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Several villages located in a zone of heavy fighting in Kachin state have been ordered by Burmese army commanders to relocate as thousands of people continue to be displaced by conflict in Burma’s north.
Factions of the opposition Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has said it will intensify attacks on Burmese troops in and around its territory in a bid to weaken government forces fighting in the northern and eastern border regions.
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Burmese army commanders have been ordered to embark on a seemingly rapacious recruitment drive that will see more than 25,000 troops added to its already formidable manpower each year.
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China and other neighboring countries have exploited the forests, hydropower and minerals of Burma's once-rich environment. This exploitation supported by the Burmese regime fuels the armed conflict between the government and ethnic militias.
BANGKOK (AP) — Exiled activists say Burma's once-rich environment is being battered as China and other neighbors rush in to exploit its natural resources.
Burmese troops fired artillery at each other in Bhamo (Manmaw) Division on July 28th.
Burma News International - BNI
Suu Kyi’s ‘Open Letter’ calls for immediate #cease-fire in ethnic areas http://bit.ly/onV4Ix
— Mizzima News (@MizzimaNews)
Thousands of Mon IDPs living in camps near the Thai-Burmese border are facing food shortages as Thai border authorities refuse to allow aid agencies to transport rice to the area.
The Irrawaddy provides continuous coverage of events in Burma and Southeast Asia, delivering news, analysis and opinion on issues that matter to our readers.
Demonstration at German Embassy, London on 8 August. Germany is blocking EU supporting UN Burma war crimes inquiry: http://t.co/SIfxHS8
— Burma Campaign UK (@burmacampaignuk)
Hundreds of villagers in the Palu area have been forced to build army camps in the Eastern Pegu Division by the Burma Army.
Burma News International - BNI
This "one-way" investment policy has exploited Burmese resources, violated human rights of ethnic groups around the country, and stirred up anti-Chinese sentiments among many people.
Still, the sharper arrows are aimed at the Chinese companies which have invested heavily in gold mining, hydropower and other products such as timber with allegedly very little benefit for the local population.
Burmese army officials welcome the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army into their ranks as a Border Guard Force in southern Karen State. Government shelling has recently hit Karen villages in the Hlaing Bwe Township.
The Irrawaddy provides continuous coverage of events in Burma and Southeast Asia, delivering news, analysis and opinion on issues that matter to our readers.
The Burmese army’s abusive treatment of convicts who are forced to serve as porters under dangerous front-line conditions constitutes war crimes, Human Rights Watch and the Karen Human Rights Group said in a joint report released on August 2, 2011.
video by DVBTVenglish
Burma News International on July 29, 2011.
The Burmese Military Affairs Security Unit (MAS) forced a 13-year-old local boy to spy on the movements of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) at the front lines in Kachin State, the victim’s parents said.
The MAS unit used the boy to observe and take pictures of the activities of KIA Battalion 10, based at Chipwi and under command of Brigade 1, in eastern Kachin State, the parents said.On July 26, the Burmese Army gave him the camera and forced the boy to take pictures of the position of the bridge between the villages of Chang Zaw and Damu.
The boy was injured by a warning shot fired by KIA soldiers at 8 a.m. that morning, when he tried to enter the area and get the picture. His parents took him to the Chipwi hospital, a villager said.
“We are really angry because they (MAS) did not rescue the boy or take responsibility for his treatment or weather he was afraid, seriously injured or dead,” said a resident from Chipwi.
“MAS (Sa-Ya-Pha) agents were afraid to obtain the information themselves, so they forced a civilian to do it,” said the resident.
A clash took place on July 25 between the KIA’s Battalion 10 and the Burmese Army’s Light Infantry Battalion no. 121, based in Nga Oo, near Chipwi.
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Mr. Zo Zam, the chairman of the Chin National Party and representative of the five ethnic groups, submitted a proposal to form a Peace Commission at a meeting of political representatives and the Union Election Commission (UEC).
Five ethnic political parties proposed formation of a Peace Commission (PC) to restore peace in Burma at a meeting in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma yesterday.
The proposal to form a PC came from Mr. Zo Zam, Chairman of the Chin National Party and representative of the five ethnic brotherhoods at a meeting of political representatives and the Union Election Commission (UEC).
“There is need for restoration of peace in our country. We (five ethnic brothers) want to form a Peace Commission, so we submitted our proposal to the Union Election Commission. We hope that commission takes cognizance given our country’s situation,” said Mr. Zo Zam.
