Armed conflict in Shan State - general articles

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Description: "At the end of March 2022, over 100 villagers from Nawng Hee tract in Namzarng township, southern Shan State, were forced by SAC troops to build a new military outpost, about one mile from a large new coal mining operation planned by a subsidiary of Mandalay-based Ngwe Yi Pale company. On March 29 and 30, 106 residents of Nam Mo village went to build the outpost north of Koong Di village in Nawng Hee tract, about 15 miles northeast of Namzarng town. The villagers were forced to dig bunkers, cut bamboo and erect fencing. The outpost has been built on farmland belonging to a Nam Mo villager called Loong Hsa. He was not informed in advance that his land would be seized, and has received no compensation. On March 23, about 35 SAC troops from LIB 553, based in Mong Karn, under the Triangle Regional Command in Kengtung, eastern Shan State, came from the Kho Lam-Namzarng main road and entered Koon Hsai village in Nawng Hee tract. The troops camped at Koon Hsai school for several nights, then moved to Tue Leng village, where they spent one night before arriving in Nam Mo village on March 28. The SAC troops camped in Nam Mo temple and that evening at 6 pm summoned the village head and asked to see the village household list. There are 63 households in Nam Mo village, and the troops ordered one person from each household to go and build the outpost for three days, but the villagers decided to send 106 people each day in order to finish the work in two days. On March 31, the SAC troops moved from Nam Mo temple to stay at the new outpost, which is located about 20 miles from the SAC’s Central Eastern Region Command headquarters at Kho Lam. Local villagers fear that this new military expansion will worsen the human rights situation in their area. In the list of countrywide mining permits released by the SAC Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) in November 2021, there are five coal mining concessions in Nawng Hee tract of Namzarng, totalling 500 acres. All have been granted to Mandalay Distribution and Mining Company, a subsidiary of Ngwe Yi Pale. According to local villagers, company representatives informed Namzarng township authorities last month that coal surveying would begin soon in Nawng Hee. This is a source of great concern for local farmers, as the planned coal mining area is located on lands where they plant corn as their main source of income. According to the SAC MONREC website, Ngwe Yi Pale is currently the largest producer of coal in northern Shan State, where its mines in Hsipaw, Tangyan and Mong Yai have caused serious damage to the environment, health and livelihoods of local communities. Mandalay Distribution and Mining Company currently operates another coal mine in Lawksawk in southern Shan State..."
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation
2022-04-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-19
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Description: "၂၀၂၂ ခုနစ် မတ်လကုန်ပိုင်းတွင် ရှမ်းပြည်တောင်ပိုင်းနမ့်စန်မြို့နယ် နောင်ဟီးကျေးရွာအုပ်စုမှ ဒေသခံပြည်သူ တစ်ရာကျော်တို့ကို စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သားများက ကင်းတပ်စခန်းအသစ် တည်ဆောက်ပေးရန်အဓမ္မခိုင်းစေခဲ့သည်။ထိုတပ်စခန်းအသစ်တည်နေရာမှာ မန္တလေးအခြေစိုက်ငွေရည်ပုလဲကုမ္ပဏီ၏ လက်အောက်ခံကုမ္ပဏီမှ အသစ်တူးဖော်ရန်စီစဥ်နေသည့်ကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်းကြီးနှင့် ၁ မိုင်ခန့်သာကွာ၀ေးသည်။ မတ်လ ၂၉ ရက် ၃၀ ရက်များတွင် နမ့်မိုကျေးရွာမှ ကျေးရွာသူရွာသား ၁၀၆ ဦးတို့သည် နမ့်စန်မြို့အရှေ့မြောက်ဘက်မှ ၁၅ မိုင်ခန့်ကွာ၀ေးသော နောင်ဟီးကျေးရွာအုပ်စုကုန်းတီးရွာမြောက်ဘက်တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီ ကင်းစခန်းအသစ်ကိုသွားဆောက်ပေးခဲ့ရသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သားများသည် ကျေးရွာသူရွာသားများအားကတုတ်ကျင်းတူးခြင်း၊သစ်၀ါးများခုတ်ခြင်း၊ ခြံစည်းရိုးကာစခြင်း အစရှိသည် တို့ကိုအဓမ္မခိုင်းစေခဲ့ကြသည်။ အဆိုပါကင်းတပ်စခန်းသည် နမ့်မိုဒေသခံပြည်သူလုံးဆာ၏ ယာမြေပေါ်တွင် သွားရောက်တည်ဆောက်ထားခြင်းဖြစ်ပြီး ထိုသို့သွားဆောက်ရာတွင် လည်းကြိုတင်အသိပေးခွင့်တောင်းခဲ့ခြင်းမရှိသည့်အပြင် မည်သည့်လျော်ကြေး ငွေကိုမှလဲပေးအပ်ခဲ့ခြင်းမရှိပေ။ မတ်လ ၂၃ ရက်နေ့တွင် ရှမ်းပြည်အရှေ့ပိုင်း ကျိုင်းတုံရွှေတြိဂံတိုင်စစ်ဌာနချုပ်လက်အောက်ခံ မိုင်းကန်းမြို့နယ် အခြေစိုက် ခလရ ၅၅၃ တပ်မှအင်အား ၃၅ ဦး ခန့်ပါရှိသောစစ်ကြောင်းသည် နမ့်စန်-ခိုလမ်ကားလမ်းမကြီးမှတစ်ဆင့် နောင်ဟီးကျေးရွာအုပ်စု ကွန်ဆိုင်း ကျေးရွာသို့ရောက်လာပြီး ကွန်ဆိုင်းကျေးရွာစာသင်ကျောင်းတွင် ညပေါင်းများစွာ ညအိပ်ရပ်နားပြီးနောက် တိလင်ကျေးရွာတွင် ၁ ညအိပ်ကာ မတ်လ ၂၈ ရက်နေ့တွင် နမ့်မိုကျေးရွာ သို့ရောက်ရှိလာခဲ့သည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သားများသည် နမ့်မိုကျေးရွာ ဘုန်းကြီးကျောင်းတွင် ညအိပ်ပြီး ထိုနေ့ည ၆ နာရီတွင် ကျေးရွာသူကြီးကိုခေါ်ယူ၍ နမ့်မိုကျေးရွာတွင်ရှိသော အိမ်ထောင်စုစာရင်းများကိုမေးမြန်းခဲ့သည်။ နမ့်မို ရွာ တွင်အိမ်ထောင်စု ၆၃ စုရှိရာ အိမ်ထောင်စုတစ်စုလျှင် တစ်ဦးကျ မဖြစ်မနေ၄င်းတို့တပ်စခန်းကိုသုံးရက် အ တွင်း တည်ဆောက်ပေးရန် ခိုင်းစေခဲ့သည်။သို့သော် ရွာသူရွာသားများမှ နှစ်ရက်အတွင်းလူ ၁၀၆ ဦးဖြင့် အပြီးလုပ်ရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ခဲ့ကျသည်။ မတ်လ ၃၁ ရက်တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သားများသည် နမ့်မိုကျေးရွာဘုန်းကြီးကျောင်းမှ တပ်စခန်းအသစ် သို့ ပြောင်း ရွေ့ခဲ့ကျသည်။ အဆိုပါတပ်စခန်းသည်ခိုလမ်မြို့ရှိ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အရှေ့အလယ်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်နှင့် မိုင် နှစ်ဆယ်ခန့်သာကွာ၀ေးပြီး ယခုကဲ့သို့ စစ်ရေးတိုးချဲ့မှုအသစ်များကြောင့် ၄င်းတို့ဒေသတွင်း လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်ခံရမှုများပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာမည်ကိုစိုးရိမ်နေကြသည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနစ်နို၀င်ဘာလတွင်ထုတ်ပြန်သော စစ်ကောင်စီ သယံဇာတနှင့်သဘာ၀ပတ်၀န်းကျင် ထိန်းသိမ်းရေး၀န်ကြီး ဌာန၏ တစ်နိုင်လုံးသယံဇာတတူးဖော်မှုခွင့်ပြုစာရင်းတွင် နမ့်စန်မြို့နယ် နောင်ဟီးကျေးရွာအုပ်စုတွင် တူးဖော်ရန်စီစဥ်နေသည့် စုစုပေါင်းဧက ၅၀၀ကျော် ကျယ်၀န်းသည့် ကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်း ၅ခုလည်းပါ၀င်သည်။ အဆိုပါကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်းအားလုံးသည် ငွေရည်ပုလဲ ကုမ္ပဏီ၏ လက်အောက်ခံ မန္တလေးဖြန့်ချီရေးနှင့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်ရေး ကုမ္ပဏီမှတူးဖော်ရန်ခွင့်ပြုချက်ရရှိထားခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ဒေသခံများ၏ပြောကြားချက်အရ ပြီးခဲ့သည့်လတွင် ကုမ္ပဏီတာ၀န်ရှိသူများက နမ့်စန်မြို့အာဏာပိုင်များအား ကျောက် မီးသွေးစမ်းသပ်မှုများကိုမကြာမှီစတင်တော့မည်ဟုအကြောင်း ကြားခဲ့ကြောင်းသိရသည်။ အသစ်တူးဖော်ရန်စီစဥ်နေသည့် ကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်းဧရိယာသည် ဒေသခံတောင်သူလယ်သမားများ ၏အဓိက ၀င်ငွေဖြစ်သောပြောင်းစိုက်ပျိုးရာယာမြေပေါ်တွင်တည်ရှိနေရာ ၄င်းတို့အတွက်အထူးစိုးရိမ် စိတ်များဖြစ်လာစေသောရင်း မြစ်ဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီ သယံဇာတနှင့်သဘာ၀ပတ်၀န်းကျင် ထိန်းသိမ်းရေး ဦးစီးဌာန၏ ၀က်ဆိုက်၏ဖော်ပြချက်များအရ ငွေရည်ပုလဲသည် လက်ရှိတွင် ရှမ်းပြည်မြောက်ပိုင်း၏ အကြီးဆုံးကျောက်မီးသွေးတူးဖော်ထုတ်လုပ်သူဖြစ်ပြီး ၄င်းတို့၏ သီပေါ၊တန့်ယန်းနှင့် မိုင်းရယ်မြို့များရှိကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်းများသည် သဘာ၀ပတ်၀န်းကျင်နှင့် ဒေသခံများ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးနှင့်လူနေမှုဘ၀ကိုပြင်းထန်စွာထိခိုက်ဖျက်ဆီးလျက်ရှိသည်။ မန္တလေးဖြန့်ချီရေးနှင့် သတ္တုတူးဖော်ရေး ကုမ္ပဏီသည် လက်ရှိတွင် ရှမ်းပြည်တောင်ပိုင်းရပ်စောက်မြို့တွင်လည်း အခြားကျောက်မီးသွေးတွင်းတခုကို တူးဖော်နေသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation
2022-04-19
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-19
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Description: "On March 29, 2022, after a bomb explosion in Kyaukme town, SAC troops stopped two villagers riding a motorcycle and beat them so severely that one of them died of his injuries. The explosion, caused by a hand-made bomb, occurred at the Kyaukme municipal office at about 4 pm. The roof of the municipal office was slightly damaged by the blast. At that time, the two men, Sai Bee, age 43, and his nephew Sai Aung Kyaw Oo, age 28, were riding a motorcycle to buy some food in Quarter 9 after buying a smart phone in Quarter 6 of Kyaukme town. After buying food, they were on their way back to Nawng Bing village, when they were stopped by over 20 SAC troops at a traffic light in Quarter 6. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo was driving the motorcycle, and Sai Bee was sitting behind him. The troops interrogated the men about the bomb blast, beating and pushing them to the ground. They kicked them multiple times in the head and chest until both of them fell unconscious. The troops then put them into an army car, and took Sai Aung Kyaw Oo to the Kyaukme police station and took Sai Bee to the Kyaukme hospital. A soldier drove their motorcycle to the police station. After about an hour, the troops phoned the police to inform them that Sai Bee had been certified dead by the hospital. The police then released Sai Aung Kyaw Oo, returned his motorbike key, and told him he could go to the hospital. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo did not go to see his uncle’s body that evening, but phoned his relatives to come from Pong Wo village to collect the dead body from the hospital. On March 30, 2022, at about 1 pm, his relatives from Pong Wo came to the hospital. They had to pay 50,000 kyat for the autopsy, and then took the dead body to be buried at the Kyaukme cemetery at about 2 pm. The cost of the funeral was over 500,000 kyat, but the military did not provide any compensation for his family or for the funeral ceremony. Sai Bee was a widower who stayed with his elder sister. He had five sisters in his family, and was the youngest brother. He worked at a car workshop in Kyaukme. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo told his family what had happened to them: “We were riding a motorcycle from the phone shop, where we had bought a smart phone. While we were riding past the municipal office, we heard the sound of an explosion, but we just kept driving. We rode our motorbike to go and buy some food at a place nearby. When we came back, we met a group of SAC soldiers on the road. They stopped us, and then beat and kicked us.” When Sai Aung Kyaw Oo was arrested, the troops took about 45,000 kyat and his ID card from his wallet. About 700,000 kyat was taken from Sai Bee, who had come to Kyaukme to make a new ID card. He was staying in Nawng Bing village and had called his nephew to bring him some household documents for the ID application. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo had left Pong Wo on the morning of March 29 to come to Kyaukme. On March 30, 2022, after the burial of Sai Bee, the Nam Khong charity group went to the police station to ask for Sai Aung Kyaw Oo’s ID card and the confiscated money. The police replied that they had not seen any money. They said that the only item handed over by the soldiers at the police station was Sai Aung Kyaw Oo’s motorbike. Sai Aung Kyaw Oo is still suffering physically and mentally from being beaten by the SAC troops. The previous month, on February 3, a 44-year-old displaced farmer called Sai Tun Win was similarly beaten and kicked to death in Kyaukme town by SAC military intelligence officers, who falsely accused him of being a drug dealer and a PDF member. His family have received no compensation until now, even though the SAC authorities admitted his arrest was a “mistake”..."
