Armed conflict in Burma -- offensives

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Title: Internal conflict in Myanmar
Description: "The internal conflict in Myanmar refers to a series of ongoing insurgencies within Myanmar that began shortly after the country, then known as Burma, became independent from the United Kingdom in 1948. The conflict has been labeled as the world?s longest running civil war....."Main fronts: Kachin State... Kayah State... Kayin State... Rakhine State... Shan State..."
Source/publisher: Wikipedia
Date of entry/update: 2018-01-02
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Title: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Description: The largest body of high-quality reports on the civil war in Burma, especially focussed on the civilian victims - currently over 600 reports dating from 1992.
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Karen, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Title: Junta Aerial Attacks Soar Twofold in Myanmar’s Kayah State: Report
Description: "Junta airstrikes on civilian and resistance targets in Kayah State have risen sharply over the past six months, doubling the combined total in 2021 and 2022, according to the Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF), which monitors regime atrocities in the state. THE PKPF’s report on Tuesday recorded a total of 572 airstrikes on civilian targets and battlegrounds in the resistance stronghold of Kayah State, as junta forces increasingly rely on aerial assaults amid heavy losses for their ground troops. However, the first half of 2023 saw twice as many regime airstrikes than in 2021 and 2022 combined. This period accounted for 68 percent of the total number of airstrikes conducted by the junta in the two and a half years since the coup. Meanwhile, at least 766 clashes have erupted between regime forces and allied resistance groups in Kayah State since the military takeover, the Karenni rights group said. The death toll among junta troops in Kayah is estimated at 2,230 – seven times larger than casualties suffered by resistance forces. Around 310 resistance fighters have been killed fighting the junta in Kayah State, according to the PKPF. Resistance groups had also destroyed 64 junta vehicles and seized a large quantity weapons and ammunition during the battles. Meanwhile, junta forces have killed around 516 civilians and detained 196 since the coup, the group reported on Tuesday. Junta shelling and bombing raids targeting civilians had also destroyed at least 1,639 houses and 39 religious buildings. On June 6, resistance forces established the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC) as an interim government body, while junta administration only functions in the state capital of Loikaw, according to local sources. Meanwhile, fighting has escalated in Hpaswang and Mese townships after the regime sent heavy reinforcements to Kayah State last month. The United Nations estimates that at least 98,400 people were displaced in the state as of July 17. However, local aid groups on the ground report that more than 270,000 people have been displaced in Kayah State and neighbouring Pekon township of Southern Shan State. Aid groups said around 100,000 people are in urgent need of food supplies and healthcare assistance..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2023-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 9 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 9 July 2021: As of 9 July, (899) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 9, a total of (5141) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Phyo Hlaing Win from Sarkhar Village in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township, was shot dead unprovoked while he was passing in front of the old industrial hall where the terrorist junta’s troops had camped on the night of July 8 at Myingyan City. In the early morning of July 6, the terrorist junta’s forces raided a tea shop which is located in Ohn Pin Chan Village in Mandalay Region’s Sintgaing Township and arrested tea shop owner Min Thu Tun, his 12 year old son Aung Swan Pyae, wife Tin Nwel Hlaing, the younger brother of Tin Newl Hlaing, and three waiters. Marn Zar Myay Mon, a protest leader of Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region, who was charged with five charges of Section 505(a) of a Penal Code, was tortured and his fingers were broken during interrogation. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.23 MB 4.71 MB 1.51 MB 1.75 MB
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Title: Clashes between junta and local resistance escalate in Kanpetlet, Chin State
Sub-title: The Chinland Defence Force has reportedly been carrying out ambushes on the junta’s reinforcement troops near the foot of the famous Mt Victoria
Description: "Clashes between regime forces and local resistance fighters in southern Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township have intensified for three days, the spokesperson for the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) said on Sunday. Fighting broke out on Friday in the village of Makyar, around 32 km from Kanpetlet. Since then, local resistance fighters have been carrying out ambushes on the junta’s reinforcement troops near the foot of the famous Mt Victoria, the spokesperson said. “We have deployed some security forces to protect displaced locals in Makyar. A lot of regime troops marched toward the village and we had a head-on clash,” he told Myanmar Now. He added that the military has suffered casualties but was unable to provide an exact number. There had been no casualties on the local side, he said. The