Human Rights Abuses and Conflict in Burma

“The Burma Army wants to push all our forces to the Thai-Burma border,” he said. “This is our land of birth. We cannot allow them to treat us this way.”

Kutkai Township in Northern Shan state saw heavy fighting Tuesday between the Kachin Independence Army and troops from a Burmese army battalion know for its involvement in the narcotics trade

First priority cease-fire, then dialogue: KNPP

For the second time since signing a ceasefire deal with the government less than three months ago, the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) has reported a fresh round of clashes with Burmese government forces.

Burma’s oldest ethnic army, the Karen National Union (KNU), has called for the immediate withdrawal of government troops from ethnic areas and a lasting ceasefire through a four-stage peace roadmap.

On 25 November 2011, six soldiers from IB 428 and IB 531 who were stationed at a training base in Hpruso Township raped three women from Law Jar Village. On 14 January 2012, Infantry Battalion (IB) 295, commanded by Aung Zey Ya, killed a village man in Karenni State.

On 15 January 2012 in Hpruso Township, after a battle between the Burma Army and the Karenni Army, Burma Army IB 54 killed a 35-year-old villager named Lu Reh in Htay Byar Nyae. In December 2011, a Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 57 soldier raped Buu Leh (name changed to protect victim), a villager from Dah Weh Village in Sha Daw Township.

More than 1,500 Kg of rice recently harvested by farmers in war-torn Kachin state were set ablaze by government troops last week in Waingmaw township on the Myitkyina-Bhamo (Manmaw) road, eyewitnesses report.

The Burmese army is sending more troops into Karen state despite signing an initial ceasefire agreement with rebels last month, according to the Karen National Union (KNU).

A Burmese soldier died on Thursday morning following a battle between the Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) new battalion near Mong Mit in northern Shan State.

Dau Lum, a quietly spoken 31-year-old farmer from a village close to Mai Ja Yang, said six Burmese soldiers had captured him, his 28-year-old wife and his 71-year-old father last October.

Thein Myint, an ethnic Shan, was among more than 10 residents of Kachin state’s Talawgyi village who were forced to porter supplies and fight for the KIA in October last year. He was released after a week and a half, but in December Burmese soldiers detained him. A relative says he hasn’t been seen since.

Relatives of the late Manam Gam, say that on February 2 the unarmed Kachin farmer was shot and killed near his paddy field in southern Kachin state by Burmese army soldiers who also seriously injured his wife. 

The villagers from Palaypauk (Balipauk) Village in Minbya Township in Arakan State are in fear of arrest after being threatened by the army because they were unwilling to sacrifice their paddy harvests which are charged by the army as rent for their confiscated farmlands.

The popular abbot was banned from preaching sermons for one year starting on February 11, 2011. He told Mizzima that the first words he would say from his seat are, “My mouth has got freedom at last.”