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation
2022-04-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-05
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Sub-title: Ethnic armed groups in Shan State have long used intimidation to recruit fighters, but the brutal tactics of the Shan State Progress Party are terrorizing villagers and prompting some to flee their homes.
Description: "On the morning of June 20, Daw Shristi Devi, 55, walked more than 20 kilometers from her village to a Shan State Progress Party camp near Lashio in northern Shan State. The ethnic armed group had summoned the single mother of five to apologize on behalf of her eldest son for his refusal to enlist in the SSPP’s armed wing, the Shan State Army-North. Moments after arriving at the SSPP camp, Shristi Devi, along with 23 villagers who had also been summoned for the same reason, were forced into a vehicle by five armed fighters and driven away. She was separated from her family for more than six weeks. “We didn’t know where they were taking us. They could have done anything to us. We thought they would kill us,” recalled Shristi Devi, who asked that her real name and village not be published for fear of reprisal. Although the military coup on February 1 brought violence and fear into households throughout the country, for many in Shan State conflict has been at their doorsteps for decades. The state is home to some of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed groups, and these ethnic armies have long been at war with each other and with the Tatmadaw. However, as power struggles and territorial disputes persist, the SSPP and its armed wing, one of the biggest ethnic armed groups in northern Shan, has acquired a reputation as the more violent and aggressive of the groups, especially in recruitment campaigns. ‘We gave the money – that’s why we are still alive today’ The June 20 incident is reflective of the SSPP’s increasingly brutal recruitment tactics. Taken against their will with no warning or explanation, Shristi Devi and the other villagers were moved three times after being abducted. At the final camp, where they were held for a month, they lived in tents with little food and not enough clothing. Shristi Devi remembers seeing over 200 people who had been abducted from other villages. “It was intolerably cold. We didn’t know we could end up here like this so we didn’t bring any warm change of clothes or blankets. We had to wash the clothes again and again and re-wear them. And they didn’t give us anything to eat except rice, oil, and salt,” said Shristi Devi. “We spent most nights sleeping on the floor. It was such a nightmare.” A few days after arriving at the final camp in Keng Tung, the men were taken to SSPP headquarters in Wan Hai, over 380km away, to begin formal training. The eight women remained at the camp. Shristi Devi was told that she would only be released after her son joined the SSPP or a fee of K10 million was paid (about US$5,000 at current exchange rates). Fearing for her safety, her community collected the ransom and on August 2 she was released, along with another woman from her village. However, she was told that paying the ransom would only protect her for one year. “I am constantly worried because they only gave us a one-year contract to sign, which means that they will or can come back next year again and the same thing would happen again,” said Shristi Devi, her voice shaking. “We gave the money – that’s why we are still alive today. But this is [only] one year’s insurance. We don’t know what will happen to us in the next few years.” The SSPP’s conscription efforts track eligible recruits using what’s known as “the list”. In villages across northern Shan, families with members aged between 18 and 40, men and women, are entered on “the list”, usually under the father’s name. An annual draw is held by respective village tract administrators and SSPP branch leaders to decide who must join. If selected, the family must offer at least one person to begin immediate military training regardless of whether the family is from a village in SSPP territory. Sai Muang, editor-in-chief of the Shan Herald Agency for News, has monitored conscription and forced recruitment by the SSPP since 2006. He says the June 20 incident is one of the most extreme examples of intimidation by the armed group, but it is not an isolated case. He says the SSPP’s conscription programme has expanded over the past year, and now covers more than 50 villages. The increase has occurred amid a rise in fighting between the SSPP and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), and its armed wing is the Shan State Army-South. “They [SSPP] have been recruiting in so many villages. They are now not just looking at the city or the number of people they can recruit. They are focusing on anyone above 18 and taking them,” said Muang. Sai Wi Zay Ya, 52, a community leader from the same village as Shristi Devi, has spoken to families throughout northern Shan who have been targeted in the forced recruitment campaigns. He believes that the SSPP’s tactics have become more drastic in recent months. In the past, if a recruit failed to comply with his or her conscription, their family could negotiate with the village leader to pay a fine. This is no longer sufficient. “Before, it used to be directly dealt with by the village heads, without involving the villagers. Now, they don’t accept negotiating with the village head and demand to talk to the parents directly. That’s why now the head of the village has been conditioned to send the parents to their camp to deal with whatever they [SSPP] want,” said Wi Zay Ya, who asked that his real name and location not be used for fear of reprisal. “They have found that the tactic of taking parents away is an effective and easy way to threaten the sons to join the groups. So, they started implementing such tactics in other areas gradually.” These new tactics spread to Shristi Devi and Wi Zay Ya’s village when the SSPP pushed the RCSS out of the region in April and took over administrative control. A representative from each family is required to visit one of the SSPP camps in person; families that refuse to go through this process risk having SSPP soldiers raid their homes and detain anyone they find. Shristi Devi’s eldest son was first recruited by the SSPP in one of its annual draws in 2015. For five years, her family paid an annual K4 million fine to the party in exchange for his freedom. Until this year, it was enough to ward off the party’s threats, but due to the new policy she feared for her family’s safety and felt she had no choice but to make the trip to talk directly to the party. In other parts of Shan, the policies have been in effect for several years. Daw Nang Lee, 30, who lives in a village in northern Shan about 15km south of Shristi Devi’s community, made a similar trip to an SSPP camp in 2019. Her younger brother was first recruited by the SSPP in 2012 and joined up, but absconded after seven years. Nang Lee was summoned to a meeting with the SSPP at which she tried to issue a formal apology on behalf of her brother. “This is the only way to deal with them if you want to be excused from not getting other severe punishments like getting arrested or beaten,” said Nang Lee, who asked that her real name and home village not be used because the SSPP has in the past threatened and attacked residents of her village who have spoken out about the forced conscription. Although Nang Lee did not face retaliation like Shristi Devi, her apology was rejected and her brother was again included on “the list”. He has remained in hiding since he ran away. Decades of conflict in Shan State For many families, the prospect of a loved one fighting with an ethnic armed group hangs over them like a death sentence. Reports of young people joining ethnic armed groups and never being heard from again are common. “I feel that giving money is better than giving our sons and our lives because we don’t know what they will make our sons do once they join the group. We don’t know if they will ever come back or stay alive,” said Shristi Devi. “It is better we go [to apologise] because if we don’t, the SSPP would come and raid our house and God knows what else they are capable of doing. I don’t want them to even see my sons at all.” The fear of ethnic armed groups such as the SSPP has developed over decades of fighting, both against the Tatmadaw and between themselves. The SSPP is allied with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which represents the Ta’ang minority. Separately and together, the two northern Shan groups have clashed with the RCSS, based in the south of the state, since the TNLA was formed in 2009. However, while the TNLA focuses its recruitment almost exclusively on Ta’ang, the predominantly Shan SSPP is known to target all ethnicities, including those living in territory outside its control. SSPP spokesperson and secretary, Colonel Sai Su said that there is “no discrimination against gender or religions” in the party’s recruitment efforts. The RCSS, while also violent, has developed a reputation as being a more protective force that is less likely to use fear-mongering tactics and extreme intimidation against civilians, especially in northern Shan. Wi Zay Ya said he has witnessed the difference between the two groups firsthand. His village was under RCSS control until April when the SSPP pushed them out. He says the contrast between the two groups is significant. “RCSS didn’t torture or use violence towards us. They took things from us, but protected us in return. But [SSPP] are very violent and ask the villagers to do things for them forcefully and ask them to give [money]. They want us to buy them beer, and they torture the villagers so inhumanely,” said Wi Zay Ya. Muang has heard similar stories, but suggests that a preference for the RCSS might be misguided. “RCSS has that strong mindset or value that is shared by many in Shan State: nationalism. Shan people love RCSS for that reason. It becomes easy for them to give anything to RCSS and hard for them to see them for what they really are,” said Muang. “They [Shan people] paint SSPP as the “bad guy” because SSPP is more cunning, and they collaborate and work with different armed groups, and are seen as traitors in the community.” Despite evidence of its crackdowns and harsh recruitment campaigns, the SSPP denies most allegations of violence. Sai Su said the group instills a sense of duty in its recruits and its leadership retains a tight grip on its fighters at all levels. “There might be a possibility that lower-ranking soldiers are implementing this without us knowing but if this activity is truly happening on the ground, it is not ordered by us. But if we know anything about it, we would take serious action towards such violent acts,” said Sai Su. However, the SSPP does admit to punishing those who evade recruitment, conceding that a small number of those who refuse to join are arrested and held for 30 days under what it calls “house arrest” as part of a re-education programme. Sai Su says only about 30 people are held under the programme every year. Yet, stories of mass kidnappings and intimidation campaigns have spread across Shan, terrifying families who worry that they could be the next target. Rather than waiting for their village to be raided, many have made the difficult decision to flee their homes preemptively, relocating to one of the many displacement camps scattered throughout the state where they feel safe. Figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that since the beginning of 2021, 26,681 persons have been displaced in Shan, with more than 22,000 in the north where the SSPP has its stronghold, as of September 15. This is a significant increase from 2020, when the OCHA recorded 8,600 internally displaced persons in northern Shan state over the course of the year. While active conflict continues to be a primary driver of displacement across the entire state, recently, fear of conscription has also become a factor, a senior international aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Frontier. “I don’t remember a single case last year of people leaving their house because of fear of being recruited, but vis-a-vis this year it is different,” said the aid worker. “There are now reports of people being recruited forcibly, but even more reports of others fleeing their areas because of forced recruitment – because of reports they’ve heard and the fear of being taken in by the ethnic armed organisations.” Allegra Mendelson is a freelance journalist based in Phnom Penh. Nandar is a feminist advocate and storyteller, originally from Shan State..."
