Kachin State
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About 340,000 results (January 2018)
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www via Google
Date of entry/update:
2018-01-02
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"The Kachin encompass a number of ethnic groups speaking almost a dozen distinct languages belonging to the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family who inhabit the same region in the northern part of Burma on the border with China, mainly in Kachin State. Strictly speaking, these languages are not necessarily closely related, and the term Kachin at times is used to refer specifically to the largest of the groups (the Kachin or Jingpho/Jinghpaw) or to the whole grouping of Tibeto-Burman speaking minorities in the region, which include the Maru, Lisu, Lashu, etc.
The exact Kachin population is unknown due to the absence of reliable census in Burma for more than 60 years. Most estimates suggest there may in the vicinity of 1 million Kachin in the country. The Kachin, as well as the Chin, are one of Burma?s largest Christian minorities: though once again difficult to assess, it is generally thought that between two-thirds and 90 per cent of Kachin are Christians, with others following animist practices of Buddhists..."
Source/publisher:
Minority Rights Group
Date of entry/update:
2014-08-21
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Websites/Multiple Documents
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Kachin State
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English
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"We, the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are deeply concerned over and condemn the reported bombing that impacted an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the Munglai Hkyet, Kachin State, on October 9, which claimed the lives of many civilians, including children.
We reiterate our urgent call to end all forms of violence immediately, particularly those impacting civilians, and exercise utmost restraint to create a conducive environment for an inclusive dialogue toward a comprehensive solution to the situation in Myanmar.
We reemphasize ASEAN’s commitment to assisting Myanmar in finding a peaceful and durable solution to the ongoing crisis through the complete implementation of the Five-Point Consensus for peace, security, and stability in the region..."
Source/publisher:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Date of publication:
2023-10-18
Date of entry/update:
2023-10-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Kachin State, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Internal displacement/forced migration of Kachin
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"From February 12 to 15, hundreds of people gathered in Bordumsa, a village in the Changlang district of northeast India’s Arunachal Pradesh, to celebrate Manau, a Kachin traditional festival. Women in bright, diamond-patterned outfits jingling with silver neck and waist ornaments lined up next to sword-bearing men in longyis and tasseled headbands. Twice a day, they sang and danced in spirals around a set of colorful pillars that serve as a Kachin cultural icon.
Manau carries deep cultural significance for Kachin people, but in Myanmar, its celebration has been overshadowed by war since the collapse of a seventeen-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and military in 2011. The ensuing clashes displaced more than 100,000 people, leading many Kachins in Myanmar to boycott the event ever since.
This war has only intensified since the February 2021 military coup, pushing the prospects of a festive Manau within the country even farther into the distance. But the Kachin ethnic identity goes beyond international borderlines and has managed to endure these upheavals in northeast India, where a small Kachin community known as Singphos has kept the tradition going
Singphos, together with Jinghpaws in Myanmar, make up the largest of six major Kachin tribes along with Lachik, Lawngwaw, Lisu, Rawang and Zaiwa, and like many ethnic groups, their identity predates colonial borders.
Kachin people began migrating westward from the Hukawng valley, Sumpi Yang and Putao regions of today’s northern Myanmar in the 16th and 17th centuries, according to Kachin linguist Langjaw Kyangying of Myitkyina. In Assam, they were some of the first people to take up tea cultivation, which remains a popular Singpho livelihood today. Recruited by the British Imperial Army, Singphos also played an active role in India’s struggle for independence.
Singphos were first divided into a separate administrative territory from their Kachin kinfolk with the implementation of the Government of India and Government of Burma Acts in 1937. India’s independence from Britain in 1947 and Burma’s a year later further set the two communities on distinct historical paths.
Today, Singphos are thought to number in the tens of thousands. Dispersed across the Changlang and Namsai districts of Arunachal Pradesh and the Tinsukia district of Assam state, they live closely with Tai Khamtis, a population known in Myanmar as Hkamti Shans. In Arunachal Pradesh, Singphos are listed among sixteen “scheduled tribes,” granting them certain protections under India’s constitution.
Their Manau festival, named Shapawng Yawng after the legendary forefather of Kachin people, has been celebrated annually since 1985. Ten interviews conducted during a visit to this year’s festival and by phone suggest that it offers a rare opportunity to bring geographically-dispersed Kachin people together, and also serves as a vital means of cultural preservation.
“As time goes on, some people don’t write their titles as Kachin. Some people intermarry, change their titles and forget their identities,” said Singdu Nong Marip Singpho, a former president of the Singpho Development Society, who like many Singphos uses his ethnic group as his surname. “Before, there were Singphos in different places, but we didn’t know each other and had no reason to gather together. But after forming this Singpho Development Society and organizing the Manau year by year, even if someone forgets what tribe they are, when they see the Manau, they remember.”
Kachin folklore offers various legends to describe the origins of Manau, most of which trace the dance’s patterns to the flight of birds. According to a version printed in a Singpho Development Society pamphlet and recounted during two interviews, the dance was introduced to humans by a man named Mading Yau.
As the legend goes, Mading Yau had the ability to understand the natural world but was poorly understood by his own community. Banished to a basket hanging from the branch of a banyan tree, he watched birds gather the tree’s fruit and learned their songs, language and flight patterns, which he later taught to the people. According to some versions of the legend, the dance represents the coming together of all the birds in the universe.
Manau festivals traditionally commence with the sacrifice of a buffalo to ancestral spirits known as nat jaw. Although the practice continues in India, it has been abandoned in Myanmar, where most Kachins now follow Christianity. The dance encircles a set of four to twelve pillars, each decorated with its own pattern. Two lines led by Naushawng – men wearing robes and hornbill bird headdresses – move in swirling patterns, singing and dancing to music played on drums, gongs and wind instruments.
Manau festivals can be held for a variety of purposes including to celebrate prosperity and appeal for further wealth, prepare for war, and celebrate wartime victory. According to Singdu Nong, the Shapawng Yawng festival incorporates several purposes. “We dance to remember our forefather Shapawng Yawng and ask for his blessings, wisdom, wealth and protection,” he said.
In her 2005 doctoral thesis for the School of Oriental and African Studies, Dr. Mandy Sadan describes Manau festivals from before the British colonial era as “part of a deeply significant ritual system around which many aspects of socio-cultural and political structure cohered.” In her book Being and Becoming Kachin, published in 2013, she elaborates that these days-long festivals were most strongly defined by offerings to spirits and recitations of the genealogical origins of the host, performed by spirit-priests known as jaiwas.
Held for reasons including to mark moments when lineages separated or when communities came together to affirm their kinship, these festivals also enabled Jinghpaw chiefs to consolidate their socio-political positions, according to Sadan. Her research found that between World War I and World War II, the role of Manau shifted, as British colonial administrators began organizing the festivals as a way to strengthen their relationships with Jinghpaw chiefs and headmen and to expand their reach in Upper Burma and the Kachin Hills. By the late 1920s, the British were also using Manau to announce key policies, and the festival’s animist traditions were increasingly overshadowed by its administrative functions.
When Burma gained independence from Britain, the central government designated January 10 as Kachin State Day and began organizing Manau festivals in the state capital of Myitkyina to recognize it. Then in 1961, the KIO began its revolution for political autonomy and these events ceased. Instead, the KIO held a Manau festival in its territory to mark the outbreak of armed hostilities. According to Sadan, the festival was the first to explicitly celebrate a pan-Kachin, or Wunpawng, ethno-political identity representing six Kachin subgroups.
With the signing of a ceasefire between the military and KIO in 1994, Kachin State Day festivals in Myitkyina resumed, at times attended by both the KIO and military as well as military-aligned KIO splinter groups. But in the years leading up to the ceasefire’s collapse in 2011, the military increasingly took control over these events – an act described by local media outlet Kachin Newsgroup as “akin to cultural genocide.”
In February 2011, meanwhile, the KIO held its own Manau festival at its eastern regional headquarters of Mai Ja Yang to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kachin Revolution Day. By this time, the military had restricted travel to KIO territory, and those attending the festival from areas under its administration had to take a circuitous route via China. War between the military and KIO resumed that June, and Kachin State Day festivals in Myitkyina have since seen a heavy military presence as well as strong opposition from Kachin civil society. At times, Kachin activists have instead used these Manau grounds to hold large protests against armed military offensives.
