Residents of Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region, and local human rights groups told DVB that the Chinese company Wanbao Mining Ltd. has committed human rights violations with the support of the regime.
“Wanbao supports the regime [forces] when it raids villages,” a Salingyi resident told DVB. Wanbao Mining Ltd. operates the Letpadaung copper mine in Salingyi, which is located 27 miles (43 km) south of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa.
Salingyi residents told DVB that the military has carried out operations and fired artillery on the town from the Letpadaung copper mine.
“[Wanbao] is a project that provides full support, supplies, and communications to the military,” Chaw Su Han, a political activist living in Sagaing Region, told DVB.
Six civilians were killed and a hospital was damaged by airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar Air Force on Taze Township, which is located 69 miles (111 km) north of Monywa and 89 miles (143.2 km) south of Salingyi, on Nov. 24.
Thirteen Salingyi residents have been killed in 17 airstrikes, 11 artillery, and three arson attacks, from January to October this year, according to DVB data.
At least 432 people have been killed in 294 airstrikes across Sagaing Region since March 28. Airstrikes have killed 1,527 people and injured 3,462 nationwide since the March earthquake when rigorous documentation began.
Since 2021, at least 1,500 homes in 15 villages around Salingyi have been destroyed or damaged by arson attack, according to DVB data.
Research organization Data for Myanmar has documented 88,373 homes destroyed by arson attacks carried out by pro-regime forces nationwide—most of which have occurred in Sagaing Region.
In addition to these attacks, Chaw Su Han added that 12 families have been evicted from their homes without compensation when Wanbao Mining Ltd. expanded the Letpadaung mine for security reasons following the 2021 military coup.
“When your house burns down, at least you still have land, but if your land was confiscated, you have nothing left,” Chaw Su Han told DVB.
The Letpadaung copper mine, which was agreed to by the Myanmar government in 2010 and launched six years later, in 2016, is run by a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Norinco in partnership with Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), which is one of two major conglomerates owned by the Myanmar military.
Although it promises economic benefits, it has been plagued by land disputes, forced evictions, environmental damage, and violent crackdowns on local communities, according to residents and researchers.
“Wanbao [Mining Ltd.] is taking advantage of people who are in crisis since the coup,” Chaw Su Han told DVB.
The Letpadaung copper mine paused operations following the 2021 coup due to its employees joining the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a nationwide work stoppage by civil servants to protest the military takeover.
The company has reportedly resumed mining operations. Sagaing is Myanmar’s second-largest region geographically after Shan State.
Fighting between the People’s Defense Force (PDF), the armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG), and regime forces continues across multiple townships, including Salingyi.
The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) identifies Sagaing as having Myanmar’s highest rate of conflict-related displacement with an estimated 1.25 million people—about 35 percent of the country’s displaced population—forced from their homes.
Since 2021, Sagaing’s Indaw, Pinlebu, Khampat, Maw Luu, Shwe Pyi Aye and Myothit have been seized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and its allied PDF, according to DVB data.
They are among 103 towns nationwide now under resistance control. The regime has retaken at least 10 towns during a nationwide counteroffensive launched in July.
This includes Hsipaw, Nawnghkio, and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State, as well as Moebye town in southern Shan’s Pekon Township and Thabeikkyin Township in Mandalay Region, according to DVB data.