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Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2021-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-25
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Description: "When armed groups clashed in a small township in the eastern part of Myanmar’s Northern Shan State back in March 2021, it was not the first time that the villagers felt threatened. Ethnic armed group disputes over territory, as well as confrontations with the Myanmar Military – locally known as Tatmadaw - are deeply rooted and people here have lived in an environment influenced by conflict and instability their entire life. As a result, the area is also known to be contaminated by old landmines and other explosive remnants. In late March 2021, fighting once more came too close and this time the villagers saw no other option than to flee to save their lives. While the current political instability in Yangon and other major urban centers of Myanmar is often what is in focus in the media, the rural ethnic armed group conflict and waves of fighting with the Tatmadaw persist but is often less known to the outside world. In this instance in Northern Shan fighting this time was between the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) alliance – all of them armed groups well known across Myanmar. Following clashes in the area that had continued some places for over five days, a group of 447 women, children and elderly made their way to an old Buddhist monastery five to six hours walk away from their village. The men were left behind in the village to look after and protect the farmlands and houses. It was at this interim safe haven that DRC and local humanitarian partner organisations were able to meet the newly displaced who were provided with emergency kits to help them and their host community cope with the crisis. Covid-19 compounding crises The recent intensification of conflict affecting people throughout Myanmar is leading to daily reports of new displacement and humanitarian needs are rising to alarming levels. In addition, a new wave and rapid spread of COVID-19 in Myanmar is right now sweeping through Myanmar, with a reported 90% of the country affected. The currently circulating Delta mutation of the virus is even more infectious than previous variants, resulting in unprecedented infection and casualty rates, and health facilities nationwide struggling to meet the rapidly growing demand for testing and treatment. As the pandemic continues to exhaust all remaining capacities it creates new fear across the conflict-ridden country, and in particular so among the most vulnerable and isolated communities. First Line Emergency Response through ECHO The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has worked with support to conflict-affected people in Myanmar since 2009 and in Northern Shan State since 2016. With recent developments in the country, new instability and not least the pandemic, DRC was among humanitarian organisations in Myanmar selected by the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO) to strengthen locally led emergency response mechanisms. These new efforts through the so-called First Line Emergency Response (FLER) project are critical to ensure access to life-saving aid and enhance outreach in isolated areas of Myanmar. Working with local partner organisations DRC has been present in Northern Shan State since 2016, and has worked with EU Humanitarian Aid funding of emergency responses in Northern Shan State since March 2020. In March 2021, the FLER project was launched in two townships in collaboration with several local partner organisations in this north-eastern part of Myanmar surrounded by five other states and bordering China to the east. DRC works closely with other ECHO implementing partners – Danish Church Aid (DCA) and Oxfam as well as several local partners, to ensure that the townships that are most affected by conflict are covered by FLER activities. Meikswe Myanmar – meaning ‘Friends of Myanmar’ – has worked with DRC since 2019 and is one of the partners now working with DRC to implement the First Line Emergency Response programme. As a well-known and widely trusted civil society organisation Meikswe Myanmar is anchored in local communities and has been operational since 2004. Their expertise, insight and detailed local knowledge gathered though a network of civil society organisations across Northern Shan State is crucial when navigating in environments that are highly sensitive and complex and where even practical outreach is a challenge. Reaching people trapped in conflict Planning of the First Line Emergency Responses in Northern Shan State is spearheaded by DRC with its partners as well as representatives of local communities and civil society organisations. They meet to discuss, design and develop the project and define the intervention in detail. The planning process helps DRC and partners to ensure that local coordination structures are in place and that the most vulnerable and crisis-affected are identified and provided with adequate assistance. In areas where roads are often damaged or communities are isolated after years of conflict, and where communication infrastructure is weak at its best, logistics is one of the everyday challenges for people in these remote areas as well as for those who try to reach them. ‘Once we get there, providing protection, emergency aid and if needed Emergency Mine Risk Education is a very first step to assist people in need here,’ tells Martin Vane, Country Director, DRC Myanmar and explains: ‘DRC and our FLER partners are furthermore working with grassroots actors to strengthen local capacity even remotely in order to build people’s resilience to future shocks. In this sense FLER aims to be distinct from other emergency response mechanisms in that local actors are the default responders and the aim of the mechanism will be to support their capacity to provide humanitarian assistance. This includes developing preparedness measures, training, prepositioning of stocks and other supplies. When people are able to return to their villages, they might need to travel through mined areas again and then once they are back, they often have to start all over, resuming farming activities, and maybe also reconstructing their houses.’ Conflict and climate change The First Line Emergency Response programme is now implemented by DRC through Meikswe Myanmar in two townships in Northern Shan State. Both are areas affected by a complex of decades old and new armed conflict affecting the population and creating widespread internal displacement within Northern Shan, but also spilling into Southern Shan and Eastern Shan states. Conflict is not the only threat here. Natural hazard threats are seasonal and people are all too familiar with Myanmar’s extreme weather events such as increasing hot summers and colder winters, floods, landslides and other extreme events that continue to be seen to intensify due to effects of climate change. Most people here are living in deep poverty and are already vulnerable to shocks from conflict and instability. Adding to this the weather events that are growing in scale and intensity, while also becoming more and more unpredictable, then the little means and weak resilience to cope is easily depleted. The risk of being trapped in displacement These risks altogether make entire communities prone to displacement that easily becomes a protracted situation. Many displaced individuals, families and entire communities now find themselves trapped and not able to sustain themselves in their interim safe haven, nor return home to the areas from where they fled. ‘As public services are limited or not existing and there is often no national institutions to rely on, we know from our local partners and the people we reach through the emergency responses, that every bit of aid and support makes a big difference,’ says Martin Vane, DRC Myanmar. DRC’s current First Line Emergency Response programme funded by EU Humanitarian Aid runs until March 2022 and aims to reach nearly 30,000 men, women and children with emergency aid and lifesaving support as well as support to strengthen local resilience to cope with crises..."
Source/publisher: Danish Refugee Council via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2021-08-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-06
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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)
2021-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "During the last week of April 2021, Burma Army troops and their militia allies used villagers as forced laborers and human shields, and looted property, during a multi-pronged operation against the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) in Namzarng, southern Shan State. On April 21, the Burma Army’s Eastern Central Regional Commander, Major-General Kyaw Kyaw Naing, summoned leaders of four of their militia allies to a meeting in Namzarng town, and ordered them to help crack down on the Civil Disobedience Movement and clear out RCSS/SSA troops from around Kengtawng, southern Shan State. Each militia group was ordered to provide 100 men each. The militia groups were the Mak Keng militia, Na Yai militia, SSS militia, and Kali militia, which all operate in southern Shan State. About 500 Burma Army troops were then deployed from north, south and west towards the Nam Teng river valley in southeast Namzarng township, adjoining Kengtawng. On April 22, around 7-8 am, Burma Army troops from Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 332 and 575 based in Mong Pan clashed with RCSS/SSA troops north of Mong Nai, around Na Khan and Kawng Yao villages. On the same day, Burma Army troops from Namzarng clashed with RCSS/SSA troops near Loi Ngern village, about 20 kilometers east of Namzarng town. On April 23, at 3:10 pm, over 100 Burma Army troops from LIB 574 and LIB 576, based in Kengtawng, together with militia members, arrived in the village of Pha Sawn, about 25 kilometers south of Kho Lam on the Nam Teng river, and forced seven male villagers to carry water for them in two small trucks to the road intersection east of the village. At 3:30 pm, these Burma Army troops ordered all the villagers in Pha Sawn to gather at the local temple. There are 80 houses in Pha Sawn, with about 300 villagers. The Burma Army troops then divided into two groups; one went to search in the village and the other stayed guarding the villagers at the temple. At 5 pm, some Burma Army troops patrolling in the jungle ran into RCSS/SSA troops and fighting broke out near Pha Sawn village. At about 6 pm, during the fighting, the Burma Army troops at Pha Sawn temple arrested six male villagers from the temple and tied them up outside the temple. At 7: 30 pm, the Burma Army and militia troops in Pha Sawn looted property from six villagers’ houses. Due to the fighting and Burma Army abuses, some inhabitants of villages around Pha Sawn fled to take shelter in nearby towns. On April 24, at 4:30 pm, some Pha Sawn elders appealed to the Burma Army troops to release the six villagers who had been arrested from Pha Sawn temple. The troops untied them, but did not release them. On April 24, another group of Burma Army soldiers forced two men from Seven Mile village, 10 kilometers south of Kho Lam, to guide them south to Na Law village on the Nam Teng river. The two villagers were released at 7:30 pm. On April 25, at 11 am, the Burma Army and militia troops at Pha Sawn split up into two groups: one group went south, and the other group went to the northeast of Pha Sawn village. The six Pha Sawn villagers arrested by the Burma Army were taken south, and made to walk with the troops as human shields for about five kilometers until they reached the village of Wan Khai, beside the Nam Teng river. After spending the night at Wan Khai, the troops released the six Pha Sawn villagers, and allowed them to return home. On April 28, the villagers around Pha Sawn who had fled to take shelter in town returned to their homes. On March 30, the Burma Army warned the Thai authorities they would start attacking the RCSS/SSA camps along the southern Shan State-Thai border, because the RCSS/SSA was siding with the anti-coup protest movement. The Burma Army fired shells at these camps on April 18, 19 and 21, striking fear among the over 6,000 IDPs sheltering in these areas..."