military has made no official announcement acknowledging the fighting in Kanpetlet. Around 2,000 residents were forced to flee their homes in recent days due to the clashes, a local said. In a statement published on social media, the CDF in Kanpetlet warned anyone in the town who was not a local to leave by Saturday. “It is strangely quiet in the town now. It is not normal. Only a few shops are open. Around half of the population has left the town,” the local source said. After people fled their homes, regime forces looted property from their empty houses, locals told Myanmar Now. Anti-junta resistance fighters in Chin State, armed with homemade weapons such as hunting rifles and explosives, have been using guerrilla tactics to fight the regime forces. The Myanmar military troops have been using heavy weapons such as automatic guns and rocket launchers against the local fighters. On May 13, local forces had two clashes with regime soldiers outside of a branch of the state-owned Myanma Economic Bank, and again at a police outpost, reportedly injuring two members of the junta’s armed forces. Following the battles, tensions between the regime forces and the CDF in Kanpetlet grew. Two days later, 12 ethnic Chin police officers in Kanpetlet—including a sergeant and two lance-corporals—defected and joined the local forces against the coup regime. Six regime soldiers, including a captain, were killed in an ambush in Falam Township on May 21 in an attack on two military trucks carrying reinforcements on the Falam-Kalay road, according to the CDF members in Falam..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: New Clashes Between Myanmar’s Military and Ethnic Armies Exacerbates Refugee Crisis
Sub-title: Fighting in recent weeks has displaced some 45,000 civilians in Chin and Kachin states.
Description: "At least 10 military junta troops were killed and around 20 critically wounded in five clashes over the last two days in Myanmar’s Chin state, militia groups said Thursday, while tens of thousands of civilians have fled and are living in dire conditions as fighting has intensified in the region. Four of the engagements took place in Chin’s Hakha township, killing and injuring regime soldiers, a Hakha-based Chin-land Defense Force (CDF) spokesman told RFA’s Myanmar Service. The first occurred when CDF forces entered Lot Klone village on May 18 and were fired on by the junta troops, while the second took place the following morning, when a CDF unit ambushed soldiers on Matupi Road, killing seven, he said. “This morning [Thursday] we heard from sources close to the area that more than 10 troops were killed and more than 20 injured,” the spokesman said. Additionally, the CDF reported, a clash took place at a security checkpoint near Hakha University on May 18 and another near the intersection of Hakha Thar 6 and Hakha-Gangaw Roads the same day. On the evening of May 19, the military set fire to more than 30 motorbikes owned by Hakha CDF members, the group said, although no casualties were suffered. In Chin’s nearby Mindat township, the Mindat People’s Administration (MPA) militia said it engaged with regime troops on May 19 between mile markers 40 and 50 on Mindat-Matupi Road, killing three junta soldiers, including a sergeant. As of Thursday, the military had yet to confirm details of any of the clashes in Chin state, where soldiers are battling volunteer militias wielding mostly home-made weapons more than three months after it overthrew the country’s elected government in a Feb. 1 coup and reinstated junta rule. Za Op Ling, deputy executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), told RFA that more than 35,000 civilians from Chin state have fled their homes since the attack on Lot Klone village—15,000 of whom have crossed Myanmar’s border into India’s Mizoram state. “Whenever there is a clash, the soldiers later search every house and make arrests,” he said. “Their main target is young people, so all the youths have fled to nearby villages. Some escaped to the Indian border. All this happened mostly in Mindat and at least 8,000 people have fled from the township alone.” Za Op Ling said that local authorities in Mizoram state have asked India’s central government to provide assistance to the refugees from Myanmar. A resident of Mindat confirmed that the township is nearly deserted after the military “opened fire with heavy artillery,” killing several residents. “In this kind of situation, it isn’t possible for people to live in the town. It’s not safe to stay at home at all,” she said. “People just fled to nearby forests or villages. The young people from our village have helped some of the refugees. Now there are only some elderly people left in the town, most of whom are trapped.” Around 3,000 people taking shelter in four villages in Mindat township are currently facing food shortages due to logistical difficulties and with water and power cut off, according to a local aid worker. A member of the Mindat CDF, which is helping the refugees, said the group plans to ask the United Nations refugee agency for help in distributing food and other necessities. A spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General said in a statement on Tuesday that that the UN Office for Human Rights is investigating reports of arbitrary detentions, including the killing of six people in Mindat over the weekend. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said at least 797 civilians, including dozens of children, have been killed by security forces since the latest military coup, while more than a thousand civilians have been injured. The fighting in Mindat over the weekend prompted Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) on Thursday to condemn the military’s blocking of humanitarian and medical aid and access to clean water. “The reports out of Mindat … expose the horrifying reality of ongoing violence against tens of thousands of civilians in Mindat by the Myanmar military,” the group said. “These actions further echo the unconscionable actions and severe breaches of international human rights law perpetrated by the Tatmadaw since the group seized power in a February 1 coup d’etat,” it said, using the Burmese name for the military. “Physicians for Human Rights is appalled by the Myanmar military’s unlawful implementation of martial law in Mindat, who has pushed civilians into Mindat’s surrounding jungles to escape detention, and the reported obstruction in access to clean drinking water.” The group noted that the fighting has left women and children in Mindat vulnerable to tactics of war it said the military regularly employs, including sexual and gender-based violence.....Kachin state refugees: In Kachin state, where junta troops have also been fighting the veteran ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since clashes broke out between the two sides on April 10, residents told RFA that the military has launched more than 30 airstrikes in the area over the past 40 days. The two sides have engaged in some 90 engagements in Kachin state’s Momauk township alone, prompting more than 10,000 people to flee from 20 villages. More than 3,000 have arrived in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the remainder are in hiding in forests near their homes, hoping to remain able to harvest their crops. A woman refugee from Momauk’s Sihak village told RFA her family had lost nearly everything in the fighting. “The three or four houses in front of ours were razed to the ground during the clashes,” she said. “The owners have nowhere to live and have fled.” A resident of Momauk’s Kone Law village said that clashes intensified just as farmers were preparing to harvest peanuts, and many crops were damaged. “We should have been harvesting then, but now, the harvest time has passed, and the ground has become very hard,” he said. “It’s very difficult to pull out the plants. We had to hire more people, but we still can’t get it done because the soil has hardened. There are a lot of people who dare not go to the fields because the soldiers are too close.” Civil society groups are attempting to provide food, shelter and medicine to Momauk, but refugees told RFA that the military is blocking them from doing so and confiscating the goods. Residents also complained that soldiers regularly plant landmines in area fields that kill essential cattle, but then demand compensation from farmers for “destroying their weapons.” A civil society worker who is assisting refugees in Momauk told RFA there are still not enough camps for those who have fled the fighting. “Even monasteries that used to take in refugees are full, so many people lack shelter because there is no place for them to live,” he said. “We are now trying to find ways to set up a new camp in a convenient location with the help of U.N. agencies, but it is difficult because of the rising number of refugees.” While the most intense fighting between the military and KIA has taken place in Momauk, clashes have also occurred in several other townships in Kachin state, including Laiza, Hpakant, Mohnyin, Mogaung, Tanaing, Bhamo, Putao, Mansi and Myitkyina.....Inter-ethnic conflicts: In addition to clashes with the military regime, Myanmar’s myriad ethnic armies have continued to fight amongst themselves in the pursuit of new territory, further exacerbating the country’s refugee crisis. Clashes between the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the combined forces of the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) broke out near Manli village in northern Shan state’s Namtu township in April. More than 2,000 residents of Namtu’s Panlong, Chaungsa and Manli villages, have since fled to the nearby town centers of Hsipaw and Namtu. Additionally, clashes between the SSPP/SSA-N and RCSS on May 19 prompted another 1,000 villagers to flee Hsipaw’s Wan Sein village, bring the total number of IDPs in the area to around 3,000. The SSPP/SSA-N and TNLA have called on the RCSS to withdraw their troops back to their home base in southern Shan state to ease fighting in the northern part of the region. Fighting between the RCSS and the TNLA intensified between 2015 and the end of 2017 in northern Shan state and in April 2018, the TNLA began joint operations with the SSPP/SSA-N in Namtu township. According to the SSPP/SSA-N, talks between the two Shan ethnic armies have yielded little progress..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Is Myanmar's army still killing people in Rakhine? (video)
Description: "The massacre of ethnic groups in Myanmar’s Rakhine state hasn’t ended, according to a new report by Amnesty International. Now the group wants the UN Security Council to refer the crimes to the International Criminal Court. The report claims that since January the Myanmar military has launched random attacks killing or wounding people. “The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military terrorising civilians and committing widespread violations as a deliberate tactic,” says Nicholas Bequelin, regional director for East and Southeast Asia at Amnesty International. News of the killings comes just days after a report by Reuters found that the soldiers jailed for the slaughter of 10 Rohingya during a 2017 military crackdown had be set free. The military members served less than one year of a 10-year prison sentence..."