Mr. Zo Zam told Khonumthung for peace in the country, a third person mediator will be required for negotiation to resolve the conflicting issues.
The five ethnic brothers comprise Phalon-Sawaw the Karen ethnics, the Chin National Party, the All Mon Region Democracy Party, Rakhine Nationalities Development Party and Shan Nationalities Democratic Party.
At present, many ethnic people, who are victims of the conflict between ethnic armed groups and the Burmese Army, have fled to neighbouring countries, especially in Kachin, Shan and Karen states of Burma.
“Peace is the most important issue in the country and it is very important for us,” said Mr. Zo Zam.
Every party delegate was allowed five minutes to discuss and comment during the meeting yesterday and the meeting was conducted by Mr. Tin Aye, former Lieutenant General.
The meeting was conducted for the forthcoming election and the UEC Chairman Mr. Tin Aye promised in the meeting to observe free and fair elections, said Mr. Zo Zam. – Khonumthung News
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More than 20,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since righting between Burmese forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) began again on June 9th.
Several villages located in a zone of heavy fighting in Kachin state have been ordered by Burmese army commanders to relocate as thousands of people continue to be displaced by conflict in Burma’s north.
More than 20,000 people are thought to have been uprooted from their homes since fighting between Burmese forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) began on 9 June. The latest victims of displacement hail from Momauk township near the Chinese border, close to where fighting first broke out.
“[The Burmese army] said they didn’t want to see anyone in those areas,” a man in Laiza, headquarters of the KIA, told DVB. He claimed to have been assisting the thousands who have fled to Laiza, but said that those ordered to leave Momauk have been forced to shelter in towns further north such as Magayang.
Otherwise, he said, the government had given them a three-day deadline in which to get to the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, which lies within Burmese government territory.
According to reports from Laiza, around 200 refugees fleeing to Myitkyina and Waingmaw are currently stranded after fighting broke out close to the state capital.
Those who made it to Laiza however are facing the threat of further upheaval, as Burmese troops edge closer to the town. Reports last week suggested that army columns had reached within four miles of the group’s headquarters, and had been pounding nearby KIA bases with heavy artillery.
But the relocation of the Momauk township may be far from a benevolent move by the government, which is famed for its Four Cuts military strategy that seeks to destroy the supply lines that support opposition forces. Civilians who live in territory controlled by ethnic armies are often seen as sympathisers, and either forced out or killed.
Local aid groups in Kachin state are said to be struggling with the flood of refugees. The Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT) issued a statement on 19 July saying that a humanitarian crisis was looming for the 16,000 refugees sheltering in makeshift camps along the China-Burma border, who are “urgently in need of aid”.
To date no international aid groups have accessed the region, perhaps in part due to strict government controls that hinder the movement of aid workers during sensitive times.
Kachin families flee on tractors shortly after fighting broke out in early June (Reuters).
Factions of the opposition Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) has said it will intensify attacks on Burmese troops in and around its territory in a bid to weaken government forces fighting in the northern and eastern border regions.
Burma’s eastern frontier has been beset by heavy conflict since November last year, when the DKBA took up positions in the border town of Myawaddy. Since then a number of armed groups, including the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), have formed a nominal alliance in an effort to drive government troops out.
Officials from the DKBA’s Brigade 5, which is led by Na Kham Mwe and whose troops first launched attacks on government positions in November, met with the Myainggyingu faction yesterday. The latter had initially accepted demands to become a government-controlled Border Guard Force, but defected in May this year.
San Aung, battalion commander of Brigade 5, told DVB that both units had tabled the idea of launching synchronised attacks to hinder Burmese offenses against other ethnic groups, such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Burma’s north and Shan State Army in the east.
Rather than deploying troops to these regions, the DKBA would look to significantly weaken government forces in Karen state, he said, adding that representatives of the ABSDF and the Arakan Liberation Army were also at the meeting.
Since a United Nationalities Federation Council was formed in March, ostensibly aimed at drawing various ethnic armies under one allied umbrella, little tangible cooperation has been seen.
This is largely down to the fact that four of the six member groups – the KIA, the KNLA, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Shan State Army (SSA) – have all been engaged in heavy fighting after refusing to transform to border militias.
Burma Army begins major offensive in Shan state #Burma. Not even trying to negotiate #peace. http://bit.ly/r8AiAm #conflict
— US Campaign 4 Burma (@uscb)
Current estimates put the Burma Army's numbers at 400,000, which is a remarkably large number when Burma has no external enemy and has not fought a foreign war since the 19th century. Nonetheless, military expansion remains a priority of the central government.
