Tag Archives: Kachin Independence Army

News, Politics, Government

In Myanmar, conflict threatens reform, 2 years on

Leave a comment

When Myanmar’s post-junta government took power two years ago vowing to bring democracy to one of the world’s most repressed nations, Da Shi Naw was under no illusion his own life would improve any time soon. But the 61-year-old farmer never dreamed it would actually get worse — a lot worse.

First, a 17-year cease-fire between the army and ethnic Kachin guerrillas relapsed into fighting that tore through his family’s fertile rice fields, forcing him to flee into the mountains on foot. Then, after a year in a packed displaced camp far from home, war edged close once more.

Government troops began pounding rebel positions near the Kachin stronghold of Laiza with artillery and airstrikes that shook the ground here until late January. The battles triggered such a panic, authorities took the extraordinary step of urging people to dig their own bomb shelters.

And so, one cold day when camp administrators began handing out shovels, Da Shi Naw, humbled by fate, began plowing the ground a few steps from his tiny hut. He dug a rectangular cavity into the earth, a simple, makeshift hide covered with bamboo poles just big enough to climb into with his wife and their two-year-old grandson.

“We have nowhere left to run,” he told The Associated Press, “We have begun to lose hope.”

Two years into President Thein Sein‘s historic term as Myanmar’s first civilian president in half a century, this Southeast Asian nation has moved closer to democratic rule than any other time since a 1962 army coup. Although few initially believed that Thein Sein, a former general, was sincere about reform when he took office on March 30, 2011, his administration has since orchestrated a top-down revolution that has stunned the world and given hope to millions of people, allowing freedoms unheard of just a few years ago.

Yet even as Myanmar basks in world praise and foreign investors rush in, some parts of the country have taken phenomenally tragic turns for the worse — plagued by explosions of ethnic and sectarian violence so grave, the government has acknowledged they threaten the very process of reform itself.

Here in the north, where the army is still battling rebels of the Kachin Independence Army, residents do not speak of the country’s newfound freedoms. There is no talk of economic liberalization, of the end of censorship or the suspension of western sanctions. There is no discussion, either, of opposition leader Aung …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

In Myanmar, answers to ethnic conflict elusive

Leave a comment

Kneeling beside a line of freshly dug trenches carved like one long, open wound into a lush hillside, the rebel sergeant peered through dusty binoculars at all his troops had lost.

Scattered across the sprawling valley below, a dozen thatched-roof homes stood quiet, abandoned by fleeing villagers as government forces drew near. Towering above: four forested mountain ridges seized by Myanmar’s army after some of the bloodiest clashes here in decades — so fierce the ethnic Kachin guerrillas who survived said the artillery fire came down like rain.

If the Kachin Independence Army, the last armed insurgent group still at war in Myanmar, loses just one more mountain ridge, there will be little to stop government forces from taking their stronghold on the Chinese border. They are ill-equipped — some rebels wear helmets made only of hardened plastic and admit running low on ammunition — but they remain defiant.

“We’re very vulnerable because the army now holds the high ground,” rebel Sgt. Brang Shawng said as he scanned the new front line at Lawa Yang, where his unit retreated last month.

But he added: “We will never give up. For us, this is a fight for self-determination, and I’ll keep fighting for it until I die.”

Government soldiers, bolstered for the first time by screeching fighter jets and helicopter gunships that pounded the hills for weeks, advanced late last month to within just a few kilometers (miles) of the rebel headquarters town of Laiza, the closest they have ever come.

The region has been relatively calm since, but even so, the dramatic upsurge in fighting underscores how far Myanmar is from achieving one of the things it needs most — a political settlement to end not just the war with the Kachin, but decades-long conflicts with more than a dozen other rebel armies that have plagued the country for decades and still threaten its future.

Much is at stake for this Southeast Asian nation, which has stunned the world by opening politically and economically over the last two years following five decades of military rule. President Thein Sein‘s government rose to power in 2011 following elections that rights groups said were neither free nor fair, but it has since ushered in reforms, freed political prisoners and allowed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters to be elected to parliament.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Myanmar rebels, government to hold talks in China

Leave a comment

Myanmar’s government and ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar say they will hold talks in China this week after some of the worst fighting in the country in years.

Officials say the talks will begin Monday in the Chinese border town of Ruili.

The meeting comes after the army seized several strategic guerrilla-held hilltops this month in the hills around Laiza, which serves as a headquarters for the rebel movement.

The talks were confirmed by a Kachin Independence Army officer and a civilian official working with the government‘s negotiation team. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Since fighting began in June 2011, the two sides have held at least 10 rounds of talks to try to end the conflict.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Myanmar's Kachin rebels lose ground near HQ

Leave a comment

Ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Myanmar say a massive government attack has ousted them from a key outpost that was one of the last lines of defense for their nearby headquarters.

A spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army says the outpost at Hka Ya Bhum was overrun Saturday afternoon by about 3,000 government troops backed by air and artillery attacks.

The spokesman, who asked to be identified only as Joseph, says attacks on the hilltop post began last week despite a cease-fire unilaterally declared by the government, and that fighting is continuing Sunday. He believes the government wants to occupy the Kachin headquarters at Laiza near the Chinese border, despite its denials.

