Myanmar's Suu Kyi defends protest-hit mine project

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged protesters Wednesday to accept a controversial Chinese-backed mine that was the scene of a violent crackdown last year, or risk hurting the economy. The Nobel laureate, visiting villages near the mine in Monywa, northern Myanmar, said local people and the wider economy would suffer if the project was stopped, despite fears about the environment and land grabbing. A parliamentary report overseen by Suu Kyi -- released on Tuesday -- said police used phosphorus against demonstrators at the mine last year in the harshest crackdown on protesters since the end of military rule. However, the probe into the November clampdown, which left dozens wounded including monks, recommended the mine project should not be scrapped, despite conceding it only brought "slight" benefits to the nation. "If we stop this project, it will not benefit local people or the country," Suu Kyi told around 200-300 villagers on Wednesday, many of whom apparently had yet to hear the probe's findings. "The other country (China) might think that our country cannot be trusted on the economy," she added. "We have to get along with the neighbouring country whether we like it or not." Since decades of brutal junta rule ended two years ago, Myanmar has seen protests against land grabbing as disgruntled rural people test the boundaries of their freedom to demonstrate under a reform-minded government. Chinese-backed projects to tap the nation's abundant natural resources have sparked particular resentment. The Monywa mine dispute echoes fierce opposition to a Chinese-backed mega-dam which was suspended in September 2011 after a public outcry. Many defiant local residents want the mine -- a joint venture between Chinese firm Wanbao and military-owned Myanmar Economic Holding -- to be shut down. "We absolutely cannot accept the destruction of our village," said Soe Tint, 43, a farmer from Se Te village near the mine where a protest camp has been erected. "We will continue to hold the protest camp until they close down the project," he told AFP. Speaking at a second village where the crowd had swollen to around 500 people Suu Kyi urged those unhappy with her report to "protest at my house".