Creator/author: Nicholas Bequelin
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of publication: 2019-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Burma?s Covered up War: Atrocities Against the Kachin People
Description: Executive Summary: "At the same time as Thein Sein?s government is engaging in public relations maneuvers designed to make it appear that reform is taking place, its army is perpetrating atrocities against the Kachin people on a widespread and systematic basis. Seven months after the November 2010 elections and four months after the convening of parliament which, in the words of the ruling generals, ?completed the country?s transition to a multiparty democracy,? the regime launched a new war in Kachin State and Northern Shan State. After a seventeen year ceasefire, the renewed conflict has brought rampant human rights abuses by the Burma Army including, rape, torture, the use of human minesweepers and the forced displacement of entire villages. Human rights abuses in Burma are prevalent because of the culture of impunity put in place at the highest levels of government. The Burmese regime continuously fails to investigate human rights abuses committed by its military and instead categorically denies the possibility that abuses are taking place. Attempts to seek justice for the crimes committed against the Kachin people have resulted in responses ranging from ?we do not take responsibility for any landmine injuries? to ?the higher authorities will not listen to your complaint?. These human rights violations have led villagers to flee approaching troops, creating tens of thousands of internally displaced persons. The Burmese regime has refused to allow aid groups working inside the country to provide relief to the majority of these displaced people and international groups have failed to provide sufficient cross-border aid, creating a growing humanitarian crisis. While the international community ?waits and sees? whether the Burmese regime will implement genuine democratic reforms, the Kachin people are suffering. The time for waiting and seeing is over: now is the time for the world to act. We call on the international community to: Demand that the Burmese regime put an end to the atrocities against the Kachin people.• Provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons and refugees fleeing • the conflict to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Support the establishment by the United Nations of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes • against humanity and war crimes in Burma
Source/publisher: Kachin Women?s Association Thailand (KWAT)
Date of publication: 2011-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2011-11-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 862.07 KB
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Title: THE NORTH WAR: A KACHIN CONFLICT COMPILATION REPORT
Description: "This is a resource compilation report which is intended for journalists, aid workers and other researchers who may be interested in the in the June/July 2011 conflict between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Burma?s military regime in Kachin State, Burma. News stories and documents related to the conflict are categorized and reproduced or linked here, with a list of background information sources. They are in chronological order within each category. Project Maje hopes that the ongoing situation in northern Burma, including resource extraction and human rights issues in addition to the KIO conflict, will be covered in increasing depth and scope by journalists and other investigators in the future..."