As Manau festivals in Myanmar remain shrouded in controversy, Kachin populations in other countries have carried on the tradition. In the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of China’s Yunnan province, home to a significant community of Jinghpaw and Zaiwa-speaking people collectively recognized as Jingpo, the festival is known as Munao Zongge and is organized by the Chinese government. Now in its 39th year, it was most recently held this February and included 60,000 attendees according to Chinese state media.
The festival is also celebrated in the village of Banmai Sammaki in Thailand’s Chiang Mai province. Established in the late 1970s by ex-KIO members, the village acquired official status in 1982. Shortly after, its residents began holding Manau festivals on the birthday of the late Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej; the most recent of these festivals was held in 2018.
India’s Shapawng Yawng festival, held every February, is organized by the Singpho Development Society. According to Singdu Nong, the festival enables Kachins across the India-Myanmar border to reconnect. “Even though we settled in different countries, we hold this Manau to remember that we are all of one blood,” he said.
During this year’s festival, some of those in attendance were Jinghpaws from the Hukawng valley, many of whom are closely related to India’s Singphos. Along with vendors from Myanmar who came to sell souvenirs, they mostly traveled overland, briefly entering Sagaing region from the Hukawng valley before crossing the Pangsau pass.
The mountainous border crossing is located on Ledo Road, constructed during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver support to China in its fight against Japan. Then, it was nicknamed “Hell Pass” for its difficult terrain. Today, although a bilateral agreement reached in 2018 between India and Myanmar allows local people to travel visa-free within 16 kilometers on either side of the border, travel further inland remains otherwise restricted to the public – with the exception of the Shapawng Yawng festival, when visitors from Myanmar can apply for a permit through Indian border authorities to attend the festival on the condition that they return immediately after.
The festival saw particularly large participation from Myanmar for its 25th anniversary in 2009, when those who joined included jade tycoon Sutdu Yup Zau Hkawng. Two years later, however, the Kachin political context dramatically changed with the collapse of the KIO-military ceasefire; since the coup, fighting has further escalated amid a widespread armed uprising against the junta.
According to Singdu Nong, such grand events as the 2009 festival are no longer possible due to a tightening of the issuance of border passes by Indian authorities. “The government is very strict about how many people are coming,” he said. “We used to formally invite hundreds of delegates [from Myanmar] with permission from the [Indian] government, but because of the political environment, this year we didn’t invite them. Even if we were to invite them, they wouldn’t have been able to come.”
For Kachins from China and other countries, attending the festival is even harder due to a history of territorial disputes between India and China in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Foreign nationals wishing to visit the state must apply for a Protected Area Permit through India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
Nnau Brang Nan, a lawyer from Innao, Arunachal Pradesh, described a situation in which Kachins and other ethnic nationalities whose populations span borders became “sandwiched” by geopolitics. Unable to legally visit his relatives in Myitkyina by crossing the land border, he is instead required to apply for a visa through the Myanmar embassy and fly into the country, while Kachin nationals living in Myanmar face a similar dilemma when visiting India. “We have been victimized as an ethnic border race – not only Kachins, but Chins, Nagas, [and other] Tibeto-Burman groups,” he said. “We have to go round and round…That feeling is very painful.”
Kachins from Myanmar already living in India are more easily able to join the Manau festival. This year, around a dozen university students traveled from Shillong, the capital of northeastern India’s Meghalaya state, singing songs around a campfire late into the night with their Singpho peers. “After so many years being far away from our own community, this is the first time coming back and getting this vibe of Kachin. It is a very warm feeling,” said Tsam Rawng Seng Maji, who studies political science at North-Eastern Hill University.
But he and others expressed concern that the Singpho cultural identity is disappearing. “My main wish is to be united with this Singhpo community and grow with the Singhpo community… [and for the] language and culture not to be erased or vanish,” said Mung Ran Awng, a physics student at the same university.
Also joining the festival were a handful of Kachin missionaries from Myanmar who live in India. While the vast majority of Kachins in Myanmar are Christian, most Singphos practice a combination of Theravada Buddhism and the worship of ancestral spirits.
Religion appears to be a somewhat sensitive issue between the two communities. “Even when hanging out with friends or visiting neighbors, we have to speak very carefully when the conversation goes to religious topics,” said Hka Tawm Maran, who runs a Kachin Baptist mission school in Inthem, Assam State. Still, she described a general understanding that has developed. “We cannot preach the gospel outside of the [school] compound, but we can practice our religion freely, because they understand that we are Christians and we are also doing our worship,” she said.
Nnau Brang Nan, the lawyer from Innao, also said that the two communities were able to overcome their religious differences. “Here in India, we have no religious connections with Kachins in Burma, but the thing making us connected across the border is the culture, tradition, language and belongingness from Majoi Singra Bum,” he said, using the Kachin name for a mountain in today’s Tibet.
In addition to its social functions, the Shapawng Yawng Manau festival has encouraged the sharing of Kachin traditions. In 1995, naushawng from Myanmar trained Singpho men to lead the dance. Then in 2009, Langjaw Kyangying, the Kachin linguist from Myitkyina, composed a song for the festival whose lyrics describe the westward migration of Kachin people into today’s northeast India.
The festival’s keyboard player, Jau Lat Manje of Margherita, Assam State, studied under a keyboard player from Myanmar in 2018 and then on YouTube. “I was learning music since I was young, so I thought maybe I could try it,” he said. “Now it’s my responsibility. It’s been five years that I’ve been involved, and it feels great.”
One role still lacking among India’s Singphos is a buffalo horn player, a rare skill across Kachin society. This year, Salang Magawng Awng joined the festival from Myitkyina, climbing a tall bamboo tower to play three melodies which helped direct the dance’s movements.
In further efforts to promote Kachin culture and traditions, the Singpho Development Society organized competitions including in folk tale and essay writing, drawing, and dance. The latter was performed during nightly stage shows alongside singing and a fashion show featuring traditional costumes and talents.
The main event on the last night was a performance by Anong Singpho, a Bollywood singer and songwriter who also composed the popular Kachin love song Yu Saalai. In an interview after his performance, he said he hopes to inspire other Singpho youth. “We have so many different kinds of people in our society. Some are good in sports, some are good in music, and some go in different directions – peer pressure, drugs, opium, anything which can harm them and harm their society,” he said. “I hope that some youngsters can take me as a role model.” He is now working on his second Singpho song – a particular challenge because like many Singpho youth, he is not fluent in the language. During the festival, youth from India and Myanmar often spoke English for this reason.
Singphos are not alone: the government of Arunachal Pradesh counts 26 “major tribes” and 110 “sub tribes” in the state, each with its own language or dialect. In recent years, however, the state government has taken initiative to promote this diverse linguistic and cultural heritage. In 2022, it launched mother tongue instruction in eight languages alongside Hindi and English. Although Singpho was not among them, the chief minister invited all ethnic communities in the state to prepare textbooks in their mother tongue. The state government has also allocated funds toward the celebration of traditional festivals since 2020, and in January of this year, announced plans to build an Indigenous prayer hall in every district.
