Myanmar military clashes with guerillas

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Heavy Fighting Reported Between Guerillas And Myanmar Military...

Myanmar gov't battles ethnic rebels in country's north, where China is building power plants
14 June`11 — Government troops in Myanmar have attacked one of the country's powerful northern militias with artillery trying to force rebel fighters from a strategic region where China is building major hydropower plants.

The fighting has killed at least four people and forced 2,000 more to flee since it started Thursday, according to the U.S. Campaign for Burma. The violence is some of the most serious in Myanmar since its military junta handed power in March to a civilian government critics say is simply a proxy for continued military rule. The new government has said it wants to improve ties with ethnic minorities that have waged rebellions along the border, but the latest fighting underscores the deep tension that remains.

The rebels involved in the most recent clashes belong to the Kachin, one of Myanmar's sizable ethnic minorities. Their decades of struggles for more autonomy have routinely been met by military suppression. Kachin military commander Gwan Maw told U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia on Monday that the fighting in northern Myanmar's Momauk region, near the Chinese border, could spread and possibly escalate into civil war if the government refused to negotiate an end to it with the Kachin Independence Organization.

Though the fighting could worsen, it is unlikely to engulf the repressive nation. The 8,000-strong Kachin militia reached a peace deal with the country's former ruling junta in 1994, but the truce broke down last year after the militia rejected a call by the government to become border guards under army leadership. The junta made the appeal ahead of last November's elections, Myanmar's first in 20 years, which introduced the nominally civilian government now in power.

The Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based lobbying group that uses Myanmar's former name in its title, said hundreds of Myanmar government troops deployed to the northern region to force out Kachin forces after they refused to abandon a strategic base. The base is located near a major hydropower project that being built by China's state-owned China Datang Corporation, the group said. A three-hour gunbattle Thursday killed three soldiers and one rebel fighter, who was allegedly captured and beaten to death by government troops, the group said.

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Granny says dem Kachin rebels want autonomy - next thing ya know, dey gonna want dey's gay rights...

Burma’s Kachin Conflict Escalates
January 13, 2013 — In Burma’s north, an 18-month-long battle between Kachin rebels and Burmese troops has escalated in recent weeks, with the military’s use of airpower. While the fighting continues, Burma's ethnic leaders are gathering to discuss whether the peace process can continue.

Burmese air strikes on Kachin military positions mark a significant escalation in the battle with the Kachin Independence Army, which is fighting for greater autonomy. Few reporters are on the ground. This footage was released by a humanitarian organization called Free Burma Rangers. Some worry the attacks could derail peace talks for the country’s last ongoing armed rebellion. A group of ethnic leaders, United Nationalities Federation Council, met in northern Thailand to discuss prospects for a unilateral ceasefire. David Tharkabaw is the vice president of the UNFC. “Very heavy artillery, very heavy bombardment, so we may even consider the possibility -- the probability of suspending the talks," he said.

In Bangkok Friday, some 50 protesters gathered in at the Burmese embassy calling for an end to the war in Kachin state. No Burmese embassy officials met the protesters, who called for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to take up their cause. “I want Aung San Suu Kyi to work harder and speak for Kachin ethnics and all ethnic groups in Burma and stand for us we trust in you," said one protester.

Newly democratic Burma has seen a surge in tourism in the past year. The Kachin conflict threaten to damage its reputation among visitors, such as tourist Jeneane Paxson, who happened to visit the embassy for a tourist visa during the protest. "Obviously there are some underlying issues going on that could very well affect my trip," she said. President Thein Sein has been lauded as a reformer by international rights groups, and is slated to receive the International Crisis Group's highest honor, the Pursuit of Peace Award in April 2013.

ICG's Southeast Asia project director Jim Della-Giacoma says via Skype that despite the fighting, there could still be a peace deal. “These airstrikes are not happening in isolation they've happened at a particular point in time when peace talks haven't been going well and there is on both sides distrust, an attempt to fight it out on the battlefield but at the same time continue to talk. There is interest from both the Kachin and the military to have a deal to end this conflict," he said. More protests at embassies around the world are scheduled to take place over the next few days.

Burma

 

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More freedom for Burmans...

Myanmar abolishes 25-year ban on public gatherings
Jan 29,`13 -- Myanmar's nearly 2-year-old reformist government has abolished a ban on public gatherings of more than five people that was ordered in 1988 on the day a military junta took power after crushing nationwide pro-democracy protests.