Burmese army commanders have been ordered to embark on a seemingly rapacious recruitment drive that will see more than 25,000 troops added to its already formidable manpower each year.
A directive sent out by the War Office in Naypyidaw said that those among the 530-plus battalions who achieve the quota of a minimum four new soldiers per month will be rewarded with a one million kyat ($US1,300) bonus at the end of each calendar year. Those who fail are to be punished under military law.
Current estimates put the size of Burma’s army at around 400,000, a sizeable figure when considering the fact that Burma has no external enemy and has not fought a war against a foreign force since the 19th century.
But military expansion remains a priority of the central government, which announced earlier this year that a revised budget will allocate nearly a quarter of total annual spending to the army. In contrast, less than three percent will go to healthcare and education combined.
Forced recruitment has been a hallmark of military policy that sees Burma hosting one of the world’s highest numbers of child soldiers, despite use of minors made officially illegal by the government.
“There are soldiers waiting at bus terminals, train stations and ports and the youths are scared to travel alone without their family members [for fear of being forcibly recruited],” said Aye Myint, who runs the Guiding Star legal advocacy group that monitors child soldier recruitment.
Late last year the government mooted the idea of introducing a military draft that would see men and women over the age of 18 required to serve up to three years in the army or face a lengthy jail term.
Benjamin Zawacki, Burma researcher at Amnesty International, said that while no decision has yet been passed on the draft, parliament is believed to be reviewing it.
The prospect of a forced conscription raises the possibility of legalising the coercive and highly controversial measures known to be used by the Burmese army to boost troop numbers.
“Prior to the idea of a military draft, I’ve not been aware of any sort of regulation surrounding how troops are recruited,” Zawacki told DVB. “The government is ostensibly opposed to child soldiers but we know that happens on a wide scale, so while there is regulation, it’s not abided by.”
A report by Human Rights Watch in 2002 found that around 70,000 children below 18 were active in the military, making Burma one of the world’s leading recruiters of child soldiers. Another report last week by the New York-based group said that hundreds of prison inmates had been sent to the frontline in the Burmese army’s ongoing battles against ethnic armies, where they are forced to carry equipment and act as human minesweepers.
But many individuals do join at their own behest, Zawacki says. “One of the reasons for the 400,000-strong force is the economic opportunities that being in the army offers. While pay is incredibly low, the military offers relative certainty and security.”
He added however that if the ambitious quota set down by the War Office is to be realised, then “it stands to reason they’ll have to assert some pressure on people [to join]”.
Additional reporting by Francis Wade
Video of women talking about how Burma soldiers have been ordered to rape women.
video by kwatcoordinator
National Geographic map of Burma's mines, dams, and displacement areas. The Burmese regime sells offshore gas, hydroelectricity, timber and minerals to China, Thailand, South Korea and other countries in order to finance big infrastructure projects while the people languish.
Land of Shadows: As it comes out of isolation, the nation of Myanmar is caught between darkness and light.
The United Nations has called for restraint to be exercised in Kachin State as the conflict between the Burma Army and Kachin fighters persists.
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The United Nations is calling for restraint to be exercised in Kachin State as the conflict between the Burmese army and Kachin fighters shows no sign of ending.
“In light of recent significant developments in Myanmar [Burma], the United Nations strongly encourages all stakeholders to make every effort to avoid raising tensions that could damage the prospects of the country’s implementation of its political and economic reforms,” Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Mizzima.
Haq was responding to questions from Mizzima about the UN stance on the recent fighting in Kachin State between the Burmese central government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson said in a reply sent on Friday: “The Secretary-General and his special adviser have been following the evolving situation in Myanmar with attention, including recent reports on the activities of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD and on the situation in Kachin State.”
The UN call for restraint from all sides was met with heavy skepticism from Burma opposition activists.
Reached for comment, Mark Farmaner of the Burma campaign UK told Mizzima: “By calling on all stakeholders to avoid raising tensions, Ban Ki-moon appears to be blaming Kachin women for being gang-raped by the Burmese Army, and blaming Aung San Suu Kyi for being threatened by the dictatorship. The statement is a classic example of how the United Nations panders to the dictatorship instead of standing up for its victims.”
According to Farmaner, “Ban Ki-moon says he wants implementation of political reforms, but the main political reform currently being implemented by the dictatorship is enforcing a new Constitution which is plunging the country into civil war, and leading to an escalation in human rights violations which break international law.”