Source/publisher: Project Maje
Date of publication: 2011-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2011-08-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Insecurity amidst the DKBA - KNLA conflict in Dooplaya and Pa
Description: "The DKBA has intensified operations across much of eastern Pa?an and north-eastern Dooplaya districts since it renewed its forced recruitment drive in Pa?an District in August 2008. These operations have included forced relocations of civilians, a new round of forced conscription and attacks on villages. The DKBA has also pushed forward in its attacks on KNLA positions in both districts in an apparent effort to eradicate the remaining KNLA presence and wrest control of lucrative natural resources and taxation points in the lead up to the 2010 elections. Skirmishes between DKBA, SPDC and KNLA forces have thus continued throughout this period. Local villagers have faced heightened insecurity in connection with the ongoing conflict. DKBA, SPDC and KNLA forces all continue to deploy landmines in the area and DKBA forces have fined or otherwise punished local villagers for attacks by KNLA soldiers. This report documents incidents of abuse in Dooplaya and Pa?an districts from August 2008 to February 2009..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F3)
Date of publication: 2009-02-06
Date of entry/update: 2009-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Terror
Description: Am Montag, dem 24. Januar 2000 besetzen zehn burmesische Terroristen das Zentralkrankenhaus im thailändischen Ratchaburi unweit der Grenze und nehmen Belegschaft und Patienten als Geiseln. Schnell ist in der Presse ausgemacht, dass es sich um die ‘God?s Army? Rebellen der Zwillinge Johnny und Luther Htoo handeln muß. In einer Kommandoaktion thailändischer Spezialeinheiten werden in der Nacht zum Dienstag alle Geiselnehmer erschossen. KNLA; God`s Army; Kindersoldaten, Child Soldiers
Source/publisher: Burma Riders
Date of publication: 2007-07-14
Date of entry/update: 2007-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: German, Deutsch
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Title: Shoot on Sight - The ongoing SPDC offensive against villagers in northern Karen State
Description: Executive Summary: "The Burmese army launched a large scale offensive in the districts of Toungoo, Nyaung Lay Bin and Muthraw in northern Karen State in November 2005 targeting the civilian Karen population. This offensive has been ongoing for over a year and it continues today. Villages are being shelled with mortars, looted and burnt to the ground. Crops and food supplies are being destroyed. Burmese soldiers are ordered to shoot on sight, regardless of whether it is a combatant or a defenseless civilian. As a result more than 27,000 people have been forced from their homes, either hiding in the jungle or trying to find refuge in Thailand. The Burmese army continues to increase its military presence in these areas and carry out attacks against villagers. In addition to the increased number of military attacks and militarisation of these districts, which has been ongoing for a number of years, in particular since the Karen National Union (KNU) and State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) agreed to a verbal ceasefire in January 2004, there has also been a rise in human rights abuses perpetrated by the army. These include: force labour and portering demands, land confiscation, rape and other gender based violence, looting and destruction of property, arbitrary taxation, restriction of movement, torture and extra-judicial killings. Despite the fact that this offensive has been underway for over a year now there is not a clear singular reason behind the attacks. However, a number of contributing factors have emerged: the move to the new capital Pyinmana and the establishment of a five kilometre security zone around it, the acquisition of land for national development projects, and the need to secure transportation routes to and from these sites. Additionally, the three districts targeted are considered the ‘heartland? of Karen resistance to Burmese oppression. Despite the armed struggle though the KNU and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) against the regime, it is the people, the civilian villagers, that pose the biggest threat to local and regional SPDC power these days. The non-violent resistance strategies, such as defying orders from the military and fleeing into the jungle rather than being controlled, employed by the villagers make them active participants in the struggle for peace and justice in Burma, not passive victims. Nonetheless, the reasons behind the offensive do not detract from the fact that the Burmese army is attacking the civilian Karen population without any form of provocation. In addition to purposely attacking villagers the Burmese army is also undermining the grassroots people?s ability to survive. The villagers in the offensive area, who are mainly farmers, were beginning to harvest their crops when the offensive began last November. As villagers had to flee to safety in the jungle, their crops either rotted in the fields or were eaten by animals, leading to food shortages. This acute food shortage will be further exacerbated next year. As the offensive continued over the past twelve months more villagers had to flee the Burmese troops. This meant that they could not prepare for next years crop. Consequently in November and December 2006 there will be no crop to harvest and food scarcity will