The state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported Tuesday that Order No 2/88 was abolished as it was not in line with a section of the constitution that says existing laws should remain valid as long as are not contrary to the constitution, which guarantees basic rights such as freedom of expression. The order had been applied selectively to crush dissent against the military regimes that held power until the elected government of President Thein Sein took office in 2011. His administration has instituted political liberalization, including lifting strict censorship. The order had declared "Gathering or marching in processions and delivering speeches on the streets by a group of 5 or more people are banned." The junta used many catch-all or vaguely defined orders and laws as a means of suppressing dissent, and courts generally handed out stiff sentences, jailing thousands of political prisoners. Most have been freed under amnesties promulgated by President Thein Sein.

In December 2011, a "Peaceful Assembly Law" was implemented specifically allowing public protests. However, permission must be obtained in advance, without which organizers are subject to penalties including prison terms. Several people have been arrested under the statute. Exercise of the new-won freedoms has tested the patience of the authorities. Last year, sensationalistic photos and stories in the media threatened to exacerbate already deep tensions triggered by violent clashes between two separate ethnic communities in western Myanmar. A defense ministry statement published in state media Tuesday blamed unspecified embassies, organizations and media of releasing news and announcements that could cause misunderstanding of the military and the government in connection with fighting against guerrillas of the Kachin ethnic minority in the north.

The statement carried in the Myanma Ahlin daily said the embassies and media had made one-sided reports of the army's activities that failed to mention destructive acts carried out by the Kachin Independence Army, and its attacks on government convoys carrying food supplies to bases. It said the army was carrying out its duty to ensure the people's safety and smooth and secure transportation, and "has inevitably launched military operations in self-defense." It added that the military reiterated its commitment to fostering eternal peace and national unity with ethnic minorities including the Kachin. The statement did not mention any specific organization, but the foreign ministry last week issued a statement rejecting a U.S. embassy statement of concern over government military activities.

The same issue of the newspaper reported that two villagers were injured when their motorcycle hit a land mine planted by the Kachin, and stated that the guerrillas had burned down a jade company building in same area. The Kachin, like Myanmar's other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They reached a peace agreement with the previous military regime in 1994 but a cease-fire agreement broke down in June 2011 after the Kachin refused to abandon a strategic base near a hydropower plant that is a joint venture with a Chinese company. The conflict has forced about 100,000 Kachin from their homes since then, and many are in camps near the Kachin headquarters in Laiza near the Chinese border.

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Why not? Obama won one...

Nobel laureate sees peace prize for Myanmar
Sun, Mar 03, 2013 - REACHING OUT: Finnish Nobel Peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari on Friday met with Myanmar’s president, who is visiting Europe to strengthen political and economic ties

Finnish Nobel Peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari on Friday said he believed Myanmar’s reformist government could win the Nobel Peace Prize, as Helsinki announced 6.5 million euros (US$8.4 million) in development aid to the country. Ahtisaari met in Helsinki with reformist Burmese President Thein Sein during his landmark 10-day visit to Europe aimed at forging stronger political and economic ties between the former pariah state and the West. The former Finnish president said he believed Myanmar’s government was a “serious candidate” for the Nobel peace award if the democratic transition it had undertaken was completed. Ahtisaari himself won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his role as a mediator in several international conflicts.

Under Thein Sein, the Myanmar government had been able to “get results faster than, for example, an interim government” would have, he said. He urged Thein Sein to continue efforts to transform the country, saying change could only come from within. Also on Friday, Finnish President Sauli Niinistoe announced a 6.5 million euro aid package after meeting the Myanmar leader. “Finland is willing to reach out” to Myanmar, Niinistoe said at a joint press conference with the former general. The aid would be distributed between next year and 2016, a Finnish diplomatic source said. “Steps have been taken to improve human rights,” Niinistoe said of the reforms that have prompted the EU to suspend all sanctions apart from an arms embargo.

The US has also dismantled key trade and investment sanctions against the Southeast Asian country. Speaking on the economy, Thein Sein invited Finnish entrepreneurs to “work together with Myanmar in order to strengthen investment.” Thein Sein will also try to reap the fruits of his liberalization policies as he visits Austria, Belgium and Italy before returning home on Friday. He started his trip in Norway earlier this week, following Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s own milestone visit to the country last year, where she was finally able to accept her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in person after spending years under house arrest.

