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Myanmar retreats from exploration site
Three-pronged diplomacy involving Myanmar, China and Korea defuses tension
Monday November 10 2008 00:10:05 AM BDT
Myanmar yesterday wrapped up its exploration mission from the Bangladesh waters in the Bay of Bengal in the face of strong protest by Bangladesh Navy, an ISPR release said. However, official media in Myanmar presented this as a technical move and said the South Korean(The New Nation)
company undertaking the exploration work had simply moved to another block after a successful seismic survey and the Daewoo will continue exploration.
"By this time they (Myanmar) are leaving our territory, and (we) hope they won't resume exploration unless both sides finalise the demarcation (of boundary claims) in the Bay of Bengal," Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters yesterday.
The ISPR release said the South Korean rig 'Trans Ocean Legend" backed by Myanmar warships was pulled back from the site.
On November 1, Bangla-deshi naval ship "Nirvoy" detected four drilling vessels and a tug with the support of Myanmar warship doing exploration with a huge rig within the Bangladesh deep-sea waters.
The release said "in view of the situation, the Bangladesh Navy reinforced its strength in the deep sea" alongside the diplomatic offensive.
Bangladesh dispatched a high-power delegation led by Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain to Yangon to discuss the matter with the Myanmar authorities on diplomatic plane. The delegation returned on Saturday without a fruitful outcome.
According to the ISPR, the crew of the civilian foreign company ship were informed about Bangladesh's clear position and her claim on the Bay waters. As a result, the foreign company ship engaged in installing the rig and crew realised the danger of the consequences.
In the wake of diplomatic efforts and strong presence of Bangladesh naval force in the deep sea, the foreign company with the rig and Myanmar warships were withdrawn.
The ISPR release said, "The dispute over the maritime zone between Bangladesh and Myanmar is a long-running one. Despite such situation having surfaced in the past, presently it took a complicated shape for the prospects for finding gas in the disputed waters."
But Myanmar's official media said Myanmar had rejected "the mistakenly made demand of Bangladesh".
The New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Sunday that exploration work had moved from Block AD-7 in the Bay of Bengal to another offshore block, A-3.
The newspaper said South Korea's Daewoo International Corp had drilled an exploration well down to the targeted depth in Block AD-between October 17 and November 5 and the necessary survey was completed.
"Further tasks would be carried out according to the work programme," it said.
Informed sources said despite withdrawal of the exploration equipment from the disputed waters in the Bay of Bengal both Bangladesh and Myanmar still continued to reinforce troops along common borders and put them on high alert since early Saturday.
BDR sources said it is still increasing the number of troops in border areas in Naikhongchhari upazila and more troops has been called from the capital as Myanmar continues to do the same.
The border remained tense but there had been no untoward incident, security officials said on Sunday.
"We are on high alert to face any circumstances," BDR Major Sajjadul Kabir told Reuters in the Cox's Bazar frontier district.
Bangladesh and Myanmar share a 320 km (200 mile) border, partly demarcated by the Naf river.
The two neighbouring nations are engaged in long-standing talks to agree on their maritime border, with the next session scheduled for November 16 and 17 in Dhaka.
UNB adds: An imminent confrontation between Bangladesh and Myanmar over controversial oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal could be averted following a three-pronged diplomatic manoeuvring approaching China and South Korea.
Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, who returned home after a troubleshooting mission to Yangon, told a crowded media conference on Sunday evening that a buildup of tensions over Myanmar's controversial oil and gas exploration in the contested waters in the Bay of Bengal was apparently defused Sunday.
He said that, before his departure for Myanmar, he had meetings with the Ambassadors of China and South Korea in Dhaka and informed them of Bangladesh's position on the disputed waters as well as stance on a peaceful solution "instead of any confrontation or war".
He informed the Chinese envoy that Bangladesh wants peaceful solution while requested the Korean envoy to remove Daewoo company's exploration vessel. The Korean Ambassador had told him that Daewoo started dismantling their equipment from the disputed waters.
Touhid, however, told a correspondent that Bangladesh did not seek engagement or mediation into the matter of bilateral dispute.
On his Myanmar mission Touhid said he made three proposals during his meeting with Myanmar Deputy Ministers Maung Moyint and Kyaw Thu for resolving the dispute peacefully.
The proposals include removal of the drilling rig as the Korean company's exploration vessels crossed the 1974 maritime boundary claimed by Bangladesh and withdrawal of naval ships by the two countries from the site.
Touhid admitted that the Myanmar side did not agree to remove the rig during the talks as Maung Moyit said he needed discussion with his higher authority.
He said the Myanmar side also claimed that they had conducted the exploration on the eastern side of so-called 'friendship line' which does not exist.
Touhid said the Korean vessels removed the oil- exploration rig from the disputed waters by 12 noon today, although UNB reports from the frontier districts said tensions were brewing along the land border following troop buildups on both sides.
When his attention was drawn to Myanmar authorities' claim that they removed the rig after completion of the exploration and they entered the area in September, Touhid said he is not a technical expert, but "it sounds unusual".
He observed that it would have required at least three months for completing the exploration deep in the sea.
He said support ships from Myanmar might have been there in September but the rig was not installed in September as claimed by Myanmar.
The Foreign Ministry took the steps as soon as Bangladesh Navy informed them of the matter, said the FS.
He agreed with a correspondent that the rig may be shifted into another gas-exploration block.
Replying to a question on tense situation along the land border between the two countries, he hoped that it would gradually die down.
The Foreign Secretary said despite the incident in the Bay of Bengal, the scheduled meeting on maritime boundary on November 16-17 would be held in Dhaka. Myanmar deputy minister Maung Moyit will lead his country's delegation.
Apart from maritime boundary, the talks will also cover the construction of the connecting road between Bangladesh and Myanmar for trans-border communications.
The New Nation
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