Energy and the Mekong River: a future flashpoint in Southeast Asia?

"We have no other choice but hydropower.

Observers predict the debate over how to tap the power of the Mekong River will become a contentious regional issue for the countries through which the waterway flows. My recent radio feature looks at the conflicting aims between energy needs and environmental concerns along the Mekong.

This story first aired on PRI's The World.

Mekong nations split on hydropower dam

Mekong countries can't agree on a hydropower plan. But will that stop Laos from building?Countries around the lower Mekong have failed to reach a consensus on a controversial proposal that could see Laos build the first hydropower dam on this part of the vital river.

Instead, representatives from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam agreed to consult with their respective governments on how to proceed.

However, the final decision still rests with Laos, meaning the South-east Asian country’s divisive proposal to dam a stretch of the Mekong in northern Laos could well push forward regardless of opposition from its neighbours or environmentalists.

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What now for Vietnam's Montagnard refugees?

Critics question whether future asylum seekers will receive fair treatmentCambodia must ensure it offers a safe haven to asylum seekers, rights groups say, following the government’s closure this week of a United Nations-run refugee centre, home to dozens of Montagnards from Vietnam.

The 75 Montagnards, part of ethnic minority tribes from Vietnam’s Central Highlands, had been housed at the facility in Phnom Penh – some for up to six years.

The government gave the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) until this week to find new homes for the asylum seekers. Most have been resettled.

But there are still concerns over the safety of future asylum seekers. Human Rights Watch says Cambodia’s recent track record on asylum seekers has been "dismal". And it says the south-east Asian country’s regulations governing refugees may not ensure their safety.

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In Laos, a farmer picks through a deadly harvest while distrust stalls action on a cluster bomb ban

SEKONG, LAOS | THE JUNGLE HAS LONG SINCE grown to reclaim the old rice fields and the houses that once stood here. But Khambou Many can still picture what happened the day the bombs fell from the sky and burned his home to the ground.

“I remember it up until now,” the 50-year-old farmer said quietly. He gestured toward the distance, to where a river curved around the bend. A paved highway now wound its way up a hill toward his old home.

“Before, this village was located over there,” Khambou said. “But there was a big bombing. Then the houses caught fire. People had to run away from the village.”

Khambou was only a child during the years of the Vietnam War. For his family and others in this village in south-eastern Laos, the damage was a matter of circumstance: his village sat along the makeshift supply route that came to be known as the Ho Chi Minh trail.

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