continue next year, regardless of the political situation. Most of the 27,000 people who have been displaced have very little, if any, food. Their diets are supplemented with food that they can find from the jungle. Due to the severe landmine contamination of the areas, it is extremely dangerous to search for food. In addition to food scarcity internally displaced persons (IDPs) face serious Executive Summary Executive Summary 9 Burma Issues health issues, especially during the wet season. Malaria is prevalent, as are skin diseases, dysentery and malnutrition. It is the children and the elderly who suffer the most under the given conditions. Heavily pregnant women also face additional hardships as they have to flee the same as other villagers, walking for days and giving birth while on the run. Villagers, as a result of military attacks, are more likely to be injured by a landmine or through soldier violence, for example being shot or stabbed. Access to medical services is virtually non-existent, and what is available is gravely insufficient. As a result people often die from preventable and curable diseases and treatable injuries. The regime prevents all non-governmental organisations and United Nations agencies inside Burma giving humanitarian aid to the villagers affected by the offensive. The junta prohibits organisations traveling to these areas and documenting human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis. It is virtually impossible to bypass these regulations, as the region is very mountainous and all transportation routes, apart from walking, are controlled by the SPDC. Some community-based organizations that work cross-border from Thailand manage to bring some assistance to the IDPs, but it is only a tiny amount of what is needed. The SPDC deems the activities of these groups illegal and if the Burmese army catches workers they will simply disappear – never to be heard of or seen again. While the majority of IDPs choose to stay in hiding near their villages as a form of non-violent resistance, others decide to travel to Thailand to seek refuge in the camps along the Thai-Burma border. So far this year Thai authorities have allowed approximately 3,000 people to cross the border and enter a refugee camp near Mae Sariang, Thailand. However, the Thai authorities have not consistently kept the border open and have frequently refused IDPs entrance to the kingdom, reasoning that they are not fleeing fighting, but are merely capitalising on the resettlement opportunities that are being opened up to the refugees in the camp. As a result of the border?s sporadic closure, approximately 1,400 IDPs (a figure that is continually rising) are living in a makeshift camp along the Salween River, on the Burmese side of the border. This temporary IDP settlement receives aid from organisations working along the Thai-Burma border, at the discretion of the Thai authorities, but there are numerous protection issues associated with the camp. There is a Burmese army base that is only an hour?s walk away, making the IDPs vulnerable to a potential attack. This is the worst offensive that the junta has conducted since it joined ASEAN in 1997. However, the offensive is not an isolated event, but rather the continuation of a campaign by the military junta to control the population of Burma. Despite the fact that this offensive has been underway for over a year, the international community is yet to find a solution that will persuade the SPDC to stop their attacks on civilians. Throughout the numerous military campaigns thousands of lives have been lost – all valuable and irreplaceable."
Source/publisher: Burma Issues
Date of publication: 2006-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2007-01-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 645.99 KB
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Title: SPDC military begins pincer movement, adds new camps in Papun district
Description: "KHRG continues to monitor the activities of large SPDC military columns which are systematically destroying villages in Papun, Nyaunglebin and Toungoo districts. We have just received information from a KHRG researcher in the field that in the past week SPDC Military Operations Command #15 has launched its expected pincer operation in northern Papun district, trying to catch Karen villagers between its Tactical Operations Command #2 coming from the south and Tactical Operations Command #3 coming from the north. These two large multi-battalion columns, with several hundred soldiers each, are attempting to force all villagers out of the hills west of the Yunzalin River (Bway Loh Kloh) in northern Papun district of Karen State. Tactical Operations Command #2 has pushed north from Naw Yo Hta and has now set up a new base at Baw Ka Plaw, just north of Kay Pu; while Tactical Operations Command #3 has approached the same area from the north, coming down from Bu Sah Kee and establishing themselves at a new camp at Si Day. This pincer movement and the establishment of these two new Army camps ensure that the hill villagers in the northern tip of Papun district will remain displaced for the coming months and will lose their entire rice harvest, creating serious concerns about their food security and survival over the coming year."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2006-B10)
Date of publication: 2006-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2006-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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