Ban Ki-moon’s UN special envoy to Burma Vijay Nambiar has come under criticism by Burma activists for not being forceful enough with the new Burmese government. Nambiar, who also serves as Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, has filled in on an interim basis as special envoy since January 2010 and has only been involved with the Burma file part-time. The UN told Mizzima last month that a full-time replacement will be appointed in “due time,” however the UN has not given a date for when the new appointment will happen.
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese government has told domestic NGOs not to give aid to Kachin war refugees who fled to KIO areas along the Sino-Burma border after the outbreak of war, according to a Kachin refugee relief committee official.
Mai Ja said that during the heavy fighting between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and government troops in mid-June, the KIO requested NGOs to give assistance to refugees and the NGOs responded positively. But the NGO relief supplies have been blocked by the government, she told Mizzima.
“One NGO told to me that the government told them not to give relief assistance to the Kachin refugees,” she said. “The government threatened that they would withdraw their registration unless they followed the order. No NGO is allowed to give relief assistance to us.“They had a plan to help us but they cancelled the plan when the government put pressure on them,” she said.
Mai Ja said NGOs first agreed to give cash assistance when the war broke out on June 15. She said the government has told at least three NGOs not to communicate with the KIO.
A source close to one NGO said the government told NGOs about three weeks ago to sign a pledge not to provide assistance to the war refugees.
The KIO said that the number of war refugees in Laiza, the KIO headquarters has reached about 17,000. No NGO has provided any assistance to the refugees, said relief committee head Dwe Pi Sar.
“They gave a verbal order to NGOs in Myitkyina not to provide assistance to refugees. Not only NGOs, they also ordered the religious leaders not to help us. I believe blocking of assistance to the people is a violation of human rights,” he said.
Many NGOs including AZG, World Concern, WHO, Nyein Foundation, Shalom Foundation and Mitta Foundation operate in Myitkyina.
Mai Ja said, “We are not the armed group. We are the cannon fodder between these two armed groups, the KIO and government troops. The war refugees had to flee from the war zone when the war broke out. We are not opposing the government. Blocking relief supplies to the refugees means starving them to death. This government has no sympathy and no humanitarian consideration at all,” she told Mizzima.
Many refugees are still afraid to return to their homes because they fear the fighting will resume, in spite of on-going cease-fire negotiations.
UK must take lead to secure UN Commission of Inquiry on Burma, says TUC: Media Release from the TUC Th... http://bit.ly/p463Cr Please RT
— Burma Campaign UK (@burmacampaignuk)
A young male civilian in Kamaing was killed and another arrested by the Burmese Army on July 31st.
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A young male civilian in Kamaing was shot dead and another man arrested by Burmese government troops on Sunday morning, residents said.
Marip Tang, about 17, from Kathan Yang village in Kamaing Township was shot dead by soldiers in government Infantry Unit No. 52 on the road to Hpakant in Kachin State. Kathan Yang village is six miles west of Kamaing.
Seng Du, who was identified as a telecommunications operator for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), was arrested, residents said.
“At around eight o’ clock yesterday, government troops marched along the road and villagers were afraid and ran away, then the soldiers shot a villager in the back,” a resident told Mizzima.
Seng Du, who is from the deceased’s village, was roped and masked and taken away by government troops, residents said.
KIO joint secretary and spokesman La Nang confirmed that one civilian was shot dead, and it is investigating if Seng Du is a KIO member.
Seng Du was taken away in the direction of a mountain that local residents call “Microwave Mountain,” about one mile west of Kathan Yang village, where a communications office is located. Thirty security soldiers from government Brigade No. 3 are stationed on the mountain, sources said.
Six people including the head of Kathan Yang village were also arrested at the same time and released on Monday morning.
The main obstacle for the two sides is the KIO demand for the government to negotiate a nationwide cease-fire with all armed ethnic groups while government delegates have maintained their position of only wanting to negotiate a cease-fire in Kachin State.
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Despite an ongoing dialogue between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government in Laja Yang village in Kachin State on Monday, the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
The main obstacle continues to be the KIO demand for the government to negotiate a nationwide cease-fire with all armed ethnic groups.
The five KIO delegates led by Deputy Chief of Staff Brigadier General Gum Maw and three government delegates of the “peace making and negotiation group” led by Colonel Than Aung, the Minister for Security and Border affairs, held a two-and-half hour meeting in Laja Yang in Waimaw Township, a KIO-controlled area in the Kachin State.