“In Assam, we do not have facilities regarding our literature and the value of our identity, but in Arunachal…we have the opportunity to promote our culture, identity, language and literature,” said Singdu Nong..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2023-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2023-04-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political)
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"ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ
၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဩဂုတ်လ (၁၀) ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သည့် (၄၆) နှစ်မြောက်
ကချင်အာဇာနည်နေ့သို့ ပေးပို့သည့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၏ သဝဏ်လွှာ
၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဩဂုတ်လ (၁၀) ရက်
၁။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ လူမျိုးအသီးသီးတွင် မိမိလူမျိုးများအတွက် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး၊ တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တန်းတူ အခွင့်အရေးရရှိရေးတို့အတွက်သာမက ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု ထူထောင်ရေးတို့အတွက် ကိုယ်ကျိုးစွန့် အနစ်နာခံကာ သက်စွန့်ကြိုးပမ်း ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့ကြသည့် အာဇာနည်သူရဲကောင်းများ အများအပြား ရှိကြပါသည်။
၂။ ကချင်အမျိုးသားများ၏ အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေးနှင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်စနစ်ထူထောင်ရေး ရည်မှန်းချက်များကို အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန်အတွက် ကချင်အမျိုးသားများအစည်းအရုံး (KIO)၊ ကချင် လွတ်မြောက်ရေးတပ်မတော် (KIA) ကို စတင်တည်ထောင်ကာ ဦးဆောင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ကချင် အမျိုးသား ခေါင်းဆောင်များဖြစ်ကြသော KIO/ KIA ဥက္ကဋ္ဌ စစ်ဦးစီးချုပ် ဗိုလ်ချုပ် GOC – Lahtaw Zau Seng ၊ ဒုတိယ စစ်ဦးစီးချုပ် VCS – Lahtaw Zau Tu နှင့် အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူး Salang Kaba Pungshwi Zau Seng တို့ ကျဆုံးခဲ့ကြသည့်နေ့ကို ဂုဏ်ပြု၍ ကချင်အာဇာနည်နေ့အဖြစ် ကျင်းပခဲ့ကြပါသည်။
၃။ (၁၀-၈-၂၀၂၁) ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သည့် (၄၆) နှစ် မြောက် ကချင်အာဇာနည်နေ့တွင် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် ကျဆုံးလေပြီးသော ကချင်အမျိုးသား ခေါင်းဆောင်ကြီးများကို သတိရ အောက်မေ့ကြောင်းနှင့် ခေါင်းဆောင်ကြီးများနှင့်အတူ မွေးဖွားလာသည့် ကချင်လူမျိုးများ၏ ကိုယ်ပိုင် ပြဋ္ဌာန်းခွင့်ရရှိရေး၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ် ပေါ်ထွန်းလာရေး ရည်မှန်းချက်များ အောင်မြင်ပါစေကြောင်း လေးနက်စွာ ဆန္ဒပြုလျက် သဝဏ်လွှာ ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-08-10
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-10
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Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Kachin State, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political)
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Fighting in recent weeks has displaced some 45,000 civilians in Chin and Kachin states.
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"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..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Chin State, Kachin State, Shan State, Armed conflict in Burma -- offensives, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Armed conflict in Shan State - general articles, Internal displacement/forced migration in Chin State, Internal displacement/forced migration of Kachin, Internal displacement/forced migration of Shan. Palaung and Wa villagers, Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Several Groups, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Description:
"Forces of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of the ethnic factions opposed to Myanmar’s coup, attacked military positions at the northwestern jade mining town of Hkamti on Saturday, local media reported.
The attack marks an advance into new territory by the KIA at a time Myanmar has been plunged into chaos since the army seized power on Feb. 1, detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and cut short a decade of democratic reforms.
KIA fighters attacked an army post at Hkamti township in the Sagaing region early on Saturday, the Irrawaddy and Mizzima online publications said. Pictures showed columns of dark smoke rising from what they said was the scene of the attack.
KIA spokesman Naw Bu told Reuters he was aware of the attack but could give no details. Reuters was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment on the reports.
"The fighting is still ongoing. I can still hear the gunshots," Mizzima quoted one resident as saying.
It said the site attacked was near a mining venture that involves the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd. conglomerate.
Reuters was unable to confirm the reports independently.
Since the coup, open conflict resumed between the army and the KIA, which has been fighting for greater autonomy for the Kachin people for some six decades and has voiced support for anti-junta protesters.
Mizzima said the army was using jets in attacks on the KIA at Hkamti, a town on the Chindwin river in a remote region rich in jade and gold that lies about 50 km (30 miles) from the border with India.
The army has carried out numerous bombing attacks on KIA positions in recent weeks and has also clashed with ethnic armies in the east and west of Myanmar.
Security forces have killed at least 812 people since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group. The military disputes this figure and says at least two dozen members of the security forces have also been killed.
The army seized power alleging fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. The then electoral commission had rejected its accusations. On Friday, local media quoted an official of the new electoral commission appointed by the junta as saying there was a plan to dissolve the NLD..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Armed conflict in Kachin State - human rights violations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Title: UNICEF statement on media reports alleging misuse of UNICEF-provided supplies in Kachin State
Description:
"UNICEF is aware of media reports alleging that UNICEF-supplied soap bars and cloth masks have been used by local militias to recruit civilians in Kachin state. UNICEF is highly concerned about these reports of unauthorised use of UNICEF-provided supplies and is urgently investigating. UNICEF supplies, including soap bars and masks, are distributed for the express purpose of promoting the health and wellbeing of children and the use of these supplies for any other purpose is unacceptable.
UNICEF works with local and international NGO partners in Kachin State to distribute large volumes of critical supplies throughout Kachin State and across Myanmar, reaching hundreds of thousands of children and families across the country. UNICEF has strict protocols in place to ensure that supplies reach the intended beneficiaries and reports of misappropriation or misuse are rare. UNICEF is investigating the current reports and will take appropriate action in response..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-05-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: resources and organisations, Kachin State
Language:
more
Topic:
Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar military
Sub-title:
The junta has reportedly not been able to recapture any of the camps that they have lost to the Kachin forces
Topic:
Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar military
Description:
"The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has seized at least 10 of the junta’s army bases since fighting escalated with the Myanmar military following the February 1 coup, according to local sources.
Clashes between the KIA and the regime’s armed forces have been ongoing since early March, when the KIA began to launch offensives to capture military bases and police stations in the Kachin State townships of Hpakant, Mogaung, Waingmaw, Putao and Tanai, as well as in northern Shan State.
Among the locations since overtaken by the KIA are the Alaw Bum and Ywathit military outposts in Momauk Township, as well as one police base; the Tan Khawn and Aungbalay bases in Hpakant; and the Nambyu base in Tanai.
“The KIA raided and seized around 10 bases, including small ones,” a Myitkyina resident and military observer said, adding that Kachin forces continue to maintain control over some locations, and others they destroyed. “They set fire to the military bases that they did not continue to occupy, so now neither force is at those,” the individual added.
He said that the military junta had not been able to recapture any of the camps they lost.
KIA information officer Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on April 21 that Kachin forces had seized some bases belonging to the junta, but that further details were unavailable, with fighting ongoing in multiple locations.
Much of the regime’s focus has been on regaining control of the strategic Alaw Bum hilltop base in Dawphoneyang sub-township of Momauk.
Since April 11, the junta has carried out repeated airstrikes against the KIA in an attempt to drive them out of Alaw Bum and areas controlled by KIA’s Brigades 8 and 9, but the military has reportedly suffered heavy casualties in the offensive, according to KIA sources.
These sources have said that hundreds of Myanmar military troops, including battalion commanders, were killed in the fighting, and at least one whole battalion– LIB 320– was wiped out.
Myanmar Now has not been able to independently verify these casualties.
A KIA officer told Myanmar Now that, at the time of reporting, more than 1,000 junta soldiers had been airlifted to Momauk Township as reinforcements.
Locals have noted that since a previous 17-year ceasefire with the Myanmar military broke down in 2011, the KIA had been largely fighting on the defensive; only since the coup had they started engaging in offensives against Myanmar’s armed forces.
“It is like the KIA is attacking places that they used to control in the past. The tension can only escalate from here,” a resident of Hpakant said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Political role of the Tatmadaw, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Opposition to the military’s coup has boosted ethnic armed groups, creating a new challenge to its lucrative jade and gems business
Description:
"Life in Myanmar’s jade-producing regions was always difficult and precarious but since the military seized power from the civilian government on February 1, it has become even more dangerous.
In Kachin State’s Hpakant township, which has the world’s largest and most lucrative jade mines, there are more soldiers and police, access to mining sites has become more difficult and local markets have stopped operating.
“Many places are dangerous to dig jade now. There are only a few places where we can dig by hand or small machine,” said Sut Naw, a local miner who preferred to use a pseudonym for security reasons.
Police and soldiers are now guarding company compounds, he added, patrolling roads day and night. They also stop people on the streets or in their vehicles, checking for jade and other valuables and searching through people’s phones for evidence of resistance to the coup.