The Kachin have long sought greater autonomy from the central government.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Myanmar's Kachin rebels say fighting continues

Leave a comment

Ethnic Kachin rebels in Myanmar said clashes in the country’s north continued Saturday despite a government promise to cease fire, casting doubt over hopes that the bloody conflict there could end soon.

Myanmar’s military had declared Friday that it would stop attacks against rebels around the town of Lajayang, near Myanmar’s northeastern border with China, starting Saturday morning because it had achieved its goal of securing an army outpost there that had been surrounded by insurgents.

An official with the Kachin Independence Army confirmed Lajayang was quiet, but he said fighting was taking place in at least three other rebel positions in the region on Saturday. The official declined to be identified because he is not a spokesman for the rebel group.

The two sides have been fighting for 1 1/2 years, but the latest combat has represented a major escalation because the government employed fighter planes and helicopter gunships in its attacks starting on Christmas Day. Many of the skirmishes have centered on Lajayang, which is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Laiza, a town that also serves as a political headquarters for the guerrillas.

The rebel official said fighting Saturday was taking place at Hka Pot and Hka Ya Bhum, both rebel-held hilltop posts located to the north and west of Laiza, respectively. He said fighting was also taking place in Hphakant, more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) further away.

He said the army had launched new offensives in each of the locations, but it was impossible to verify the claims.

Ye Htut, a spokesman for President Thein Sein, accused rebels of attacking a police station in Hphakant before dawn on Saturday, killing two police.

He would not comment directly on the reports of new fighting, but he said the army has “reiterated its commitment to the president’s instruction to stop offensives except for self-defense.”

The upsurge drew calls from the international community for the two sides to put down their arms and negotiate, but there was no public indication of any direct talks taking place.

Tension with ethnic minorities fighting for greater autonomy in Myanmar is considered one of the biggest major long-term challenges for reformist President Thein Sein, who inherited power in 2011 from the army, which ruled for almost half a century.

The Kachin, like Myanmar’s other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They are the only major ethnic rebel group that has not reached a truce with Thein Sein‘s administration.

A cease-fire that held for nearly two decades 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 Laiza, where they have been digging bomb shelters and bunkers out of fear of air and artillery attacks.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Myanmar army says it will stop attacks on Kachin

Leave a comment

Myanmar’s military declared Friday it will stop its attacks on ethnic Kachin rebels in the country’s north because it has achieved its goal of securing an army outpost there.

Whether fighting will actually cease remains unclear, since the Kachin Independence Army has not yet made a similar declaration.

State television cited a statement from the government‘s information team saying the military will stop what it calls mopping-up operations in the area near its base at Lajayang at 6 a.m. Saturday (2300 GMT Friday). The army called on the Kachin to instruct their guerrillas not to launch attacks on government troops.

The army launched an offensive on Christmas Day after Kachin guerrillas rejected a demand they stop blocking government supply convoys.

The two sides have been fighting for 1 1/2 years, but the latest combat represented a major escalation because the government employed fighter planes and helicopter gunships in its attacks. Friday’s declaration said air power was used to try to pinpoint attacks on Kachin military positions and avoid civilian targets.

The upsurge in fighting drew calls from the international community for the two sides to put down their arms and negotiate, but there was no public indication of any direct talks taking place.

Tension with ethnic minorities fighting for greater autonomy in Myanmar is considered one of the biggest major long-term challenges for reformist President Thein Sein, who inherited power in 2011 from the army, which ruled for almost half a century.

The Kachin, like Myanmar’s other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They are the only major ethnic rebel group that has not reached a truce with Thein Sein‘s administration.

A cease-fire that held for nearly two decades 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.

The recent fighting flared up after the Kachin rejected a government demand that they stop attacking convoys delivering supplies to the army base at Lajayang. The guerrillas contended that the convoys carried ammunition that could be used to attack their own nearby Laiza headquarters. The government then launched its offensive to clear the road to its base.

Friday’s government announcement said altogether 35 soldiers had died and 190 were wounded due to Kachin attacks on convoys. The total number of Kachin casualties is not known, though the group’s supporters said it included civilians.

Friday’s announcement cited Commander-in-Chief Vice Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as saying the army was obeying Thein Sein‘s order of December 2011 to stop attacks against the Kachin except in self-defense, but that tensions could be reduced only when both sides stopped fighting, so the Kachin should also instruct their troops not to launch attacks. The general said that since December 2011, there had been 1,095 skirmishes with the Kachin, who also destroyed and damaged roads and rail lines.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Myanmar rebels say army artillery strike kills 3

Leave a comment

Ethnic Kachin rebels in Myanmar say government forces fired artillery that killed three civilians and wounded four more in the town the rebels use as their headquarters.

The casualties were the first reported in Laiza since rebels and the army resumed fighting in mid-2011 after nearly two decades of peace in the northern region.

A member of the rebel Kachin Independence Army says the strike took place early Monday and a 15-year-old boy was among the dead.

The rebel official declined to be identified because he is not the group’s official spokesman.

Laiza is located on Myanmar’s northeast border with China. It has been hit several times by artillery since fighting between the two sides escalated with government helicopter and jet fighter attacks last month.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News