Source/publisher: Shan Human Rights Foundation
2021-05-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: plantation, dispossession, life, economy, Wa
Topic: plantation, dispossession, life, economy, Wa
Description: "A classic origin story told and retold among the Wa of China and Myanmar is about their flight from Keng Tung: in the long‐ago past, the Wa ruled over the Shan in the great city of Keng Tung.1 But they were tricked by the Shan, who came with an army of elephants and expelled them from the city. Those who went ahead broke plantain leaves along their path so that those coming behind would find the way. But plantains grow back very fast, and the latecomers got lost and had to stay in the plains: the Wa pioneers entered the mountains where they are until today, and the others are the ‘left‐behind Wa’, the Wa Git, or the ‘Hill Thai’, Tai Loi. From then on, every time a new Sawbwa was installed in Keng Tung, some left‐behind Wa were feasted at the palace and then ritually expelled (Enriquez 1918: 33; Mangrai 1981: 230). Today, the Shan of Kengtung recognise their Burmese overlords and have no Sawbwa anymore, but the Tai Loi, the descendants of the Wa, still play an important part in the rituals of Songkran, the Thai New Year Festival, specifically by carrying and playing drums. Even though the rituals imply mutual interdependence, it is clear that the Tai Loi subordinate themselves to the Tai Khuen, the Shan majority group in today’s Keng Tung, thus annually repeating the humiliation of their expulsion centuries ago (Karlsson 2013). Yet, about 100 km to the North of Keng Tung, in Pang Hsang, the capital of the Wa State, we can observe an inversion of the ritual of expulsion. Each year at the Songkran of Pang Hsang, Wa rulers receive gifts from local Shan villagers. Similar to the Shan princes of the past, representatives of the Wa central authorities sit in elevated thrones, while the Shan villagers squat in front of them. During the rituals, the Shan villagers pay their honours to the Wa, deliver presents to them, including fruits, sweets and sticky rice, and in turn receive red envelopes with money from the Wa officials. Most of the leaders of the Wa State are from villages in the hills to the North of Pang Hsang and can easily be distinguished from their Shan subordinates: dark‐skinned and in army fatigues, followed by an entourage of soldiers, no one would mistake them for a Shan villager. The core leaders of the Wa State are relatives and associates of Tax Pang, also known by his Chinese name Bao Youxiang. Tax Pang, and his brothers Tax Rang and Tax Jiet, were born in the village of Taoh Mie in the 1940s and 50s. When they were children, neighbouring armies had just started to move into the Wa hills, and as teenagers they still took part in raids and headhunting rituals. They rose through the ranks of the guerrilla armies of the Communist Party of Burma during the 1970s and 80s, founded the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in 1989, and have been presiding over its de‐facto state since. Like Tax Pang and his brothers, most members of the central committee and politburo of the Wa State are veterans of the Communist Party of Burma. All of them have accumulated substantial personal wealth – bureaucracy and administration is relatively weak, and most infrastructure construction in the Wa State is paid for directly by the elites. The trade in drugs played an important role in the emergence of this elite, but already in the 1990s, they started to diversify into other industries, including mining and food, as well as large‐scale investments in China, Thailand and Myanmar (where they own, for instance, one minor airline). Ordinary villagers and Chinese traders often tell stories about the unimaginable wealth of the Wa commanders: for instance, one commander had so much cash stored in his warehouses that it got mouldy and had to be taken out. His servants dried truckloads of 100‐Yuan batches in the huge courtyard for several days, just like other people would dry corn cobs or tea leaves. Wa villagers who have served in the army or at the house of a commander commonly know that a normal 50 kg rice‐bag can carry three million Chinese yuan (the equivalent of € 380,000). In the warehouse of one Wa commander I have seen two Bentleys, and in one of Pang Hsang’s large garages, a monster truck imported from Thailand that is said to be worth exactly one rice bag full of Chinese money. The elites of the Wa State have effectively turned around the old story of the Wa’s expulsion from the highlands and have re‐conquered the lowlands. During the 1970s and 80s, when they fought with the Communist Party of Burma, Wa soldiers entered the plains of Pang Hsang, Meng Pok and Meng Yawn – traditionally settlements of their Shan neighbours. Since then, the Wa have established a de facto state the size of Belgium, and the core leaders of this state are tightly connected through kinship and business ties. Most of them have grown up in villages at the Chinese border. In their lifetime, they saw huge changes: they have conquered the surrounding valleys and since then have also overseen huge changes to the villages in the hills, where they had grown up. They started off, quite literally, as pioneers, that is, foot soldiers,2 in the Communist Party of Burma. Even though the first generation of Wa leaders rose through the ranks of the army and have become agrarian capitalists, they still define themselves by a pioneering ethos that will become apparent. They have been pioneers in many ways, but here I want to focus on the plantation economies that they have established in the Wa State. Using their income from elsewhere, the elites of the Wa State have invested in new forms of commercial and large‐ scale agriculture. The rubber and tea plantations they have opened rely on the new technologies of transport, communication and production that in the Wa hills were introduced for military purposes. The plantations also required large‐scale forced resettlements, which took place especially during the 1990s but continue until the present day. The plantation economy requires a lot of investment, it often incurs losses (especially rubber, in recent years) and is generally not very profitable. But even so, it is an essential part of the de facto sovereignty of the Wa State, not least because it is a core institution of the military state and its ‘garrison‐entrepôts’ (Roitman 2005): plantations provide radical means to control populations, and thus offer a core nexus between the elites of the Wa State and ordinary villagers – as well as with animals and plants..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Wiley Periodicals LLC
2021-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Fresh clashes between Myanmar security forces and regional armed groups have displaced thousands across the country, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
Description: "According to the Office, almost 50 clashes between the military and the Kachin Independence Army were reported in several places in Kachin state, including use of airstrikes by security forces as well as mortar shelling by both sides, displacing nearly 5,000 people and damaging several homes. “Around 800 people returned to their villages of origin within a few days and an estimated 4,000 people remain displaced in various sites, including in churches and monasteries”, OCHA said in a humanitarian bulletin. This was the first reported displacement in the country’s northernmost state since September 2018. Kachin had been hosting about 95,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in long-term camps since 2011. “Humanitarians and local host communities are doing their best to provide emergency assistance to the newly displaced people, despite the operational challenges and insecurity”, OCHA added. In neighboring Northern Shan state, escalating clashes since January forced about 10,900 people to flee their homes, of whom nearly 4,000 remain displaced, the Office added, noting that hostilities had also increased since February in Kayin and Bago states, displacing almost 40,000 people. About 3,000 people, mostly from Kayin, reportedly crossed the border into Thailand. The majority are said to have since returned. Funds needed for assistance Apart from the ongoing political strife in the aftermath of the military takeover on 1 February, nearly a million people across Myanmar, over two-thirds of them women and children, identified at the start of 2021, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. UN and humanitarian partners launched a $276 million response plan to assist nearly 950,000 people through 2021. However, into the last week of April, only 12 per cent or $32 million of the amount needed has been received. Rising hunger and desperation There are also fears of a sharp rise in hunger and desperation across Myanmar due to the triple impact of pre-existing poverty, the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing political crisis. Estimates by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) indicate that up to 3.4 million people – particularly those in urban centres – would be hit by high levels of food insecurity over the next six months. Already, there are signs of families in and around Yangon being pushed to the edge, skipping meals, eating less nutritious food and going into debt, just to survive, the agency said last week, as it mounted a new food assistance programme to help the most vulnerable. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, warned that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, almost a third of the country’s children were living in poor households. “In the current crisis, the situation has worsened. UNICEF is working to support the most vulnerable children and families across Myanmar, ensuring their access to lifesaving services”, the agency said on Monday..."
Source/publisher: UN News
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The continued use of Militias in Shan State
Description: "On March 26, the Tatmadaw abolished one of its local proxy armies, the Khawngkha militia, amid accusations that some of its leaders were involved in the illegal drugs trade, or had failed to inform the authorities about drug trafficking in the area.1 Since the 1950s, various Myanmar Governments have officially created and sanctioned the operations of militia forces in the county’s ethnic states. These groups have been used primarily as a military force to fight against ceasefire and non-ceasefire ethnic groups, to control the lives of ethnic populations, and to further secure the country’s border areas. These militias quickly became notorious for taxing the local population, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, and a wide variety of human rights abuses. They have been allowed to do this with the express permission of local military commanders who have themselves allegedly earned money from the variety of illegal activities that the groups operate. Article 340 of the 2008 constitution states that: With the approval of the National Defence and Security Council, the Defence Services has the authority to administer the participation of the entire people in the Security and Defence of the Union. The strategy of the people’s militia shall be carried out under the leadership of the Defence Services. The Kawngkha Militia had previously been the 4th Brigade of the Kachin Independence Army and was based out of its headquarters at Kawngkha, eight miles east of Kutkai, and was responsible for a largely Kachin area north of Lashio town. It opened a number of refineries in the area and was responsible for the transhipment of heroin north to the border of Manipur State. In addition to its narcotics involvement, it also derived some of its income by operating a number of gambling dens.2 In 1991 it signed a ceasefire with government forces before becoming a People’s Militia Force (PMF) in 2010. The Myanmar Army had attempted, unsuccessfully, to get the KDA to surrender all of its weapons in May 2010 after Yaw Chang Fa, the KDA treasury official and Bang Hpik village military officer was involved in a shootout with Police and Special Branch. Yaw Chang Fa and his troops had opened fire on the officials on the road between Mung Hawm and Bang Hpik villages when they illegally arrested villagers from Bang Hpik and took them to Mung Hawm police station. Six were shot dead, seven fatally injured and three were detained. Consequently, more than 300 Myanmar soldiers from Infantry Battalion No. 45, No. 241 and No. 242 from Kutkai Township surrounded the KDA’s Kawngkha HQ. and asked for Yaw Chang Fa to be handed over. Yaw Chang Fa and a number of KDA troops fled..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Euro Burma Office
2020-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The UWSA and Statehood
Description: "Once again, the leader of the United Wa State Party/United Wa State Army (UWSP/UWSA) Bao Youxiang has reiterated his call for state recognition of the Wa self-administered zone this time at the organisation’s 30th anniversary. During his speech in the Wa capital of Panghsang, on northern Shan State’s border with China, the chairman apparently told the assembled that Wa state is an inalienable part of the Union of Myanmar, and solemnly promised not to split from it or seek independence.1 In his speech, he was reported as saying, What we need is ethnic equality, ethnic dignity, ethnic autonomy, and we ask the government to give the Wa an autonomous ethnic state; then we will fight for our lives . . . Until our political demands are realized, we will hold high the banner of peace and democracy on one hand, and armed self-defence on the other, and maintain the status quo. 2 The success of the UWSA and its ability to maintain an all but in name autonomous state in Myanmar is largely due to its support from China. The UWSA is especially supported by members of the PLA and Yunnan Province administration. 3 Many Chinese advisers, including Chinese intelligence officers and former PLA personnel, are close to the Wa leadership, and the UWSA often echoes official Chinese talking points. China’s links with the Wa are also strengthened by language, investment, communications, and transport, all of which are linked to Yunnan. 4 While other armed ethnic groups up until the 1990s had also been able to maintain semiautonomous enclaves, the Karen especially, bordering Thailand, this ended when the Thai Government warmed to successive Myanmar military governments. As a result, pressure was put on such groups to acquiesce to the then government, the NMSP ceasefire being an obvious case. The UWSA had not previously maintained ethnic aspirations but was borne out of the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma and is largely a political construct underscored by ethnicity. Khin Nyunt after signing a ceasefire with the group used it to fight against the Mong Tai Army (MTA) and in doing so it was able to take over large swathes of Shan territory north and south of Kengtung which they still control today and see as part of a future Wa State. After signing the 1989 ceasefire agreement, the UWSA used money from the narcotics trade and invested in a number of casinos, hotels, and other entertainment enterprises. One of the five largest banks in Myanmar, Mayflower Bank, prior to its suspension by the Myanmar Government, had been linked to the UWSA and was subsequently accused of money laundering by the U.S. which has designated the UWSA as significant narcotics traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. In addition, the UWSA also set up a number of other businesses including the Hongpang Group, founded in 1998, and involved in import/export, general trading, production of textiles, wires and cables, electric appliances and agricultural goods. It is also engaged in livestock breeding, gem mining and highway construction. In addition to its more legitimate concerns, the UWSA has also been implicated in the arms trade supplying not only other Myanmar based ethnic armed groups but also Naga and in the past Maoist rebels. Currently, the group has used proxies such as Ho Chin Ting to invest in enterprises such as Yangon Airways and a chain of hotels in Myanmar, among them the luxurious Thanlwin Hotel in Yangon.5 In reality, the Wa region is a prefecture of China in all but name, despite this, the government has asked the UWSA to sign the NCA, but as head of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) alliance which also includes the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), Kachin Independence Organization/ Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA), Myanmar National Truth and Justice Party/Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNTJP/MNDAA), Palaung State Liberation Front /Ta’ang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA), Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), Peace and Solidarity Committee/Shan State East National Democratic Alliance Association (PSC/NDAA), many of whom continue to fight with government forces, it has rejected calls to do so unless major changes are made to the agreement.6 While many commentators have generally recognised former CPB organisations on a par with those ethnic armed groups that emerged since 1948, the objectives and most importantly the constructs that define them are not similar. While many in the FPNCC believe that the UWSA shares the same over-arching objective in ethnic unity for all – it remains unclear as to whether the UWSA see this as a genuine objective or merely a convenient identifier to achieve its own aims. For the UWSA, the overall veneer of ethnic equality is a useful tool towards establishing its own statehood and assuaging doubts about its somewhat controversial past deeds not to mention those alleged in the present. While Bao Youxiang may call for ‘ethnic equality, ethnic dignity, ethnic autonomy’ which is a particularly noble aspiration, it could be argued when conflict occurred in 2009 against the MNDAA it did little to support their brothers in arms with whom they had an alliance.7 Rather, the UWSA moved to secure its own flank and did little else to change the course of the conflict.8..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Euro Burma Office