“I have seen many zombie movies, but never realised that I would be living in a similar environment,” he said. “People don’t go out at all unless they have to.”
The military has long dominated Myanmar’s jade industry and continues to rake in immense profits. Myanmar’s annual jade and gems emporium, held from April 1 to 10, brought in $6.5m on the sixth day alone, according to state media.....Lucrative resource: In 2015, the environmental watchdog Global Witness valued Myanmar’s jade industry at $31bn and described it as possibly the “biggest natural resource heist in modern history.” Identifying the Tatmadaw and armed elites as the industry’s biggest profiteers, the exploitation of jade was “an appalling crime that poses a serious threat to democracy and peace in Myanmar,” it said.
Keel Dietz, a Myanmar policy adviser with Global Witness, told Al Jazeera that with the Tatmadaw now in total control over the formal governance of natural resources, they were likely to step up that exploitation.
“There is a huge risk that the military, in their desperate efforts to maintain control, will look to the country’s natural resource wealth to sustain their rule, to buy weapons, and enrich themselves,” he said.
Escalating clashes between the Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of an ethnic armed group in the resource-rich northern state and the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have raised questions over the control over the jade mines.
Before a 1994 ceasefire, the Kachin Independence Organization, which has been fighting for federal rights to self-determination since 1961, controlled most of the mines and local people were able to enjoy a share of the wealth through small-scale mining activities. The KIA is its armed wing.
The ceasefire saw most of the jade-mining region nationalised under a military government known for exploiting resources without regard for the social and environmental consequences.
The state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise took control over the regulation of mining activity and issuing licences, which it signed over to itself and to companies that benefitted its interests, including proxy companies, companies run by military cronies and those connected to armed actors including the United Wa State Army, which runs its own special administrative region on the China border and has a history of links to drug trafficking.
These companies levelled mountains, dug enormous trenches and dumped waste with impunity.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants flocked to the area, dreaming of digging their way to prosperity but found themselves scavenging through company waste heaps; if they found a big stone, it was confiscated by soldiers.
The natural environment was destroyed, landslides and mining accidents claimed hundreds of lives, and drug abuse skyrocketed – all while the Tatmadaw pocketed handsome profits.
Shortly after winning elections in 2015, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to reform the industry and in August 2016, suspended the renewal of mining licences and the issuance of new ones.
But companies bypassed the suspensions with impunity, and the NLD government was widely criticised by rights groups for failing to bring meaningful changes to the jade industry. In July 2020, more than 170 people were buried in a landslide in a Hpakant jade mine.
“The government and military have never respected natural resources,” said Ah Shawng,* a land and Indigenous rights activist in Hpakant. “They extract resources as they wish and only for themselves. .. Our natural resources are all disappearing and being destroyed.”
But since the coup, resistance to centralised policies and the exploitation of ethnic people and the land and resources in their states appears to be rising.....Shifting allegiances: The 2008 military-drafted constitution, which centralised land and resource management at the union level and entrenched Tatmadaw power, was abolished on March 31 by officials forced out by the military. In its place, they put forward an interim Federal Democracy Charter.
Mainstream support for armed resistance to military rule has also increased, as the Tatmadaw arrests thousands and indiscriminately shoots civilians. Some 739 people have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is tracking the violence.
With ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, in a position to offer protection and help fight back against the generals, ethnic minorities’ struggles for self-determination under a federal system, which were once largely ignored by the majority Bamar public, are now increasingly popular. Pro-KIA demonstrations have been held across Kachin State and even in central Myanmar, while the number of recruits is rising.
Although the KIA and Tatmadaw have been at war since the ceasefire collapsed in 2011, fighting had slowed since 2018.
But since the coup conflict has escalated. Clashes have been taking place nearly every day. The KIA, so far, appears to have the upper hand – it has taken several Tatmadaw bases and claims to have obliterated entire battalions, killing hundreds of soldiers.
Some of the most intense fighting has occurred in and around Hpakant, where Ah Shawng, the local rights activist who also prefers to use a pseudonym for her security, says most locals support the KIA.
“Now, when [junta] forces harm people, the KIA protects and stands with us,” she said, adding that the KIA had been successful in driving out some security forces from the area.
On March 28, the KIA killed about 30 policemen who had raided a jade mining site operated by the Taut Pa Kyal mining company, according to Kachin State-based media reports.
The company, according to a BBC Burmese article, is backed by the Kyaw Naing company, which has 64 licenced mining sites and failed to disclose a military crony among its beneficial owners in 2020. Days later, a photo circulated on social media of a police station, allegedly at another company jade mining site in Hpakant, bearing a white flag of surrender to the KIA. Al Jazeera contacted the KIO to verify the incidents but they declined to comment on matters related to Hpakant.
The KIA may be fighting to gain control of other areas as well – including some areas beyond Kachin State.
Local news agency Myanmar Now reported on April 15 that the KIA and Tatmadaw had clashed in Mogok, a city in Mandalay region hundreds of miles from Kachin State.
Mogok’s mines possess the world’s most valuable rubies, as well as other lucrative gemstones. On April 16, a group of youth in Mogok staged a pro-KIA march and drew a large “Welcome KIA” banner on the street. The next day, the military forces gunned down at least two people in the city.....Sanctions, import bans: The United States has already imposed sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise, as well as on two military holding companies, Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC). This week, the European Union also added MEHL and MEC to its sanctions list.
Dietz of Global Witness told Al Jazeera that while the sanctions were “hugely important,” they were likely to have only a limited effect on the jade sector without the support of China, which serves as the primary market for Myanmar’s jade, a highly prized luminous green stone.
“Global Witness encourages the international community to place import bans on all jade and coloured gemstones coming from Myanmar,” he said. He also expressed concern that as the Tatmadaw finds itself squeezed of funds, it might try sell off resource concessions in exchange for fast cash. “The international community should make it clear to commodity trading firms and other investors in natural resources that now is not the time to be making large new resource deals in Myanmar – the military regime is not a legitimate government, and should not be allowed to sell away Myanmar’s remaining mineral wealth to sustain itself,” he said.
Tu Hkawng the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation under the newly-formed interim National Unity Government running in parallel to the generals’ administration, told Al Jazeera that it was time to bring natural resource management back into the hands of the local people.
Appointed on April 16, he has already begun engaging with local stakeholders to reform natural resource management policy through the lens of Indigenous rights.
“We are trying to build a collective leadership … to engage more with the grassroots-level community and solve the problems together,” he said. “This is a bottom-up approach. In order to achieve it, we have to build a network with every stakeholder and collaborate.”
He hopes that by addressing natural resource governance, the civil wars that have plagued the country for the past 70 years can finally be brought to an end.
“Every ethnic group has the right to manage and benefit from the natural resources on its own land. Right now we don’t have that,” he said. “If everyone gets to govern their own land, we won’t have to fight any more.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Kachin State, Economic activities of the Myanmar Military, Business and the Military, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Illegal Economy - general, Anti-coup protesters, Rail Workers strike, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Sub-title:
explains findings from a recent public opinion survey of Kachin in Myanmar.
Description:
"What are Kachin’s attitudes toward their country of citizenship? To what extent do they feel attached (Burmese: Tan yaw zin, Jinghpaw: Myit magyep kap ai) to it? These questions about ethnic minorities are relevant not just to the Kachin, but instead, underlie larger issues of national unity in Myanmar. The answers to these questions reveal the doubts and mental reservations that Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, such as the Kachin, feel about the political community they belong to.
Between 2018 and 2019, I conducted qualitative interviews and collected original survey data to answer these questions about Kachin’s attitudes toward Myanmar. The data reveals that the answers depend on understandings about how inferences are drawn, the limitations of utilizing quantitative and qualitative data, and how different types of data might complement one another.
