Burma’s war against ethnic Kachin produces more refugees

 By Zin Linn Jun 24, 2011 12:19AM UTC

The Kachin Independence Organization and Army (KIO & KIA) has condemned the orchestrated propaganda by the Burma’s Thein Sein government which accused KIO of instigating recent armed conflict in the state, as reported by the  New Light of Myanmar newspaper on June 18.
According to Kachin News Group (KNG), KIO’s information department: “It is totally false propaganda published by the government saying the ‘KIA started the war.”

The June 20-dated statement released by KIO said the military offensive was launched by the Burmese government on purpose. In fact, armed conflicts between the Burma armed forces and KIA has widened since the ethnic armed group refused to accept the junta’s new constitution which says Burma Army is the only military institution in the country.

KIA detained two officers and one Burmese soldier on June 8, who intruded into their area of control with weapons but later released them given the request from the Northern military commander of the Burmese Army. The Kachin armed group said they treat prisoners of war well in accordance with the international law and released them with their weapons.
On June 9, Burmese government’s Battalion 437 and 348 started firing on the KIA camp in Sang Gang village.  They captured the KIA liaison officer Chang Ying at Sang Gang post and detained him.



The KIA pulled out its battalion 15 to Bum Sen post near Sang Gang village.  To avoid widespread war, the KIA refrained from shooting back at Burmese soldiers. However, on June 9, Burmese armed forces marched and attacked the KIA camp in Bum Sen. Then, KIA had to shoot back in self defense, said the KIO’s statement.

Furthermore, the Burmese Army murdered KIA’s Lance Corporal Chang Ying in an act of brutish cruelty, who they abducted from the liaison office at Sang Gang post on June 9.
The Burmese Army lied about the death of Corporal Chang Ying, telling KIA that the officer died in action due to injuries during fighting.  But when the KIA checked his body, several marks of injuries and signs of gruesome torture were found on the whole body, including stab wounds.

“They are lying. They killed him by torturing him severely, when we treated their soldiers well,” the KIO said in the statement.

On the contrary, “The only objective of the Burma Army in launching attacks on the KIA was to protect its members and import hydropower to the nation without any intention of aggression or oppression,” said the state run media the New Light of Myanmar.

If it was true that Burma’s army intended only to protect its members and the hydro-power site, who were the culprits of rapes and killings in the disputed area?  Yet, sources from Kachin State said rapes, killings, tortures and recruitment of civilians as porters by Burmese soldiers are apparently happening all through the Kachin state.

According to the statement on June 17 by Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT), at least six women and girls have been raped by Burmese soldiers, and three were killed after rape.

The current civil war between in Kachin State has forced almost 20,000 Kachin refugees to flee to the Sino-Burma border fearing continuous clashes, said the KNG referring a doctor helping refugees. The number of refugees has reached 13,000 in five refugee camps in the area of the Laiza headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the China border said the doctor. The KIO is providing rice to the refugees, while locally based Non Government Organizations (NGO) are providing health care.

However, the refugees hiding in the forests are suffering from cholera and malaria in the rainy season. They have to endure heavy rainfall without proper shelter. Almost all refugees are from the villages on the road between Myitkyina, Manmaw (Bhamo) and Loije and more than 20,000 refugees have fled to KIO controlled areas since the war began on June 9.  Some refugees are staying on the other side of Laiza in China, KNG reported.

The KIO/KIA has already said they are ready to end fighting.  But first, they want a promise that any amnesty will be respected by Burmese military commanders.

President Thein Sein himself is violating his own promises that he has guaranteed in his inaugural speeches in March. If he wants to build peaceful Burma under good governance, he must sit together with key stakeholders including ethnic leaders .

Refusing political talks to address the political question will intensify the civil war so as to protect the reign of military might in the deprived country.

Source : http://asiancorrespondent.com/58150/burma%E2%80%99s-immoral-war-against-ethnic-kachin-produces-more-refugees/