Government delegates maintained their position of only wanting to negotiate a cease-fire in Kachin State, after which other agreements could be negotiated, said Colonel Zau Yaw, commander of KIO Brigade No. 4.
KIO joint secretary La Nang said that the two sides agreed to continue the face-to-face political dialogue.
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“The result of today’s meeting cannot make us sign. We need to hold more meetings. That depends on them. For us to sign, it depends on how much the government wants stability in the nation,” La Nang said.The government delegates said that they would forward the results of the meeting to superiors, according to the KIO. Government delegates returned to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, on Monday.
Operation Commander Colonel Tun Tun Ohn of the Northern Command and Major Naing Lin of the Military Affairs Department did not attend Monday’s meeting, or the previous meetings. The five-member government negotiating committee was formed on June 27 by Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Hsai.
The government delegates and government security forces were met by KIO security forces halfway between Shwenyaungpin and Garya Yang villages.
Since July 28, the KIO has called on the Burmese government to stop launching offensives against ethnic armed groups in Kachin State and Shan State within 48 hours after signing a cease-fire agreement and to issue a statement saying the government will hold a political dialogue to achieve a nationwide cease-fire within 15 days.
A KIO letter sent to Burmese authorities said that the agreement should be written in English and Burmese and urged President Thein Sein to state his opinion about the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which gave equal rights and more autonomy to ethnic groups.
Shan State Army (South) troops ambushed a government reinforcement convoy meant to be deployed against the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) headquarters at Wain Hai.
A government reinforcement convoy to be deployed against the besieged Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) headquarters at Wan Hai was ambushed by Shan State Army (South) (SSA-S) troops, said spokesman Major Sai Lao Sai.
Four Burmese soldiers killed and more than 12 injured on July 26th during an evening ambush in Northern Karen State by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops.
Burma News International - BNI
Reports from Kachin and Shan States confirm that rape is still being used as a weapon of war by the Burma Army to demoralize and terrorize ethnic communities.
Burma News International - BNI
The shooting occurred when Burma Army troops met another squad of their own men wearing Kachin Independence Army (KIA) uniforms.
Burmese troops mistakenly killed 3 and injured 7 of their own personnel on July 20 at 6:30 p.m. Burma Standard Time, on the road between Myitkyina and Hpakant, in Kachin State, northern Burma, witnesses said.
The shooting happened when Burmese troops met another squad of their own men wearing Kachin Independence Army (KIA) uniforms at Namting Hill side road, local witnesses said.The troops involved in the incident were from Infantry Battalion No. 298, based in Dumbang Village, situated between the towns of Namti and Danai, added witnesses.
KIA officers in Hpakant confirmed the incident to Thailand-based Kachin News Group.
Three soldiers with minor wounds were sent to nearby Kamaing Hospital and 4 seriously injured troops were transported to the hospital in Mogaung, according to local witnesses.
Dozens of Burmese troops have been killed and injured since the Burmese Army began an offensive against the KIA on June 9, according to sources close to the Burmese military.
Less than a dozen KIA soldiers were also killed in the fighting and a series of landmine related accidents, according to KIA officials.
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A local Burmese labourer, Ko Thet Naing Myint, was injured when he stepped on a landmine planted by a village near Three Pagodas Pass on Burma's southern border with Thailand.
Burma News International - BNI
Over 16,000 refugees have fled to KIO areas near the China border in eastern Kachin State because of the escalation of the civil war.
China limited the hours for crossing at its key border gate at Laiza, the capital of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), beginning July 22, after the Burmese Army fired mortar rounds at KIO positions in the area, residents said.
Residents of the KIO capital have been prohibited from crossing into the Chinese-controlled area of Laiza by Chinese border authorities between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to Laiza residents.The Burmese Army’s Dawhpumyang-based Infantry Battalion No. 142 fired about 20 rounds from 120 mm mortars at the Alaw Bum-based Kachin Independence Army (KIA)’s Battalion No. 24, near Laiza, on July 22 between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Laiza residents believe China is trying to block the movement of Burmese refugees into its territories by limiting the hours of crossing at the border gate.
Both Burmese and Chinese citizens in Laiza have been fleeing to Chinese territory after the mortar fire by Burmese troops, said witnesses.
Over 16,000 refugees have fled to KIO areas near the China border in eastern Kachin State because of the escalation of the two-month old civil war.
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1,000 Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers deserted the Burma Army in April, which has given a huge boost to other Karen armed groups. Photo of former BGF fighters ready for war.
Burma News International - BNI
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