2019-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "From a fenced-off compound close to the Myanmar border in northern Thailand, a rebel leader offers a bleak view of Myanmar's future, as the country is cleaved apart by a military coup. The possibility of a deepening civil war in Myanmar is "high," Gen. Yawd Serk said from his administrative base in Chiang Mai province. "The world has changed. I see people in the cities won't give up. And I see (coup leader) Min Aung Hlaing won't give up. I think there is possibility that civil war might happen." Yawd Serk is an old hand at confronting military rulers. He is chairman of the ethnic minority political organization Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and founder of its armed wing, the Shan State Army (SSA), which controls large pockets of land in Myanmar's east. His is one of more than two dozen ethnic armed groups that have been fighting against the Myanmar military -- know as the Tatmadaw -- and each other in the country's borderlands for greater rights and autonomy, on and off for 70 years. Since the military seized power on February 1, deposing the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, many of these rebel groups -- including the RCSS -- have expressed support for non-violent nationwide protests against junta rule, and condemned the indiscriminate brutality and deadly use of force inflicted on Burmese civilians by junta-controlled soldiers and police. But as security forces continue their deadly campaign, there are signs the country is reaching a turning point where rebel groups could engage in renewed conflict, while some in the protest movement start to push for armed resistance in a bid to defend themselves. A senior rebel leader and several protesters, whom CNN is not identifying for security reasons, say a small, but growing number of pro-democracy activists are heading into the jungles where they are receiving combat training from ethnic militias. There are also increasing calls from the urban centers for the ethnic rebel groups to do more to protect people from the military violence. A protest group formed by some of the myriad ethnic minorities in the country recently called on 16 ethnic armed organizations to "urgently" protect the lives of the people. And last Tuesday, three rebel groups in the north of the country, which call themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, said if the Myanmar military does not stop killing civilians, "we will join the spring revolution with all the ethnicities for self defense actions." If the military "continues to shoot and kill people, it means the junta have simply transformed themselves into terrorists," Yawd Serk said. "We won't just sit still, we will find every means to protect the people..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2021-04-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "New fighting between the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) and Burma Army broke out in Shan State at a time when both groups are trying cooperate during the COVID-19 pandemic. RCSS/SSA clashed with Tatmadaw LIB-326 this Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Hsipaw Township. An anonymous RCSS/SSA source told SHAN that two lieutenants and two regular soldiers of the Burma Army were killed during the fighting. Lt-Col Sao Oum Khur, RCSS/SSA spokesperson, told SHAN the clash may have started because of a misunderstanding. He says the Burma Army reported it would travel from Pankok and Pankham villages. RCSS/SSA told them to take the main vehicle road and not the jungle route. “We told them not to take the jungle road because they might encounter a column of our soldiers. But I think they took the jungle road anyway and then clashed with our troops,” says Sao Oum Khur. Last week, Tatmadaw’s Eastern Military Command provided Shan soldiers with personal protective equipment and the armed groups discussed how to avoid fighting during the COVID-19 pandemic. A few weeks earlier, Tatmadaw attacked RCSS/SSA in Ponpakyin sub-township, located in eastern Shan State. Lt-Col Sao Oum Khur says he didn’t think the recent fighting was intentional. “Perhaps their soldiers weren’t following in line with our recent agreement. Or maybe their superior officers didn’t even know about the clash,” he says. The RCSS will negotiate with the regional Burma Army commander and other high-ranking Tatmadaw officials through its liaison office. The ethnic armed group will also bring up the incident during the next meeting of the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee. “If we can’t solve it at the ground level, it can turn into a big problem. Therefore, it’s important that we negotiate with the Tatmadaw to avoid a crisis.” Lt-Col Sao Oum Khur says..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2020-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Within hours after the Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on a border guard police outpost in Rakhine State early Friday morning, its ally the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) intercepted a military convoy in northern Shan State, according to Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. The TNLA attacked the military convoy en route from Muse with remote-detonated mines near Namkut Village near the Union Highway in Kutkai Township, Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun confirmed to The Irrawaddy. “The military convoy on patrol between Kutkai and Nam Phet Ka was attacked with remote-detonated mines near Namkut Village, according to the latest information. There was some damage to trucks but no injuries or deaths. They carried out the mine attacks on the Union Highway,” Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. On Friday around noon, the TNLA Information Department shared photos online of the damaged military trucks and weapons it allegedly seized from the Myanmar military. “It appeared that Palaung [TNLA] troops were watching as the soldiers came down. The clash happened near the village. We heard gunshots from heavy and small arms. We don’t know if anyone was hit. We dare not go outside,” a local resident of Namkut Village told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. The clash between the TNLA and the Myanmar military lasted for an hour-and-a-half, according to TNLA Information Officer Major Mai Aik Kyaw. But he said he did not know further details..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-05-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: COVID-19 and longstanding restrictions on humanitarian aid hamper landmine-survivor support
Description: "The Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups should end the use of landmines and the Government of Myanmar should lift restrictions on humanitarian aid groups providing life-saving support to landmine survivors in ethnic areas affected by ongoing war, said Fortify Rights today. Since January 1, 2020, landmine explosions in Myanmar have reportedly killed or injured at least 68 civilians, while longstanding government-imposed restrictions on aid groups coupled with new COVID-19-related restrictions hinder access to essential aid and services. Fortify Rights spoke with ten organizations, including six local-led humanitarian groups, working to address landmine casualties in conflict zones in Kachin and northern Shan states, all of whom report a near total halt to their regular activities. Landmines killed or injured at least 26 civilians in Kachin and northern Shan states this year. “There was a mine explosion in Moemeik [in Mongmit Township, Shan State], and we could not help the person for two reasons,” Lwar Hlar Reang the General-Secretary of Ta’ang Student and Youth Union (TSYU) based in Lashio, northern Shan State, told Fortify Rights. “The first is the military prevents people from coming and seeing that person . . . The second reason is that it is difficult for us to travel right now because of the coronavirus.” TSYU is a civil society organization that provides essential assistance to survivors of landmine explosions. Describing their work, Lwar Hlar Reang said: “Some [landmine survivors] need transportation in order to get to the hospital, some people need medical help and are in need of an operation. We provide transportation and clothes for the operation.”..."
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights" (Myanmar)
2020-05-14
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Hundreds of villagers remain displaced after heavy fighting between the Burma Army (Tatmadaw) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) broke out their homes in southern Shan State. More than 260 internally displaced persons (IDPs) sought refuge in Kehsi township in southern Shan State during clashes that have lasted for three days. Sai Sang Mueng, a state level MP for Kehsi constituency-1, told SHAN that 107 IDPs are sheltering in a monastery in Phet Nam village, located in Wanchin village-tract, in Kehsi township. The rest are staying with their relatives in the township. Local MPs and the general administration development officer are providing food rations for the IDPs. “Currently, there aren’t any problems but if the situation continues it may get more difficult (to provide aid.) I think the IDPs will return to their home when the clashes end,” Sai Sang Mueng said. The Tatmadaw fought with the RCSS/SSA on Loi Tom mountain between Kehsi and Mong Kung township in southern Shan State. Nearly 500 IDPs driven from their homes from previous fighting returned to their homes on March 1..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2020-03-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) spokesman Col. Sai Om Kay said that they had been fighting with the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) on Loi Tuan Mountain, Mong Kong Township, southern Shan State on February 27 in the morning and the fighting between them was still raging until today. The fighting started with artillery fire on February 27 at about 8 a.m. and the fighting is reportedly still raging fiercely until the afternoon of February 28. “The fighting was almost all day yesterday and now Tatmadaw is still firing intermittent fire of heavy weapons,” spokesman Col. Sai Om Kay said, referring to Thursday. The RCSS/SSA said that four battalions with approximate strength of 400 personnel had an engagement with RCSS troops in Loi Tuan pass in Mong Kong Township, southern Shan State and it was started by firing heavy weapons and the fighting was fierce. Shan State legislative Assembly legislator from Mong Kong constituency (1) Sai Pan said that they heard the firing of heavy weapons and they had to watch and monitor the fighting between these two armies. “They fought yesterday and today. We could hear weapons firing until this afternoon. We cannot get accurate information on this battle as they fought in the jungle but nearby villages said that they heard heavy weapons fire,” he said. Political analyst Than Soe Naing said that the fighting between them appeared because of lack of trust building between them and having suspicion against each other though they had territory demarcation between them..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2020-02-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar army attacked a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) training base in northern Shan State’s Hseni Township on Wednesday, according to local sources. The KIA reported that the Myanmar army attacked a KIA Brigade 10 training base and KIA forces fought back. “We heard that they came to attack our base. KIA forces were fighting in self-defense,” KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “We do not know details yet about whether the Myanmar army has withdrawn their troops from our area or whether our training base has withdrawn troops from the area, as it is very difficult to get in contact with them,” he said. Col. Naw Bu is based at the KIA headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State. The colonel added that in the last three months, the Myanmar military has deployed troops in the territory of KIA Brigade 10 and has been searching for the KIA army base. Kachin News Group reported that the Myanmar army fired four large artillery shells at the KIA training base, as well as lighter weapons..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The death of a German tourist in Shan State raises important questions over the government’s approach to landmines.
Description: "On Tuesday, 26 November, a German tourist was killed when the motorbike he was riding struck a landmine in Myanmar’s Shan State. The man was travelling between Pan Nyaung Village and Kun Hauk Village, near Hsipaw Township, with an Argentine woman, who was also injured in the blast. The woman had gotten off the motorcycle when the road became too bumpy and was walking behind the vehicle when it struck the mine. The rider reportedly died at the scene after sustaining severe injuries to his legs, chest and midriff. Hsipaw has seen intense fighting in recent months: The region has been the site of intense fighting as ethnic armed groups fight for increased autonomy. In January, clashes broke out along the Hsipaw-Nam Lan road when troops from the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) exchanged fire..."
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
2019-12-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Sunday denied it had carried out an attack on Lashio airport in northern Shan State.