Most surprisingly, I found that qualitative interviews and survey data produced differing results. According to my interviews with several Kachin activists, religious leaders, and Baptist youths, Kachin feel a relatively weak attachment and harbor, more or less, unfavorable attitudes toward Myanmar, perhaps due to the renewed armed conflict with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the recent increase in Kachin ethnonationalism. In contrast, according to the survey data, Kachin exhibit relatively high national pride in being citizens of Myanmar and a relatively strong attachment to Myanmar. How can we make sense of these divergent answers? I suggest several explanations that reveal the limitations of my qualitative and quantitative data. Ultimately, my analysis suggests that the divergence most likely resulted from limitations in my qualitative approach, which glossed over diversity within the Kachin community..."
Source/publisher:
"Teacircleoxford" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-07-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) warned civilians in northern Shan State’s Kutkai this week that clashes could erupt anytime in the area between the ethnic armed group and the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw.
Since June 1, the Myanmar military and the KIA have clashed violently in Kutkai five times. The township has also seen clashes between the Myanmar military and a KIA ally, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
“[More] clashes can break out anytime. [Civilians] need to be very careful,” KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy.
Clashes broke out on June 6 and 7 in Kutkai between the Myanmar military and the KIA, and another round of violence took place from Tuesday to Thursday, creating a climate of fear among Kutkai residents.
Dozens of people taking shelter at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Zup Awng Village in Kutkai had returned to their villages to farm and search for food, as their community has seen a shortage of food due to COVID-19. The renewed fighting on Wednesday forced around 30 of them to flee back to the camp.
On Thursday, Myanmar military troops reportedly forced five locals in Kutkai to serve as guides for them, holding them until the evening. There was no fighting on Friday as of midday, according to local residents.
The fighting in Kutkai has erupted despite the fact that the Myanmar military has declared a ceasefire due to COVID-19, which is in effect until August 31.
“There was a clash with the KIA around 9 a.m. on Thursday some 2,500 meters from Namhu Village to the west of the Hsenwi-Kutkai Road,” Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy.
He claimed that clashes took place because KIA troops trespassed into territories controlled by the Myanmar military.
But the KIA said it has not reached any agreement with the Myanmar military about troop deployments as it is still in discussions with the Myanmar government and military about signing a bilateral ceasefire agreement..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-06-19
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Armed conflict in Kachin State - ceasefires and ceasefire talks
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The ninth instalment in our travel series about wild swimming spots takes us to Myanmar’s northernmost state, a land of ethnic diversity, impenetrable jungle and… tubing.
Description:
"Kachin State is famous for Myitsone and manau festivals, but also contains vast expanses of impenetrable jungle wilderness, a large variety of ethnic groups and even the country’s very own section of the Himalayas. So, I hear you ask? Okay – it also possesses a range of fairly special water-centric excursions, so next time you make it that far north do yourself a favour and add at least a couple of them to your itinerary.
INDAWGYI LAKE
You don’t have to be a devout wild swimmer to enjoy Myanmar’s largest natural lake – it’s an essential Myanmar travel destination in its own right. You can rent kayaks and bamboo bicycles, visit hot springs, and sign up for a range of different boating tours. While all of that comes heartily recommended, nothing beats heading for the middle of the lake at sunset, and diving headfirst into those deep, deep waters.
MYITKYINA
Myitsone
About 90 minutes north of Mandalay, two rivers that wind down from the Himalayas – the Mali Kha and the N’Mai Kha – converge to form one giant super river, the Ayeyarwady. The current is pretty brutal away from the shallows so I can’t really recommend swimming here. What you can do though is rent a boat (K20,000) for a 15-minute spin around the river(s). That, and renting out a traditional Kachin outfit, and posing like a total dork in front of the confluence..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Water resources of Burma/Myanmar, Society and Culture, Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
more
Topic:
Kachin State, Rawang, ethnic issues, manau, Kachin, language, culture, conflict
Sub-title:
A dispute over how to name the Kachin State Day Manau Festival in Myitkyina has revealed fissures in Kachin’s multi-ethnic society.
Topic:
Kachin State, Rawang, ethnic issues, manau, Kachin, language, culture, conflict
Description:
"AS A CHILD, Khang would eagerly look forward to Kachin State Day on January 10 and the accompanying manau dancing in the state capital, Myitkyina. This year, that feeling all but disappeared, said Khang, now aged 26.
“I feel like Kachin State Day is just for show. The celebration doesn’t come from the bottom of our heart,” said Khang, who is from the Rawang ethnic group in Kachin. “We Kachin are lacking harmony… It’s like there is something between us, that we are not all the same.”
The festival planned for January 5-12 this year was to be the first Kachin State Day celebration initiated by Kachin society, rather than the government, since conflict resumed between the Kachin Independence Army and the Tatmadaw in 2011. The event, commemorated with traditional dancing around the six pillars that stand in Myitkyina’s Kachin National Manau Park, is known popularly as the Manau Festival.
Discord leading up to this year’s Kachin State Day event, however – including a cancellation and last-minute resumption – dampened the spirits of many Kachin.
The dispute, which stemmed from disagreement over what to call Kachin State Day in Jinghpaw, the Kachin lingua franca, touched a nerve within Kachin’s diverse society and prompted a broader debate about Kachin identity and who gets to define it.
Anthropologist of Kachin society Mr Laur Kiik describes Kachin as a multi-ethnic nation, integrating people from six or more ethnic groups to widely varying degrees. Debate over the names and boundaries of a Kachin identity, he said, has existed for decades; and Kachin State Day manau festivals have previously brought these debates out into the open.
Though the Myanmar government recognises 12 Kachin “sub-groups”, the Kachin National Association of Tradition and Culture, or Wunpawng Myusha Htunghking Hpung Ginjaw (known by the clipped acronym WHG), represents six linguistically distinct groups – Jinghpaw, Lachid, Lhaovo, Lisu, Rawang and Zaiwa..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Languages of Burma - general, Languages of Burma/Myanmar, Society and Culture, Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political)
Language:
more
Topic:
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, ROHINGYA, KACHIN, MIN AUNG HLAING, TATMADAW, ETHNIC MINORITIES, ARAKAN ARMY, AUNG SAN, BURMESE
Topic:
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, ROHINGYA, KACHIN, MIN AUNG HLAING, TATMADAW, ETHNIC MINORITIES, ARAKAN ARMY, AUNG SAN, BURMESE
Description:
"January 4 marked the 72nd anniversary of Myanmar’s independence from Britain. The civil war in which the country – a patchwork of diverse ethnic regions, with mutually incomprehensible languages, unerasable regional identities and distinct political histories – was born has come a full circle.
It is noteworthy that modern Myanmar was not the creation of nationalists. It was born out of the external shock of the Second World War and the dissolution of external colonial powers. Few Myanmar nationalist historians have acknowledged this historical fact, for it fundamentally and effectively undermines the nationalist historiography that typically glorifies and exaggerates the contributions of the ethnic-Burmese (Bama) nationalists – particularly State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s father and the Tatmadaw (military), originally a fascist proxy created by Japan as part of its wartime design against British rule in colonial Burma. Today, being an important site of the geopolitical rivalries among external powers, including China, India, the US and Japan, coupled with multiple domestic ethnic fault lines, Myanmar faces the very real prospect of another external shock, more than at any point in the country’s seven-decade post-independence history..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Kachin State, The Military's political role, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Far from the front lines of the US-China trade war, the resource-rich Kachin is the scene of a familiar struggle for influence between the two superpowers...China has invested heavily, but for some locals development has come at a cost
Description:
"While the US-China trade war plays to the audience on the global stage, behind the scenes the two superpowers are engaged in a unique tug of war for influence in one of the world’s more remote corners.
Myitkyina, the capital of Myanmar’s Kachin State about 1,200km north of Yangon, rarely features on tourist bucket lists. Despite its verdant scenery and dynamic culture and traditions, it suffers from high rates of poverty and drug addiction, and has been the scene of a conflict between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military which has displaced an estimated 100,000 people since a 17-year ceasefire collapsed in 2011. Yet recently not one, but two high-profile visitors arrived in the space of just days.
US Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel and a delegation from the US Embassy held a Myitkyina Road Show in November that included a jobs and opportunities fair, a workshop with the agricultural sector, and a meeting with veterans who fought alongside US troops in World War II. Marciel said the embassy wanted to work with the Kachin people “in support of freedom, democracy, human rights and economic progress”, and that the US was “committed to implementing development programmes in an open, transparent manner … to listen and learn”..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-12
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
China-Burma-US relations, “One Belt, One Road” initiative, International Trade, Burma/Myanmar's relationship with the Global Economy, Kachin State
Language:
more
Description:
"While Myanmar’s state counselor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi focused her energies last month on personally defending her country’s appalling human-rights record in The Hague, bewildering ever more erstwhile supporters for papering over atrocities, “Rape as a Weapon of War and the Women Who Are Resisting: A Special Report” recently released by the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) reflects a more accurate portrayal of the true nature of the ethnic conflict embroiling the long-troubled country.
“Sexual violence has become a hallmark of the prolonged civil conflict and an indisputable tactic of the Burma Army against ethnic women,” the report states. “After several failed domestic and international agreements, the Burma Army continues to rape with impunity, but women across the ethnic states are tired of living in fear.” Working with local ethnic pro-democracy groups, FBR trains, supplies, and later coordinates with teams providing humanitarian relief. After training, these teams provide essential emergency medical services, basic necessities and human-rights documentation in their home regions..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-03
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
"Burma Army troops attacked a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) battalion with assault rifles late last week, a representative of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) confirmed.
Col Naw Bu, who is in charge of the KIO’s information department, said that the military launched an attack on October 19 on the KIA’s Regiment 254, located not far from the organization’s Laiza headquarters.
“It’s the KIA’s patrolling battalion… it is located between Hpalap and Samar hill,” Col Naw Bu told NMG. “The Burma Army, which has been stationed on Samar, attacked our Battalion 254 between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on October 19. Samar belongs to Kachin State. The Burma Army shot at us from Samar hill.”
Col Naw Bu added that the assault was carried out with assault rifles, including machine guns, but not artillery.
“They shot at us with around 20 bullets. They didn’t attack us with heavy weapons,” he said, adding that he did not know why the attack took place..."
Source/publisher:
"Network Media Group" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-10-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - displacement and the humanitarian situation, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Non-Ceasefire Groups
Language:
more
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..."
Source/publisher:
US News (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-08-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Shan State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Armed conflict in Shan State - general articles, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
Language:
more
Description:
"Ethnic language teachers who are working in government schools in Sumprabum Township in Kachin State’s Putao District say they have not received a salary since the start of the school year in June.
“As of today, we haven’t received a salary since school started. I teach at school everyday. I have taught at school since it began in June,” high school Jinghpaw language instructor Zau Nan told NMG.
Sumprabum town, where Zau Nan works, has one high school and nearly 10 primary and middle schools. There are reportedly 10 ethnic language teachers working in the town’s government schools, teaching Jinghpaw and Lisu languages since 2016.
“Even though the government has given a promise, we have yet to receive our salaries. Even though we haven’t received our salaries, we are still teaching children in school,” Zau Nan explained. “If I don’t teach, I am so worried that our Kachin children will not be able to read our language. But if I wasn’t a teacher, I could afford to support my family. Now I cannot afford to support my family. Now I am working at another job after school hours because I need to support my children and my family.”
According to ethnic literature and culture organizations, while the government has given permission for them to teach their languages in public schools, proper government assistance and compensation has not been provided..."
Source/publisher:
"Network Media Group" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-10-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Other Tibeto-Burmese languages (Zo, Karen etc), Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Kachin State
Language:
more
Sub-title:
State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday appealed to people to be open-minded about the stalled Myitsone Dam Project in Kachin State.
Description:
"She said her government cannot just do what it wants with contracts and projects started by the previous government, apparently referring to the Myitsone Dam, which was signed with the Chinese by the government of U Than Shwe.
The State Counsellor warned the country will face isolation if each government that comes to power fails to respect agreements entered into by previous administrations.
“If we think we are right in doing something, we must have confidence to do it without being afraid of being hated. We are in politics not to be loved but for the sake of the country,” she told residents during a visit to Pyay township in Bago Region.
She said the government will decide on big projects, including Myitsone Dam, by considering their economic, social, political and environmental effects.
“It will be wrong if only one thing is considered,” she said, adding that the government’s decision would be transparent and the public would know all the reasons for the decision.
“People should think in a comprehensive and open-minded fashion,” she said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-03-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Dams and other projects on the Irrawaddy and its tributories, By Aung San Suu Kyi (Statements, Speeches, Writings, Interviews), Kachin State
Language:
more
Description:
"Rakhine: New small internal displacements were reported during August due to the ongoing armed conflict. In northern Rakhine State, WFP’s emergency relief assistance continued to reach 97,700 conflict-affected people including 1,900 newly displaced people from 165 Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu villages in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. In addition, WFP reached over 7,800 children under 5 years and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) through nutrition interventions.
In central Rakhine State, WFP continued to assist 110,800 food-insecure people including 2,200 who were newly displaced through emergency relief food assistance. In addition, WFP extended its lean season support to over 4,400 most vulnerable people in Rathedaung Township.
WFP’s nutrition assistance reached 5,200 PLW and 24,600 children under five years of age.
Kachin: WFP provided emergency food assistance to 43,700 displaced and flood-affected people in Kachin State using cash and E-Money transfers. Over 1,860 PLW and children under 2 received nutrition assistance from WFP.
Shan: Armed clashes have flared up in Shan State since mid-August causing over 9,000 temporary internal displacements. Urgent needs of the displaced people were covered by the assistance from the Government and local well-wishers. WFP emergency relief distributions continued to support 7,300 displaced populations from northern Shan State. Hampered by the armed clashes,
WFP could not reach about 8,000 targeted people in conflict-affected villages of the KoKang Self-Administered Zone. Over 1,400 PLW and children under 2 received nutrition assistance in Shan State..."
Source/publisher:
World Food Programme (WFP) (Italy) via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-09-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
WFP (World Food Programme), Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Public Health, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Kachin State, Shan State
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
187.02 KB
more
Description:
"A trio of ethnic armed groups have escalated their fight with the military in Myanmar’s Shan State. This alliance has long been outside the country’s peace process. With China’s help, the government should pursue bilateral ceasefires – and longer-term rapprochement – with the three organisations.
What’s new? On 15 August, an alliance of ethnic armed groups staged coordinated attacks against strategic targets in northern Myanmar. The offensive left up to fifteen people dead, and clashes reportedly continue in the northern part of Shan State, creating concerns for civilians’ safety.
Why did it happen? The three ethnic armed groups behind the attacks have been largely excluded from the peace process for the past five years. In recent months, the government has proposed bilateral ceasefires to the groups but has set unrealistic demands and accompanied the offers with military pressure.
Why does it matter? The attacks mark a serious escalation in Shan State’s conflict. They represent a rejection of bilateral ceasefire terms that the Myanmar government has proposed to the armed groups. While the Myanmar military has not yet responded with significant force, the brunt of mounting violence will inevitably fall on civilians.
Myanmar’s military has not retaliated in the heavy-handed way many observers expected, given the attacks’ provocative nature. Instead, it has focused on securing key infrastructure and reopening the highway to the border with China. Contrary to most expectations, the military has also extended its unilateral ceasefire from 31 August to 21 September. The government negotiating team has moved quickly to resume talks with the groups, with meetings held on 31 August and 17 September. On 9 September, the Brotherhood Alliance announced a one-month ceasefire but also warned that it would retaliate if attacked. China, which wields strong influence in the border areas and over some of the groups, has also been encouraging dialogue and de-escalation.
The Myanmar military could still decide to strike back, however. A counteroffensive would have dire consequences for the area’s civilian population, particularly ethnic Ta’ang (also referred to as Palaung), whom government forces suspect of providing support to the TNLA. Myanmar’s military and, to a lesser extent, the three ethnic armed groups have a history of human rights violations. Already, there are reports of indiscriminate shelling and mortar fire, as well as attacks on local aid groups’ vehicles and civilian cars and trucks on the highway. Thousands of residents have fled their homes, some pre-emptively out of fear of being targeted by forces on either side. Humanitarian access, which is already constrained, is likely to become more difficult..."
Source/publisher:
"International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium) via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-09-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Shan State, Kachin State, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Armed conflict in Shan State - ceasefires and ceasefire talks, Non-Ceasefire Groups
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Instability, conflict since peace talks stalled in Kachin state have impoverished many, and some have turned to drugs.
Description:
"In the mountainous region of Myanmar's northern-most Kachin state eight years of displacement and conflict has left many civilians distressed and poverty-stricken.
A fragile ceasefire underlies the ongoing instability there while some have turned to drugs because of stress and depression..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-09-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Burma: opium and heroin, Burma: drug production and trafficking, Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"Ethnic Kachin leaders from three political parties in Myanmar’s northernmost state have met with China’s ambassador to the country to discuss the faltering peace process in which the Myanmar government is trying to get its military and nearly a dozen ethnic armies to agree to a permanent cease-fire, a party representative said Monday.
They also discussed China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a controversial Chinese-backed mega-dam project, and Chinese laborers working illegally in Kachin state, said G. Aung Khan, chairman of the Kachin Democratic Party (KDP), who participated in the meeting.
Ambassador Hong Liang met with the party heads on Dec. 29 in Kachin capital Myitkyina after the same Kachin leaders met with Dan Chugg, the UK’s ambassador to Myanmar, and Scot Marciel, the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, he said.
“Hong Liang had said it is a good time to work on the peace process,” he said. “It seems China can handle Myanmar’s peace process, but we want other countries to be involved.”
G. Aung Khan also said that China’s involvement in Myanmar’s peace process, a key project of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian-led government, is based on its own self-interest in mega-projects tied to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese President Xi Jinping’s U.S. $1 trillion global infrastructure-spending program..."
Source/publisher:
"Belt & Road News" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-01-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, “One Belt, One Road” initiative, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Burma's economic relations with China, Other Special Economic Zones, China-Burma relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s Kachin state has been rocked by huge protests this week against the US $ 3.6 billon Myitsone dam project to be entirely financed by China.
The biggest protest rally took place in Manaw Park in the state capital town of Myitkyina of Kachin state on Thursday after more than 10,000 people from different parts of the state marched into Myitkyina.
The protesters, mostly from Myitkyiba and Waingmaw townships, were led by Kachin political and civil society groups, religious leaders from the powerful Baptist Church and the Buddhist Sangha and the local youth groups.
They called for a complete halt to the China-financed work on the Myitsone dam on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River.
The protests have been provoked by reports of fresh Chinese attempts to pressurize the Aung San Suu Kyi led NLD government to resume the 6000 MW hydel project..."
Source/publisher:
"Northeast Now" (India)
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Assessment of hydropower projects in Burma/Myanmar, Dams and other hydropower projects (global, regional), Dams and other projects on the Irrawaddy and its tributories, Kachin State
Language:
more
Description:
"A group of politically active Kachin gathering in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina says they were very alarmed by the Myanmar army’s decision to send a convoy of military tanks and other military vehicles down the same road they were gathering on. In what the activists say was a clear attempt to intimidate them. The convoy of about 10 vehicles appeared on a major road in Myitkiyna on September 9th as Kachin youth and representatives of a Kachin opposition party were gathering.
“I think they rule the country with an iron fist. If something happens they show off their military power. It should not be like this. Especially when we are going to build a federal nation,” said Duwa Gumgrawng Awng Hkam, a long time Kachin activist and the vice-president of the newly formed Kachin State’s People’s Party.
Another Myitkyina based activist told KNG he considered the action to be a threat to the public. “People were shocked when tanks came into downtown. In other words its threatening people. From a peace perspective, it deviates from the peace process. Do they really want peace? People can ask questions about this” said Tsaji from the Kachin Development Network Group (KDNG).
Lum Zawng, the head of the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU), also took issue with the convoy which occurred a day before a high profile court case filed by the army against the head of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) for recent public comments he made about the military to US President Donald Trump. The suit against the KBC chief has since been dropped.
“I think it wasn’t for the security of people but it’s showing off their military power. Because there is a court hearing today at the township court for the case involving the KBC chairman and the army. They intentionally showed off their military power to threaten people,” explained Lum Zawng. Lum Zawng added that he saw no reason for the military to enter Myitkyina’s downtown or patrol the downtown area..."
Source/publisher:
"BNI Multimedia Group" via Kachin News Group
Date of publication:
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
more
Description:
"A court in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, has penalised the organisers of the first demonstrations in the city to be held by youth displaced by fighting since a ceasefire collapsed in 2011.
Nhkum La Nu, 20, and Malang Hka Mai, 50, were on September 10 each sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment or a fine of K20,000, and opted to pay the fine. The protests were held over three days, on September 5, 6 and 9.
La Nu and Hka Mai, who are both IDPs, were convicted under section 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law over the display of unauthorised placards at a demonstration in the state capital on September 5. Two of the offending placards read “War is not the answer” and “We hate war”.
They were also convicted under the same offence because of slogans on T-shirts that condemned attempts by the Tatmadaw to stifle freedom of expression.
The T-shirts were worn by members of Yangon-based freedom of expression advocacy group Athan, who travelled to Myitkyina to protest at the township courthouse against the Tatmadaw's complaint against Kachin Baptist Convention President Reverend Hkalam Samson. After the complaint was withdrawn on September 9, the Athan members joined the final day of the IDP demonstration instead.
La Nu said that within hours of the September 5 protest, he and Hka Mai were summoned to Myitkyina police station and told they would be charged under a complaint filed by a township police officer because prior approval had not been given to some of the placards displayed at the event, which was attended by about 250 people..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication:
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Discrimination against the Kachin, Kachin State, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political)
Language:
more
Description:
"Kachin Baptist Convention president Reverend Hkalam Samson has thanked the prayers of his supporters at home and abroad for the military’s decision to drop its complaint against him for remarks he made to United States President Donald Trump.
In a video posted to the KBC’s social media page on September 10, a day after the case was withdrawn, Hkalam Samson also urged the Kachin community’s different Christian denominations to remain united, and to keep praying in solidarity for the future of the nation.
Tensions have been high in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina in recent days, with a convoy of military vehicles containing armed soldiers rumbling past demonstrators near the Myitkyina Township Court shortly before the court was due to announce if the case against Hkalam Samson would proceed.
The complaint was filed by the Northern Command’s Lieutenant-Colonel Than Htike on August 26 over comments made by Hkalam Samson when survivors of religious persecution from throughout the world met Trump at the White House on July 17.
Samson told the US president that that there was no religious freedom in Myanmar and that oppression and torture were common.
He also described as “helpful” a decision the US announced the previous day to sanction Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and three other senior officers over what the US State Department called “gross human rights violations” during the “ethnic cleansing” against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. The decision bans the four officers and members of their families from travelling to the US..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication:
2019-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Religious freedom: reports of violations in Burma, Kachin State, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political)
Language:
more
Description:
"In 2018, Burmese government
troops stepped up their war in
Kachin State, further driving out
indigenous populations and expanding control over the area’s
rich natural resources and strategic
trading routes. The fiercest offensive
was fought in northwest Kachin
State’s Hugawng Valley, to secure
the historic Ledo Road linking India
and China, which is part of China’s
Belt and Road Initiative, and to seize
hugely lucrative amber mines.
Kachin State amber is a global
treasure: it is the only type in the
world formed during the age of the
dinosaurs. “Blood amber” is the
Chinese name of the extremely rare,
deep red variety of the gem found
only in the Hugawng Valley – a
name which resonates grimly with
local residents who have been driven
out by the recent offensive.
The amber mining boom began
in 2010, due to demand from the
Chinese market, causing tens of
thousands of migrant miners from
across Burma to flock to the region.
In 2015, discovery of a 99-millionyear-old feathered dinosaur tail in
Hugawng Valley amber further
fuelled the trade..."
Source/publisher:
"Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG)"
Date of publication:
2019-08-19
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Armed conflict in Kachin State - economic factors associated with the conflict
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
17.21 MB 1.33 MB
more
Description:
"Three ethnic Kachin political parties said on Monday they sought the “permanent suspension” of the multi-billion dollar Myitsone Dam, discrediting a Chinese embassy statement that implied support for the divisive project among the state’s political leaders.