Meanwhile, Thein Sein says the country’s military is likely to retain its quota of seats in Parliament through the next election in 2015. During a visit to Finland on Friday, Thein Sein said that the military has a role in shaping the country’s future and is not likely to lose its allotment of 25 percent of the seats just yet. Thein Sein said through an interpreter that “there will likely be a gradual decrease [of military power in Parliament], but I cannot ensure that this could happen before 2015 elections.”

Nobel laureate sees peace prize for Myanmar - Taipei Times

 

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Opium threatens Myanmar's revolution...

Rising drug trade threatens Myanmar's aspirations
Mar 24,`13 -- Deep in the lawless mountains of the Golden Triangle, sloping fields of illegal poppies have just been scraped dry for opium. This is the peak season for producing drugs here, and in Myanmar's nascent era of democratic change, the haul has only increased.

Opium, its derivative heroin and methamphetamines are surging across Myanmar's borders in quantities that the United Nations and police in neighboring countries say are the highest levels in years. Two years after replacing a long-ruling military junta, the civilian government is still struggling to get a foothold in its war against drugs. The trade is centered in a remote, impoverished area where the government has little control and where ethnic armies have waged civil wars for decades - wars financed with drug money.

The Associated Press was granted rare access to Myanmar's drug-producing hub in the vast, jungle-clad mountain region of northeastern Shan state, deep in a cease-fire zone that was closed to foreigners for decades. It's a land dotted with makeshift methamphetamine labs and tiny, poor villages where growing opium is the only real industry. The trip was part of a U.N. mission allowed only under armed police escort.

President Thein Sein has signed cease-fire agreements with a patchwork of rebel groups in the region, but the peace is extremely fragile and sporadic fighting continues. Cracking down on drug syndicates or arresting poor opium farmers risks alienating the ethnic groups he is courting for peace talks. "To stop the drug problem, we need peace. And that is what the government is trying to achieve now," said police Col. Myint Thein, head of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse and Control, which controls the country's drug policy. "But that is just one of so many challenges. This is a very difficult task. It will take time."

Foreign aid that could help combat drugs is just beginning to trickle back into the area, which is rife with corruption. But the toughest task may be transforming the destitute rural economy, filled with poor farmers who view growing opium as the best way to provide for their families.

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Ethnic tensions lead to massacre in Myanmar...

Myanmar soldiers admit to killing villagers: witnesses
Fri, Aug 12, 2016 - Seven army soldiers on trial for murder have admitted their involvement in the killing of five villagers in northern Shan State, witnesses at an unprecedented court martial said.

In a highly unusual move, the army invited 15 residents from the remote village of Mong Yaw, where the killings took place, to witness the court martial at a nearby military base on Tuesday. Four of them have described the proceedings to reporters. “The judge read the murder case reports and asked for confessions from the soldiers, who admitted they were responsible,” said Sai Kaung Kham, a Mong Yaw villager who has been helping the families attending the military trial. Military representatives contacted in the capital, Naypyitaw, and at the Northeast Command in Lashio did not respond to requests for comment about the trial.

Last month, in a rare public admission of wrongdoing by the still-powerful military, intelligence chief Mya Tun Oo told reporters the army was responsible for killing five men from Mong Yaw and said the culprits would be prosecuted. Witnesses had previously said that soldiers rounded up dozens of men from the village, in an area riven by a long-running ethnic insurgency, on June 25 and led five away. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave a few days later. Both the news conference by one of the nation’s most senior generals and the invitation to villagers to attend the military trial were unprecedented. The army has occasionally acknowledged troops have been at fault in previous incidents, but has usually done so in vaguely worded official statements.

Three officers and three lower-ranking soldiers have admitted murdering the villagers, witnesses present at the court martial said. The seventh serviceman, the highest-ranking of those on trial, said he did not order the soldiers to “kill” the villagers, but to “clear them out.” The soldiers said they had arrested and interrogated five men and found two of them were related to a local ethnic armed group. They said they asked their superiors for further instructions, villager Sai Kaung Kham said.

The low-ranking soldiers then proceeded to kill the villagers, acting on orders, the witnesses at the trial said. “They were worried that if they let the three villagers go back, they would tell others they had been tortured,” the soldiers told the court martial, according to Sai Kaung Kham. Before killing them, the soldiers dressed some of the men in camouflage trousers, Sai Kaung Kham and other witnesses said. It was not clear when the court martial would end. Aye Lu, the wife of Aik Sai who was one of the men killed, said that at the court martial one of the soldiers admitted knifing her husband to death. “I want to see those who killed my husband sent to jail,” she said.

Myanmar soldiers admit to killing villagers: witnesses - Taipei Times