Description: "Mei Eike Kyaw, TNLA spokesman, said its fighters had nothing to do with Saturday’s artillery attack that reportedly injured one woman. ‘’I saw it on social media and heard about it but I don’t know who was responsible for it,’’ he said. Six artillery shells, four of which exploded, were fired at the military headquarters and civilian areas at the airport. A building and a vehicle were damaged in the attack and several flights had to be cancelled. The military blamed the attack on the TNLA. “The airport has reopened this morning, and everything is peaceful and quiet,” said U Myint Maw, a resident of Lashio. Police said the artillery shells were of the same make as those fired during a coordinated attack on Pyin Oo Lwin town in August by the TNLA, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-11-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Intense fighting near the Loi Samsip (Thirty Hills) area in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State has led locals to flee their homes and for the highway to the China border to close. A local who lives in Kutkai told NMG on the condition of anonymity that the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) had clashed near the Karlai junction and Kabar Aye pagoda on Wednesday morning. “Clashes broke out at around 7:15 this morning. The sound of guns shooting went silent at around 10:00 a.m.,” the individual said on Wednesday. Locals also told NMG that both heavy artillery and regular guns were used in the fighting and that no one has been allowed to travel on the national highway from Kutkai to Muse. The road remains closed from the Kutkai tollgate accessible from the Muse side. “All vehicles have been blocked… many cars were dumped on the road,” a local source said. During the fighting, four artillery shells landed on the grounds of the area’s Ta’ang Education Center, leading teachers to relocate the children at the school’s boarding house to safety. While none of the 80 people at the site were injured, the school’s infrastructure was damaged..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-11-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Kutkai, Kyaukme, Myanmar ethnic conflict, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Shan State conflict, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw, TNLA conflict
Description: "Fighting broke out in northern Shan State between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar military on Wednesday along the highway in Kutkai, stopping traffic for most of the day. Fighting broke out in at least three places in the townships of Kutkai and Kyaukme, according to the TNLA “Fighting broke out in Kyaukme Township this morning at 6 a.m. Another two battles broke out in Kutkai Town at 7 a.m.,” TNLA spokesperson Major Tar Aike Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. All cars along the highway were stopped during the fighting in Kutkai. Videos posted to Facebook showed some travelers hiding inside their cars and more than a hundred cars were reportedly stopped on the road. Myanmar army spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy that fighting broke out between the Tatmadaw and the TNLA at around 7:20 a.m. in Kutkai, and lasted for 30 minutes. He confirmed that all traffic on the highway stopped during the fighting..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-11-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A Ta’ang armed group said it fought with the Burma Army (aka Tatmadaw) many times in early November despite initiating an unilateral ceasefire with other members of an ethnic alliance. “The highest number of clashes occurred in Kutkai township in northern Shan State. Fighting also happened in Namhsan and Namkham township too. Why are the clashes happening? It’s because they’re (Tatmadaw) entering our areas and attacking us,” said Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw, in charge of Palaung State Liberation Front/Ta’ang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA). According to the major, there have been at least 5 clashes between November 1 to 6. Full-blown battles with the Tatmadaw have been avoided because the PSLF/TNLA is refusing to retaliate against their offenses, he said. But if the Army keeps attacking them it will negatively impact the unilateral ceasefire they and other groups in the Northern Alliance have initiated. “Fighting is not the solution. We have to seek a solution through negotiation and dialogue,” Mai Aik Kyaw said, commenting that lately there’s been more clashes than dialogue..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-11-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) soldiers fought with the Burma Army (aka Tatmadaw) multiple times this month with clashes breaking out in Mongkai township, located in southern Shan State. A military column of forty soldiers under Tatmadaw’s LIB-757 clashed with the RCSS/SSA in the jungle near Ho Hkai village-tract in Mongkai township on the evening of November 9. Sai Lon, an MP for Mongkai township, told SHAN that he’s monitoring the situation and prepared to assist villagers if necessary. “As far as I know, fighting started after the Burma Army’s military column climbed the Loi Tunn hill north of Ham Ngai village, in Ho Hkai village-tract, in Mongkai township. Nobody was injured because this location is still far from the village.” SHAN attempted to reach RCSS/SSA’s spokesperson by phone multiple times but wasn’t able to reach him for comment..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-11-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Description: "The decades-long conflict in northern Shan State has escalated in recent months following attacks by three ethnic armed groups on military installations and other locations in the country on 15 August 2019. The government stated that the attacks were likely to have been carried out in retaliation for recent successful anti-drug trafficking operations in the region. According to the three ethnic armed groups – calling themselves the “Brotherhood Alliance” – the attacks were launched in response to a military offensive in Rakhine State in the west of the country as well as repeated military operations in northern Shan state, despite a military ceasefire in the area. Civilians in northern Shan State, who have borne the brunt of these previous operations, looks set to endure fresh abuses, conflict, and displacement. This report examines international human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law committed since mid-2018 by parties to the ongoing internal armed conflicts in northern Shan State. On 21 December 2018, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral ceasefire in northern and eastern Myanmar, however, as this report shows, while there may have been a reduction of the number of clashes involving the military, Myanmar soldiers have continued to commit serious violations against ethnic minority civilians. The declared ceasefire period has also seen a continuation, and in some areas an escalation, of fighting among ethnic armed groups, some backed by the Myanmar military. Amnesty International undertook research missions to northern Shan State in March and August 2019. In total, Amnesty International interviewed 88 people, including victims and direct witnesses to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The organization also met with local and international humanitarian officials, human rights defenders, community leaders, journalists, and political analysts, and analysed satellite imagery and photographs related to specific documented incidents. Amnesty International wrote to the Myanmar civilian government and military, and to four ethnic armed groups, outlining the organization’s findings, requesting information, and expressing readiness to discuss the situation in northern Shan State. At the time of publication, none had replied..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK) (ASA 16/1142/2019)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "“The Myanmar military is as relentless and ruthless as ever, committing war crimes against civilians in northern Shan State with absolute impunity,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southeast Asia. “Soldiers – and more importantly commanders – are subjecting civilians to the military’s hallmark brutality in the absence of any form of accountability.” Amnesty International documented war crimes and other military violations against ethnic Kachin, Lisu, Shan, and Ta’ang civilians during two field missions to the region in March and August 2019. Civilians who spoke to Amnesty International repeatedly implicated the military’s 99th Light Infantry Division (LID) in many of the violations. Units from the 99th LID were implicated in some of the worst atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State since August 2017, as well as in war crimes and other serious violations in northern Myanmar in 2016 and early 2017. “Wherever the 99th Light Infantry Division is deployed we see similar patterns of abuse and the commission of horrific crimes unfold. This highlights the urgency of international action to hold Myanmar’s military – not least its senior generals – accountable.”..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Amnesty International says Myanmar military, ethnic armed groups guilty of abuses amid fighting in northern state.
Description: "In Myanmar's northern Shan State, ethnic armed groups have been fighting the Myanmar military for more autonomy for the past 50 years. Amnesty International says both sides are guilty of rights abuses in the ongoing fighting, which has continued since the failure of a nationwide ceasefire which was signed four years ago. That's an issue that will dog its de facto head Aung San Suu Kyi as she starts campaigning for next year's election..."
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Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army used combat helicopters to attack Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) forces in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Saturday, the TNLA reported. Representatives of the armed group said that they had three clashes with government forces on a hill near the villages of Nam Huay and Maru Hpakar from morning until midday on October 26, as well as on October 24 and 25. Following these battles, at around noon the Burma Army attacked the TNLA from the air. “We have had at least 10 clashes as of yesterday, since we announced our unilateral ceasefire,” Maj Mai Aik Kyaw, who is in charge of the TNLA’s information department, told NMG on Sunday, referring to a declaration made on September 20. “We are having clashes because they are coming to attack us,” he added. The unilateral ceasefire was declared by the TNLA and two other members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army—and is supposed to last until the end of the year. According to the TNLA, the highest number of clashes have occurred in Kutkai Township, and have intensified since they declared their own ceasefire..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Two civilians were injured by a Tatmadaw artillery shell when the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) fought on Thursday and Friday in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township. The mother and daughter were hit by shrapnel from a shell on Thursday as fighting took place in Maw Harn village tract, between the communities of Nam Huay and Maru Hpetkar. They were transferred to Kutkai hospital the next day. “The Burma Army attacked a TNLA base camp last night,” Seng Awng, of Maw Harn village, told NMG on Friday. “Burma Army troops based in Tarmohnye helped its military column by firing heavy weapons… shells landed in our village.” The daughter, a student, endured injuries to her legs, and the mother suffered cuts on her head. Some 60 people fled from their homes in the area when the clashes did not let up on Friday. Most are children, the elderly, and pregnant women, and are staying with relatives. They left Nam Huay and Maru Hpetkar and are staying in Maw Harn. According to TNLA reports, they have had at least 10 clashes with government forces since three members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—of which TNLA is one—declared a unilateral ceasefire on September 20. Three of these clashes occurred on Thursday, one in Namkham Township and two in Kutkai..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) clashed in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Wednesday morning, reportedly leading to casualties on both sides. The fighting occurred near Mang Sup and Nawng Peik villages at around 6:00 a.m. on October 16, with the fighting lasting until 7:30 a.m. According to the TNLA’s field report, one of their soldiers was killed and one was injured. It also said that three Burma Army soldiers were killed and one injured, but SHAN was unable to independently confirm this information. “We heard the sound of small arms being shot and heavy weapons firing. Local people were so afraid,” Lwe Nywe, who lives in Kutkai, told SHAN. “Even though the clash didn’t take place in downtown Kutkai, we were hiding in bunkers because we heard very loud noises from heavy weapons being fired.” She added that the location of the fighting was not far from Kutkai town, and that a Kutkai-based battalion of the Burma Army had opened fire on the TNLA..."
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Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Recent overtures suggest the government may be serious about ending years of conflict in its northern state.
Description: "The Jan Mai Kawng Baptist Church camp for internally displaced people is located on the outskirts of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state. Home to more than 1,000 people uprooted by conflict across Myanmar's most northern state, Jan Mai Kawng is a bustling place, where camp residents have established businesses, including restaurants, shops and even a makeshift hairdresser. Among the entrepreneurial tenants is Kai Ra, 52, who has established a small operation selling secondhand clothes in the camp. If business goes well, she can make about $7 a day, but acknowledged that on some days there is no income. "In my home village, I worked on the land and could live off it, but I have no land here," she says, standing outside her home in the camp. "I miss my home, and I miss my livestock: my chickens, my cows and my goats. I miss everything, but I can't go back home at the moment. It's not safe."..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: US News (USA)
2019-10-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "More than 2,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes, and 19 have been killed, since fighting broke out between government troops and ethnic minority insurgents in northern Myanmar last week, government officials said Wednesday. The escalation in hostilities in Myanmar’s fractured north is another setback for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s bid to bring peace amid a stuttering transition from full military rule. The people displaced in the latest fighting are sheltering in monasteries around Lashio town in the north of Shan State, and are depending on aid groups and the government for their supplies, aid workers said. "We are providing basic rescue materials as well as cash to displaced people in the camps, the injured people and also to family members of those who got killed," Soe Naing, director of the Department of Disaster Management in Shan State, told Reuters..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: US News (USA)
2019-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Much of the reported military action during July took place in north-central Shan State. Civilians suffered from landslides in Hpakant Township while the Metta Organization was able to provide financial aid to families in Mansi Township. On July 23, the Metta Organization, which is a Kachin civil society organization helping with development and relief work, gave 150,000 kyats to families with over five household members, and 180,000 kyats to families with over seven household members in Mansi Township. The organization traveled from Manmaw (Bhamo). On July 23 at 1630 hrs, armed police and security guards from 111-Company, a commercial mining company in Hpakant Township, encountered jade mining thieves that had infiltrated the 111-Company’s compound. The police and security guards opened fire on the thieves with their small arms. A civilian, Zar Ni Htun (male, 37) suffered a gunshot wound to the left thigh. On July 23 at 2100 hrs, Kyaw La (male, 43) was buried in a landslide while mining jade at Gwihka Maw in Hpakant Township. He was from Gwihka Maw Tawng..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
2019-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Mid to late August saw almost daily fighting in Kutkai and Theinni townships in northern Shan State. Burma Army reinforcements were flown into Lashio on Aug. 17, soon deploying to numerous areas and engaging with Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Arakan Army (AA) forces. The civilian cost of the fighting remains high local areas like Mawhit Village, where a mortar killed five civilians and wounded three more. In Kutkai, there’s been an influx of roughly 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kutkai. Ongoing reports show civilians getting killed or wounded due to the proximity of operating forces on both sides of the war. Additionally, markets in Lashio and Kutkai are closing down because of the recent violence, driving up food prices on the market..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) fought in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Wednesday, leading to casualties on both sides, according to locals and the TNLA. A military column made up of troops from the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Battalion 15 and Light Infantry Division 99 clashed with TNLA forces between Mang Sap and Nawng Peik villages in at around 6:00 a.m. on October 16. According to a TNLA field report, three Burma army soldiers were killed and one injured, while one TNLA soldier was killed and one injured. NMG tried to call the Burma Army’s True News Information Team to confirm the casualties but received no response. “We heard the sound of shells landing around the clash location. Both sides shot at each other. The clash location is not far from the town… They exchanged gunfire for at least one hour,” a Kutkai local told NMG. Villagers around the area of fighting fled and sought refuge in Ward 2 of Kutkai town. A resident of Mang Sap village said he thought the fighting lasted until 7:30 a.m. and that at the time of reporting it had stopped..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Armed groups have continued to attack Lashio, the biggest city in Myanmar's northern Shan state, with heavy arms firing on the government forces and police stations, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services said. The attacks launched Friday night by the Arakan Army (AA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), destroyed bridges on Hsenwi-Kunlong road and burned a petrol station on Lashio-Hsenwi road, the military said in a statement released late Saturday. During the night, the combined armed groups also fired three rocket propelled grenades on a battalion headquarters in Kyaukme, Shan state and retreated to the west after being fired back by the armed forces. The groups also mined two reinforced concrete bridges of Byone Taung on Namt Slup-Kunlong road and Mantonsun on Hsenwi-Namt Slup road before dawn on Saturday. The military columns conducting security operations around Kutkai-Namtpatkha-Muse region also encountered with the armed groups until Saturday morning. In the armed groups' heavy arms attacks, a vehicle from a local philanthropic association from Lashio was hit with one being killed..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-08-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Three Myanmar government soldiers were killed and at least seven civilians and three other troops were injured Wednesday morning during a rebel army ambush on a military convoy in war-torn northern Shan state, local and military officials and area residents said. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic Palaung armed group, attacked Myanmar soldiers in a market in Hsenwi township, also known as Hsenni, in Lashio district. “This morning, around 6 a.m. we heard several gunshots from town,” township administrator Myint Oo told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “I was stunned because I wasn’t familiar with these sounds. “Afterwards, I learned that a military convoy had been attacked,” he said. “When the soldiers from the convoy countered the attack, the other side had retreated.” Area residents said TNLA soldiers ambushed the convoy near the bazaar at the entrance of Hsenwi town, killing about three soldiers and wounding three others..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-10-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: ambulance, Shan State, conflict, civil society, Northern Alliance, Tatmadaw, volunteers
Sub-title: Volunteers with community service ambulances in northern Shan State are taking big risks to help others in conflict zones – and sometimes pay with their lives.
