, an attack on a junta police station in the village of Nyaung Pin Gyi, north of the mine site, resulted in a series of attacks that left several people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed.