Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Briefing: Fresh hopes for peace in Myanmar's Kachin State |
| Date of publication: | | 03 June 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | "KACHIN STATE, 3 June 2013 (IRIN) - The UN and others have welcomed recent peace talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Myanmar's conflict-affected Kachin State, but building trust will take time, say experts.
On 31 May, the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which has been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, agreed to further dialogue and talks on the resettlement of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are more than 85,000 IDPs in Kachin and Shan states (both in the north), including over 50,000 (58.5 percent) in areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the military wing of the KIO. Many others are staying with host families.
Over the past two years, hundreds have been killed in the conflict and there has been extensive damage to livelihoods and infrastructure.
According to the recently released inter-agency Kachin Response Plan, an upsurge in fighting in late 2012 triggered the displacement of several thousand more people.
Since the resumption of peace talks in February, fewer have been displaced, but there have not yet been significant numbers of IDPs returning to their homes due to ongoing tensions, lack of livelihood opportunities, and landmines..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | IRIN |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 06 June 2013 |
|
| Title: | | Ongoing struggles |
| Date of publication: | | May 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | Key Points:
• Myanmar's central democratic reforms have received broad backing,
enabling it to boost its legitimacy and consolidate its hold on power.
• Although tentative ceasefires have been concluded with most of the
ethno-nationalist armed groups, there is no clear timeline or plan to
address longstanding demands for self-rule and the protection of
cultural identities.
• Meanwhile, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the principal
protagonist in the struggle for ethnic rights, has been the focus of
sustained military offensives.
As Myanmar's democratic reform process rumbles on, military offensives
continue despite ceasefires between most of the ethno-nationalist rebel
armies and the government. Curtis W Lambrecht examines the road to peace
in the country. |
| Author/creator: | | Curtis W Lambrecht |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Jane's Terrorism and Security Monitor, May 2013, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (95K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 May 2013 |
|
| Title: | | The Kachin Crisis: Peace Must Prevail |
| Date of publication: | | March 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusions and Recommendations:
*
The government should halt all offensive
operations against the KIO and other
armed ethnic forces. Armed conflict will
worsen,
not resolve,
Burma’s ethnic and
political crises. The violence contradicts
promises to achieve reform through dialogue, and undermines democratic and
economic progress for the whole country.
*
Ethnic peace must be prioritised as an
integral part of political, economic and
constitutional reform. Dialogue must be
established to include ethnic groups that
are outside the national political system.
*
Restrictions on humanitarian aid to the
victims of conflict must be lifted. With
hundreds of thousands of displaced
persons in the ethnic borderlands, a long-term effort is required to ensure that aid
truly reaches to the most vulnerable and
needy peoples as part of any process of
peace-building.
*
Economic and development programmes must benefit local peoples. Land-grabbing and unsustainable business
practices must halt, and decisions on the
use of natural resources and regional development must have the participation of
local communities and representatives.
*
The international community must play
an informed and neutral role in supporting
ethnic peace and political reform. Human
rights’ progress remains essential, all ethnic
groups should be included, and economic
investments made only with the consultation of local peoples. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Transnational Institute (TNI), Burma Centre Netherlands |
| Format/size: | | pdf (430K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 12 March 2013 |
|
| Title: | | URGENT APPEAL From Inside Kachin State (25 January 2013) |
| Date of publication: | | 25 January 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | "The following urgent appeal and harrowing account of the situation in northern Burma comes from Kachin State, where long-time Burma researcher and author Guy Horton reports that not only is there no sign of the promised ceasefire between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army, but the fighting is intensifying and the humanitarian situation is worsening..." |
| Author/creator: | | Guy Horton |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Best Friend International |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 January 2013 |
|
| Title: | | A serious threat to peace in Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 10 January 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | "The fighting in Kachin areas – the Kachin State itself and Kachin-majority parts of northern Shan State – has been one of the most serious threats to peace during Myanmar’s transition since it erupted in June 2011, ending a seventeen-year-long ceasefire. It remains the last of Myanmar’s decades-long ethnic conflicts not currently to have a ceasefire.
Since Crisis Group first raised concerns in November 2011 about the grave consequences the breakdown of the ceasefire could pose for the country’s New Peace Initiative, other Storm Clouds have gathered on the country’s horizon, including virulent inter-communal violence in Rakhine State. These are serious challenges that must be overcome if Myanmar is to keep its broadly positive transition on track. But as Myanmar can see from the Indonesian experience, transitions are complicated, long, and often messy processes. They do not always end up as those who advocated or started them intended. There are many deviations and frequently bumps in the road..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jim Della-Giacoma |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | International Crisis Group |
| Format/size: | | html (34K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 April 2013 |
|
| Title: | | Myanmar airstrikes reopen ethnic wounds |
| Date of publication: | | 10 January 2013 |
| Description/subject: | | "The past few weeks have seen some of the heaviest fighting in Myanmar's decades-long civil war with government forces launching determined attacks against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic force in the far north of the country. And for the first time ever, the government has used helicopter gunships and attack aircraft against the country's ethnic rebels. Most of the fighting is taking place around the KIA's headquarters at the border town of Laiza near China, and the government seems determined to crush the Kachin resistance and gain control over the area now administered by the rebels.