Topic: ambulance, Shan State, conflict, civil society, Northern Alliance, Tatmadaw, volunteers
Description: "THE SMELL of the bodies permeates through the minivan as we make the 32-kilometre journey back to Lashio. In the back of the ambulance – a Toyota Super Custom minivan – are two yellow bags containing the bodies of U Win Maung, 61, and his wife, Daw Aye Mya, from Man Kaung village. The smell doesn’t seem to bother the volunteers from the Giving Hand aid group. As we pull out of Man Kaung, Ko Kaung Zaw, 22, slips down the surgical mask on his face and takes a long drink of Sprite from a bottle that had been resting beside the body bags. For most of the journey back to Lashio, Kaung Zaw, who has been volunteering with Giving Hand for about three years, scrolls through Facebook on his phone, paying little attention as the bodies slide around due to the winding road. But this was no ordinary emergency. Win Maung, a former member of the Tatmadaw, was the leader of the Mong Yan militia. The couple were killed when their home was bombarded with grenades and M79 grenade-launcher fire in an apparently targeted attack on the evening of August 20..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2019-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Intense fighting along major route halts fortune in cross-border trade
Description: "Cross-border trade between Myanmar and China has ground to a halt since rebels launched coordinated attacks on several targets along a major trade route on Aug. 15. The Northern Alliance -- a rebel collation of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army -- attacked a major military training academy near Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, and several positions in northeastern Shan state bordering China. The Myanmar government said the attacks left at least 15 dead, including three civilians, and caused around $200,000 worth of damage to properties and buildings..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASIA - PACIFIC"
2019-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Army, civilians, IDPs, Namhsan, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw
Topic: Army, civilians, IDPs, Namhsan, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw
Description: "Namhsan Township in northern Shan State has seen more than 1,000 villagers flee their homes amid ongoing fighting between the Myanmar army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Namhsan’s Lway Plang Gar Houre of the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO), which helps displaced people, told The Irrawaddy that community leaders had opened a fourth camp to cope with the growing numbers arriving. “One more house was destroyed by artillery [Sunday]. The other villagers were afraid and they fled,” said Lway Plang Gar Houre. About 200 Kayar Lan villagers fled yesterday. The fighting broke out on Sept. 13 after an army assault on the TNLA position at Taung Yoe (Mountain) Pagoda. The TNLA outpost overlooks Namhsan, reportedly leading the army to fear it could be used to target the town..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Myanmar, Thailand)
2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Three ethnic armed groups that belong to the Northern Alliance on Monday declared a month-long ceasefire with the government to give peace talks more time.
Description: "The alliance’s Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army (AA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army have clashed with the Tatmadaw (military) numerous times since August 15, when they launched surprise attacks on Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region and Nawngcho in Shan State. The alliance also includes the Kachin Independence Army, which has not been involved in the clashes. A joint statement by the three groups warned that while the truce would mean their forces would not attack military positions, they will defend themselves if necessary. During a meeting between government negotiators and representatives of the alliance on August 31 in Kyaingtong, the military extended its unilateral ceasefire in five military commands until September 21. The military first declared the ceasefire in Shan and Kachin states in December. But the ceasefire did not include Rakhine State, where the AA operates..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Three ethnic armed groups that belong to the Northern Alliance on Monday declared a month-long ceasefire with the government to give peace talks more time.
Description: "The alliance’s Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army (AA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army have clashed with the Tatmadaw (military) numerous times since August 15, when they launched surprise attacks on Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region and Nawngcho in Shan State. The alliance also includes the Kachin Independence Army, which has not been involved in the clashes. A joint statement by the three groups warned that while the truce would mean their forces would not attack military positions, they will defend themselves if necessary. During a meeting between government negotiators and representatives of the alliance on August 31 in Kyaingtong, the military extended its unilateral ceasefire in five military commands until September 21. The military first declared the ceasefire in Shan and Kachin states in December. But the ceasefire did not include Rakhine State, where the AA operates..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Fighting between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) intensified in northern Shan State on Friday, near the town of Namhsan, according to locals. The fighting broke out despite a recently announce one-month ceasefire between the groups. The fighting broke out around 7 a.m. when the Tatmadaw attacked a TNLA base at mountain pagoda locals called Taung Yoe Pagoda, according to TNLA spokesperson Major Tar Aike Kyaw. It halted a bit after 9 a.m. but resumed at 1 p.m. and was ongoing for the rest of the day, he said. “Our troops are based on that mountain. Fighting broke out because they came and attacked our troops,” Major Tar Aike Kyaw, TNLA spokesperson, said. Locals told The Irrawaddy that the Tatmadaw brought in two army helicopters to reinforce ground attacks at around 2:30 p.m., which were firing long-range artillery. Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun confirmed to The Irrawaddy intermittent fighting had occurred in the area Friday, and that the Tatmadaw employed helicopters..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Agriculture, Arakan Army, China, Economics, Ethnic Armed Groups, Finance, Muse, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Trade
Topic: Agriculture, Arakan Army, China, Economics, Ethnic Armed Groups, Finance, Muse, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Trade
Description: "Although the security situation in northern Shan State has stabilized, businesses say they are still on the alert about their safety and transport costs, which are rising due to a shortage of trucks. The attacks by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army on military and civilian targets on Aug. 15 destroyed the Goke Twin bridge on the Muse-Mandalay highway, a major trade route with China. “It took about five days to repair the bridge and it was reopened on Aug. 20. But there were roadblocks [due to several other bridges being destroyed] between Kutkai and Muse, so we could only fully use the road again after Sept. 5. The bridge can only carry trucks weighing up to 48 tons, so everyone wants to hire those trucks to transport their goods. Therefore, the price went up,” said U Win Aung Khant, the chairman of the Muse Highway Freight Forwarders Association..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A four-year-long curfew in Laukkai and Konkyan townships of Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) in northern Shan State was extended on Monday. States of emergency and martial law have been in place in Kokang SAZ since Feb. 17, 2015, after armed clashes broke out between the Myanmar army and armed groups including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). The deputy director of the General Administration Office of the Kokang SAZ, U Tun Kyaw Kyaw, signed the curfew extension on Monday under Section 144 of the Criminal Code. The curfew states that no one shall go outside their homes in Laukkai and Konkyan between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., that gatherings of five or more people are strictly prohibited and that anyone who breaks the curfew will face legal action. “The curfew has been extended every two months since February 2015, after the armed conflict, but now the time limitation has been reduced,” said U Kyaw Ni Naing, a member of the Upper House of the Union Parliament for Laukkai constituency. Under the previous curfew, locals were restricted from leaving their homes between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. “We had requested through the [Union] parliament that the government terminate the curfew because stability and peace in our region have been restored,” said U Kyaw Ni Naing. Kokang SAZ has largely been spared from the ongoing armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Brotherhood Alliance—the TNLA, the MNDAA and the Arakan Army (AA). U Kyaw Ni Naing said the government is concerned about stability in the region..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Improve Civilian Protection, Access to Aid
Description: "Myanmar’s armed forces and the three ethnic armed groups fighting in northern Shan State should safeguard civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Renewed fighting since August 15, 2019 has resulted in the deaths of at least 17 civilians and injured 27, many of them women and children, according to the United Nations. Approximately 7,500 people were displaced by the fighting in August, and 3,500 remain in temporary shelters. Nongovernmental groups have told Human Rights Watch that armed forces on both sides have stopped humanitarian aid convoys from traveling to affected populations, resulting in shortages of food and medicine. Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups should recognize that protecting civilians is a core obligation of the laws of war,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “All sides to the conflict should cease unlawful attacks against civilians and ensure that aid reaches people in need.” Since independence in 1948, the Myanmar government has been engaged in numerous armed conflicts with ethnic armed groups across the country. Four of those armed groups, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Arakan Army, and Kachin Independence Army, have allied into a coalition called the Northern Alliance..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch"
2019-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar ethnic group wants greater role for China
Description: "As the political reconciliation is underway in Myanmar, Shan State Army-South (SSAS) chair, Lieutenant General Yawd Serk, hopes China will play a greater role in the process of achieving peace in the country. The general, who is also Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), told the Global Times that he has had talks with China's Asia affairs special envoy. "I hope China can participate in Myanmar peace process at a greater width. China and Myanmar have a long border and China's boundary with Shan State is also very long." Despite the Myanmar government's optimism that peace will prevail across the country, Yawd Serk said that he had almost "lost confidence." "The cease-fire agreement has not brought any changes, the whole situation has worsened," he told the Global Times. Since October 2015, Myanmar's government has signed the landmark Nationwide Cease-fire Accord (NCA) with 10 ethnic armed groups including SSAS, which was viewed as an important step in resolving the country's conflicts. On February 12, Myanmar President U Win Myint said the government is currently in negotiations with ethnic armed organizations which have not yet signed the NCA in an effort to realize a final peace deal, Xinhua reported. It's been reported that military conflicts in Myanmar occur to 200 to 300 times a year..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Global Times"
2019-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! As everyone knows, three members of the Northern Alliance launched attacks on five places and the Defense Services Technological Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin on Aug. 15. Fighting ensued and the Muse-Lashio Road was blocked. Some experts viewed it as a security breach. I will discuss with Dr. Min Zaw Oo to what extent the military and the government are lacking cooperation, and to what extent the ongoing clashes are worrying to the people of Myanmar. It is nearly 70 years that civil war has been ongoing in Myanmar. There are nearly 20 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, Myanmar has experienced a serious armed conflict with a large number of armed groups fighting over territorial disputes, and the latest attack carried out by three members of the Northern Alliance on the military academy has shocked many people. How worrying do you think the situation is? It is not that difficult to launch an attack on the Defense Services Technological Academy with rockets. It is not that the rebels came into the town and launched attacks. Though the attack in Goke Twin can be called a security breach, the place is not a stronghold, but a soft target. What is worrying is the attack that has blocked for ten days the Mandalay-Muse Road, the lifeline of Myanmar’s trade. They launched the attack with the intention of cutting off the economic lifeline. The ambition is not just a military one, it is intended to cut off a strategic route for trade and commodity flows, and therefore this will impact various strata of society. The road is a strategic route and the impact is strategic, so this led to a question—how much our leaders had thought about this and prepared in advance? Rather than responding only after attacks on strategic places, we should have—there is no national security policy that identifies places critical to the interests of the whole country and the people, that outlines how to protect those interests and how to solve problems and how to connect peace and security. Because of the lack of such a policy, certain things that should be done based on such a policy can’t be carried out. I think the political rivalries and political problems resulting from the 2008 Constitution have impacted national security..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Terrified civilians are bearing the brunt of the upsurge in fighting in northern Shan State, as death and displacement rise due to attacks for which no armed force is claiming responsibility.
