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MAE HONG SONG: A group of indigenous villagers has spoken up against the government's plans to build big water projects in the Salween River Basin.

This morning at Sob Moei -- the confluence of the Moei and the Salween rivers on the Thailand-Myanmar border -- indigenous peoples and their supporters are attending a spiritual ceremony to express their collective stance to protect the Salween River from destructive dam projects.

Doi Kloselo in Mae Hong Son's Sop Moei district will be developed into a tourist attraction in what is seen as a move from locals to oppose the planned construction of a hydropower dam in the Salween River, locals say.

On a sandy beach by the Salween River on the Thai-Myanmar border in March 2006, boats carrying Karen villagers and other ethnic groups such as Karenni, Yintalai and Shan from various areas in the Salween Basin are arriving to join an important yet simple ceremony.

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army splinter group chief Brigadier General Saw Kyaw Thet says the military must leave power.