The military campaign also sends signals to about a dozen other ethnic armies which have entered into ceasefire agreements with the government. In a statement issued on January 1, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an umbrella organisation of 12 such ethnic groups based mainly on the Thai border in the south, said they felt threatened by the offensive as well - and called for unity among Myanmar's multitude of traditionally factious ethnic militias. "If we are not able to act collectively now we will be destroyed individually," said a participant at the meeting that adopted the statement..." |
| Author/creator: | | Bertil Lintner |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | AL Jazeera |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 January 2013 |
|
| Title: | | More war than peace in Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 18 December 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | "LAIZA - Helicopter gunships hover in the sky above a battlefield. The constant sound of explosions and gunfire pierce the night for an estimated 100,000 refugees and internally displaced people. Military hospitals are full of wounded government soldiers, while bridges, communication lines and other crucial infrastructure lie in war-torn ruins.
The images and sounds on the ground in Myanmar's northern Kachin State shatter the impression of peace, reconciliation and a steady march towards democracy that President Thein Sein's government has bid to convey to the outside world. In reality, the situation in this remote corner of one of Asia's historically most troubled nations is depressingly normal..." |
| Author/creator: | | Bertil Lintner |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Asia Times Online" |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 18 December 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Four questions about the Kachin war |
| Date of publication: | | 15 November 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | "...As we all know, the new war in the Kachin and Shan State’s commenced on 9 June 2011, after a ceasefire had held for 18 years. Over those ceasefire years the Kachin Independence Army/Organisation and the Burmese Army were prepared to do business. They developed mechanisms for managing long-term grievances and the political, economic and cultural interests of the peoples of northern Burma. The fact that the ceasefire never led to a final peace agreement was a major frustration for all parties. Pragmatically, though, they considered the ceasefire better than the alternatives. Until, that is, the war re-ignited.
This new war did not spark in isolation, and my goal is to introduce four questions to help us contextualise the new Kachin conflict. We should also bear in mind that since President Thein Sein took power there have been many other parts of the country where conflict has erupted. This map illustrates the 2011 hotspots. When the year is finished the map for 2012 will look almost as stark, especially once sectarian staff in Rakhine State is included. With the transition to more participatory politics underway, Burma’s tragic history of inter-ethnic strife is clearly still not over.
For today my four questions will, I hope, set our minds to the political context of renewed fighting in Kachin areas.
The questions are:
*What is this new war?
*Why is the government fighting the Kachin?
*What would a new deal look like?
*Is democracy a precondition for peace? ..." |
| Author/creator: | | Nicholas Farrelly |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "New Mandala" |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 November 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Kachin KIA and Myanmar Army 2012-No.008 |
| Date of publication: | | July 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | News items about the Kachin situation, ceasefires, refugees and human rights |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Polaris Burmese Library Collections |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.94MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 October 2012 |
|
| Title: | | THE WAR IN KACHIN STATE: A YEAR OF MORE DISPLACEMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES |
| Date of publication: | | 08 June 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | • In the past year, the Tatmadaw has deployed nearly 25% of its battalions to Kachin
State, escalating its war with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and bringing
further suffering to civilian populations in Kachin State and Northern Shan State.
• Tatmadaw soldiers have constantly targeted civilians in Kachin State and Northern
Shan States as part of their military operations against the KIA. Human rights abuses
have included extrajudicial killings, rape of women, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced
displacement, the use of human shields, forced labor, and the confiscation and
destruction of property. All of these systematic abuses would be considered war
crimes and/or crimes against humanity under international law.
• The ongoing conflict has displaced about 75,000 people, including at least 10,000
refugees who crossed the border into China. Despite the severity of the situation, the
regime has frustrated relief efforts, severely restricting humanitarian access to local
and international organizations.
• The KIA’s political leadership, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), has made
repeated attempts to negotiate a lasting peace in Kachin State. However, the regime
has rejected the KIO’s request to discuss long-term political solutions prior to a
ceasefire agreement.
BACKGROUND: 2008 constitution, 2010 elections, BGF, energy projects, and human
rights abuses |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | ALTSEAN-Burma |
| Format/size: | | pdf (139K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 June 2012 |
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