Description: "WHEN MORE than 70 troops from the Tatmadaw’s Infantry Battalion 68 deployed in Kone Sar village, about 13 kilometres northeast of Lashio town in northern Shan State on August 17, the residents were fearful. Their nerves had been on edge since the previous day, when Tatmadaw helicopter gunships had launched attacks on suspected targets in nearby farmland and jungle-clad hills. The villagers had sought refuge in a small monastery at one end of Kone Sar. When the newly arriving troops moved into the monastery compound, set up two mortars and fired two rounds into the village, residents knew they needed to take cover further away. They made the decision to flee, leaving behind just one person from each household. Starting from the morning of August 18, scores of Kone Sar villagers fled on foot to the monastery at Mong Tin village, a few kilometres away. Among the departing villagers later that night were Sai Lon Aye, 42, and Sai Thein Kyi, 56. They were discussing what to carry and how long they might be away when they heard mortar fire and began running for cover. Thein Kyi was the faster runner. When he looked back, he saw Lon Aye’s body sprawled on the road; shrapnel from a mortar had struck the back of his head, killing him instantly..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-08-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar military accused an ethnic armed group operating in Myanmar’s northeastern Shan state of terrorism and drug trafficking, and warned of all-out war, according to a report by RFA on 23 August. The message was conveyed by Major General Tun Tun Nyi at a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw in response to the August 15 attacks on military and civilian targets close to Mandalay. According to the RFA report, the army spokesman said most of the attacks on August 15 were not in military-related places and were “terrorism acts”. “They were more than terrorist attacks. They were an act of brutality and could be described as a war crime,” he said, adding they tarnished the government and country’s image. The surprising August 15 attacks by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic Palaung group, and two other ethnic armies, the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), left 15 people dead, including nine soldiers, and an equal number injured..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima"
2019-08-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A village militia chief and his wife were shot dead Tuesday evening by unknown gunmen in Myanmar’s war-ravaged northern Shan state, while a government official said recent coordinated attacks by rebel armies in the region have seriously affected crucial trade routes with China. Chinese-speaking and Shan-speaking assailants killed Win Maung, militia chief of Mong Yang village-tract, and his wife when they threw explosives and fired several shots from all directions into his home and a nearby office in the village in Lashio township, locals and a family member who survived the attack said. Win Maung’s two sons and two daughters were away from home on a trip when the attack occurred, but his grandson was in the house and managed to escape. “I heard the blasts sounding like fireworks,” the grandson said. “I tried to hide, but my grandfather told me to leave the house. I asked him to come with me, but he didn’t. I jumped out of the house and ran into the fields.” He said he caught up with other villagers who ran from the village during the attack, and they tried to hide on the other side of the river..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA"
2019-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "With ongoing fighting between the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, and armed ethnic rebel groups in their own backyards, villagers in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township fear for their own safety and wellbeing, as neighbors wounded in the crossfire find themselves cutoff from access to medical care. At least two civilians are now wounded and in urgent need of medical care there, in the village of Mong Yu, but are trapped by the ongoing conflict and cut off from access to nearby hospitals, local sources told The Irrawaddy. Mai Aike Ywan was shot in the leg and hand Sunday evening while driving his motorbike on a stretch of highway that fighting has spread to in the wake of an ethnic armed groups’ counteroffensive against the Tatmadaw. “He was brought to the village clinic last night for treatment,” Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO) member Kham Mat said. “His blood pressure was low, and his wounds could be fatal,” she said, adding that he was in urgent need of medical care at a hospital..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "An alliance of ethnic armed groups launched attacks in five locations in Myanmar’s Mandalay region and northern Shan state early Thursday, leaving at least 11 people confirmed dead and several others injured, in retaliation for government army offenses in Shan and Rakhine states, sources in the areas hit said. In a development that appeared to raise hostilities between rebel armies and national forces to an unprecedented level, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) fired heavy artillery at the Myanmar military’s Defense Services Technology Academy and a toll gate in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin township, according to an announcement by the government armed forces. The rebels from three militaries of the Northern Alliance of ethnic forces also attacked a police outpost at the Goke Twin Bridge, a toll gate, and a military regimental command in Shan state’s Nawngkhio township. All three armies have been engaged in hostilities with Myanmar forces, with the AA fighting government troops in a quest for greater autonomy in Rakhine state, and the TNLA and MNDAA fighting over territory and lucrative resources in northern Shan state..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA"
2019-08-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The combined forces of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) have been defending northern Shan State against Burma Army advances during the month of August. However, these ethnic armed groups (EAGs) continued to lose territory to Burma Army attacks, while the Burma Army sacrificed 20 soldiers’ lives to keep advancing. Conflict in Danai Township in August was similar to July in that the Burma Army limited their actions to artillery attacks against the KIA 14th Battalion and 2nd Brigade. Rains and flooding are limiting factors for troops and vehicles to patrol in the north. In August, troop-on-troop conflicts in Kutkai, Theinni (Hseni), Manton, Muse, and Namtu townships in northern Shan State were more frequent than in Kachin State, where fighting is usually heaviest. Of the 25 attacks that occurred in northern Shan State, 23 were troop-on-troop battles, one was a landmine explosion, and one a Burma Army artillery attack..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
2018-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2018-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''Hostilities in Kachin State and northern Shan State remain almost a daily occurrence. Compared to the first two weeks of June which had five clashes and 12 attacks, July has had nine clashes and nine attacks. Most clashes have occurred in Danai and Hpakant townships. Heavy rains have reduced the number of clashes in the region, yet civilians and combatants still suffer from continued Burma Army advances. Throughout the first half of July there were six military actions in Danai Township. Nawng Nyang and Zup Mai villages, approximately 15 kilometers east of Danai Town and the Myitkyina – Danai highway, as well as Nam Hkam Village, approximately 20 kilometers southwest of Danai Town, were the areas of contention. Over 2000 people were displaced east of Danai in April, some of which only recently emerged from hiding in the jungle. Over the 14th, 15th and 16th of July, there was heavy fighting in Hpakant Township in the region west of Kamaing Town. The biggest battle occurred throughout the day of July 14th when KIA soldiers from Bum Chyang Post defended against approximately 100 Burma Army soldiers from Ja Ra Yang Base. At 1630 Burma Army forces fired four mortar rounds toward Bum Chyang from Ja Ra Yang...''
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
2018-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2018-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Burma Army indiscretions in Kachin and Northern Shan states continue to wound civilians, bringing the total this month to six. Mortars fired by the Burma Army during a clash in Manton Township in Northern Shan State wounded the villager Mr. Aik Ye, hitting him with shrapnel in the waist. The clash occurred on July 18th at 12:45 between approximately 60 Burma Army soldiers and troops from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) 3rd Brigade. In Danai Township, on July 22, two civilians, Mr. Maran Tang Seng, and Ms. Gawlu Roi were wounded and one KIA soldier, Nhkum Naw Awng, were killed when they stepped on a landmine planted by the Burma Army..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
2018-08-03
Date of entry/update: 2018-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Kyar Yin Shell is a 26-year-old young man from Kengtung, the ?dark and dirty? capital city of eastern Salween in the Shan State. While Kengtung has not seen civil war for over two decades, development is non-existent and electricity scarce. Kyar Yin Shell is Lahu, a little known ethnic group that lives scattered around the mountains of Burma, China, Laos, and Thailand. As most Lahu people, Kyar Yin Shell grew up in a village, but unlike many others he was lucky enough to go to school. As a teenager, hard-working Kyar Yin Shell had great hopes for his future until it all seems to end one day; wrong medical treatment left Kyar Yin Shell paralyzed. Kyar Yin Shell lost all hope for his future and like so many others in the Shan State, he became addicted to drugs. During those dark times, Kyar Yin Shell could never have known that he would not only survive and learn to live with his disability, but work actively for his people and travel overseas to represent his country. Kyar Yin Shell?s story shows how much life can surprise you. If you take the chance."...See the Alternate link for part 2.
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2015-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Tar Aik Bong is a leader of the Ta?ang (Palaung) people, one of Burma?s ethnic nationalities that continues a daily struggle for survival in largely inaccessible areas in northern Shan State. He joined the Ta?ang liberation movement in 1987, and currently serves as Chairman of Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) and Head of the military commission of Ta?ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). TNLA is one of the few ethnic armies that continues to fight against the Burma army and vows not to lay down arms until equal rights and a lasting political solution is achieved. TNLA fights to ?obtain freedom for all Ta?ang nationals from oppression, to form Ta?ang autonomous regions that guarantee democracy and human rights, to oppose and fight against dictatorship and any form of racial discrimination, to attain national equality and self-determination and to establish a genuine Federal Union that guarantees Ta?ang autonomy and to eliminate cultivation, production, sale and use of narcotics.” Tar Aik Bong is also a member of the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) council and Foreign Affairs Department. In an exclusive interview with Burma Link, Tar Aik Bong talks about the causes and current situation of the Ta?ang conflict, the role of the UNFC, and the brutal tactics that the Burmese military uses against Ta?ang civilians in order to cut the opposition movement. Tar Aik Bong also discusses the Burmese military?s instrumental role in the epidemic drug usage in Ta?ang areas, and TNLA?s plan to eradicate the drugs."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2014-11-11
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Ta?ang, also known as Palaung, are one of Burma?s myriad ethnic groups who have been fighting for basic human rights and autonomy for decades. Despite the international enthusiasm over Burma?s reform process, the reality in Burma?s ethnic borderlands remains dire, and the Burmese military continues its brutal offensive against ethnic civilians. Tar Aik Bong joined the Ta?ang struggle in 1987, and is now the Chairperson of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), the Head of military commission of the Ta?ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), as well as a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) council and Foreign Affairs Department. The PSLF/TNLA is one of the few prominent ethnic armed groups yet to sign a ceasefire with the Burmese government. The following is Tar Aik Bong?s message to the international community."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Ta?ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the armed wing of Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), is one of the ethnic resistance armed organisations that vows not to lay down arms until there is a guarantee of political negotiations. Burma Link spoke with two TNLA soldiers, Mai and Mai Main, who were sent by their leaders to study human rights and politics in Mae Sot, so that they could go back to Ta?ang land and educate other soldiers. These two soldiers studied in Mae Sot for a year, and believed it is their responsibility to go back to Burma to educate others and safeguard their people?s rights. In this interview, they share their story on how and why they became involved with the TNLA and why the Ta?ang people so strongly support their army. Mai and Mai Main, aged 23 and 26, are now back in the battle fields of northern Shan State." ..."END NOTE: Although TNLA is a member of the ethnic alliance United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), the government has tried to exclude the group from the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) talks. TNLA is an ally of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and fights alongside the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in northern Shan State, to obtain freedom and to establish a genuine federal union. TNLA also fights to eliminate cultivation, production, sale and use of drugs in their traditional lands. Read more."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2015-07-13
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Despite a ceasefire signed in 2011, clashes continue between ethnic Shan rebels and government troops....Like many other armed ethnic groups, the SSA-S signed a ceasefire after Myanmar transitioned to a nominally civilian government in 2011. Deadly clashes between SSA-S forces and the Myanmar military, however, continue despite the agreement. Accordingly, Myanmar?s government is pushing the country?s armed ethnic groups to sign a new nationwide ceasefire this year..."
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
2014-03-02
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "As the Thein Sein Government?s peace process with its armed ethnic minorities continues, concerns remain in relation to Burma Army activities in Shan State and claims that the UWSA has increased its arsenal and is seeking an autonomous Wa State. Although armed ethnic groups, like the RCSS-SSA, have continually attempted to minimalize the impact of various clashes with the Burma Army, the continuing offensive in Northern Shan State, the on-going conflict in Kachin State, and reports of a possible offensive against the Wa further threatens peace in the area and could result in both the RCSS/SSA and the UWSA being drawn into a much wider conflict..."
Creator/author: Editor: Lian H. Sakhong | Author: Paul Keenan
Source/publisher: Burma Centre for Ethnic Studies (Analysis Paper No. 7, May 2013)
2013-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2013-06-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 184.18 KB
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