Manam Tu Ja, chair of the Kachin State Democracy Party, told Frontier that the statement, which was signed by the KSDP, the Kachin Democratic Party and the Unity and Democracy Party, is a clarification of their position aimed at the Kachin people. It could also help the Chinese embassy to understand the wishes and policies of the three parties, he said.
“We have no plan yet to respond directly to the Chinese embassy because some [other] parties in Kachin could have said that they support the project,” he said.
The embassy’s statement on January 13 concerned a December visit by Chinese ambassador Mr Hong Liang to Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital, where he held discussions with political leaders and social organisations on the peace process and IDP resettlement, the anti-drug campaign in northern Myanmar, and investment.
Kachin political leaders and social organisations had a “positive attitude” towards the 6000-megawatt Myitsone Dam, the statement said. It said they assured Hong Liang that “local people of Kachin State do not oppose the Myitsone hydropower project; It is some individuals and social organizations from outside that oppose the project”.
But Reverend Hkalam Samson, chair of the Kachin Baptist Convention, who met Hong Liang during the visit, told Frontier that the statement was untrue..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication:
2019-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Assessment of hydropower projects in Burma/Myanmar, Dams and other hydropower projects (global, regional), Dams and other projects on the Irrawaddy and its tributories, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Burma's economic relations with China, China-Burma relations
Language:
more
Description:
"The Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) has dropped a lawsuit against an ethnic Kachin religious leader who discussed religious freedom with US President Donald Trump and asked him to support Myanmar’s transition to “genuine” democracy and federalism at the White House last month.
On Monday, Myitkyina Township Court judge U Than Tun said the plaintiff, Lieutenant-Colonel Than Htike, had withdrawn his legal complaint against the Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samson, who is president of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC). Based in Kachin State, the group represents Myanmar’s mostly Christian Kachin ethnic group.
U Than Tun told the media that the court would not proceed with any legal prosecution against Dr. Samson, in accordance with the plaintiff’s will. He did not elaborate on the reason for the plaintiff’s decision.
Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samson told The Irrawaddy on Monday he welcomed the military’s decision to withdraw the complaint against him. He said there had been no negotiations between the KBC and the military aimed at resolving the case..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2019-09-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Topic:
Jade Mine, Kachin State, Landslides
Sub-title:
Year after year, landslides in Myanmar’s jade mines kill hundreds of workers. Authorities place profits ahead of human lives.
Topic:
Jade Mine, Kachin State, Landslides
Description:
"The Hpakant jade mining pits in Kachin state are one of Myanmar’s key natural assets. Around 300,000 migrant labourers extract US$31 billion of the precious stones annually. This is nearly half of Myanmar’s gross domestic product (GDP). The jade mines are also known for tragedy. About 807 deaths were reported in Myanmar’s jade mines between 2015 and 2018. Without the resources or means to extract the bodies, victims’ remains are rarely found, buried under deep layers of mud.
In April 2019, the latest tragedy occurred in Hpakant. It claimed at least 54 lives overnight. An abandoned mining pit, containing wastewater and discarded mining materials, collapsed. As it buckled, it dumped mud on the miners working below. Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE) investigated the incident and attributed the disaster to the instability of the earth.Hpakant’s terrain is extremely unstable. The various mining companies dump earth without any thought for risks present. To maximise space, mines are narrow and deep. These unstable structures make them a ticking time bomb for landslides. The landscape is also littered with abandoned mines, adding to its geological instability.
Since the adoption of large machinery in the mining process, environmental destruction is occurring at a faster rate. The upcoming monsoon rains from May until October will likely trigger more mudslides, causing more deaths...."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today"
Date of publication:
2019-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Gems - mining and trade
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The baseless criminal proceedings against Kachin youth leaders Seng Nu Pan and Paw Lu for their role in a gathering commemorating the war in northern Myanmar underscores the hostility to freedom of expression and assembly routinely exhibited by the Myanma
Description:
"On 10 June 2019, Myitkyina police charged Kachin youth leaders Seng Nu Pan and Paw Lu under section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act in relation to their role in organising a commemoration of the eighth anniversary of the resumption of armed conflict in Kachin State held the day before. The gathering aimed to raise awareness of the plight of internally displaced persons and included a re-enactment of an aerial bombing. The organisers reported that they had discussed the event in advance with police officers at the local station, who gave them permission to proceed with the event. However, they said that police later arrived at the event and demanded it be discontinued, citing their failure to disclose that a drama performance would occur. Following negotiations, the event was moved to another location. According to the organisers, in court, authorities testified that the youth leaders failed to notify authorities in line with section 4 of the Act.
A hearing on 26 August marked Seng Nu Pan and Paw Lu’s eleventh appearance at the Myitkyina Township Court. A ruling is expected at the next hearing on 2 September. If convicted, they face fines of up to 30,000 kyat each, 3 months’ imprisonment, or both.
Myanmar authorities have repeatedly violated the right to freedom of expression by prosecuting activists, journalists and others speaking out against government misconduct and human rights abuses. Those criticising the military have faced especially swift and severe consequences. A report by Athan, a youth-led freedom of expression organization, highlighted a dramatic increase in recent months in the number of cases initiated by the military against individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression..."
Source/publisher:
"Progressive voice" via Article 19
Date of publication:
2019-08-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Armed conflict in Kachin State - displacement and the humanitarian situation, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
more
Description:
"Kachin youth activists Pau Lu and Seng Nu Pan were sentenced to 15 days’ imprisonment by the Myitkyina Township Court in the Kachin State capital on September 2 for their role in organising a street performance to mark the eighth anniversary of the resumption of fighting in Kachin State.
The jail term was imposed after the pair declined the option of paying a K30,000 fine.
A photo of Pau Lu handing the judge a broken scale after the verdict was handed down was widely shared on Facebook.
The sentencing came after nearly three months of weekly court appearances by the pair, who were charged on June 10 by Myitkyina Township police under section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law over what police claimed was an unauthorised protest the previous day.
The event in question was a street theatre performance, which included a re-enactment of the aerial bombing of Kachin villages by the Tatmadaw. The performance was staged by youth displaced by conflict after the collapse in 2011 of a ceasefire signed by the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army in 1994.
Pau Lu and Seng Nu Pan had informed the authorities of the plan to hold the anniversary event more than 48 hours in advance, as required by law, but police arrived at the venue, Sein Mya Ayeyar Park in Myitkyina’s Yuzana Quarter, on June 9 and said the notification was incomplete because it did not mention the drama performance. After a heated argument, the event was relocated to People’s Square in downtown Myitkyina..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication:
2019-09-05
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to the judiciary (commentaries), Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Armed conflict in Kachin State - displacement and the humanitarian situation, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
more
Description:
"This History Thread is about the #Amber War in #Kachin State, #Burma #Myanmar. While Kachin St. is known as “the land of jade” other resources have been a conflict curse. Amber is the latest precious commodity to bring hardship instead of prosperity. When I visited Kachinland in 1991 a Kachin Independence Army officer remarked on my amber earrings (from Poland) “Kachin women wear earrings made of that, too.” Baltic Sea and Kachin St. are two regions where amber, fossilized tree sap that is millions of years old, is found. Amber from Kachinland is known as #Burmite. Formed between 95-108 million years ago in the #Cretaceous period, it is the oldest, hardest amber, often a dark cherry red color. Kachins traditionally wore amber jewelry, such as the pointed patlokan earrings of Hkahku women..."
Source/publisher:
"Project Maje"
Date of publication:
2018-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"This History Thread is about the #MilitaryHistory of the land of the
#Kachin people of northern Burma (Myanmar.) Fiercely independent Kachin warriors fought for and against Shans and Burmese. Kachins (Jinghpaw and other tribes) were allies of Burmese in wars against Assam and British. Many Jingphaw rulers accepted British administration in 1826 but in 1843 raiding flared up again. Britain annexed all of Burma 1885 but Kachin Triangle region continued to resist for decades, incl. 1914 uprising. WW1 Kachins in British 85th Burma Rifles won medals for bravery in Mesopotamia (Iraq.) 1930s Kachin troops helped suppress anticolonial Burmese & Wa rebellions. WW2 #Kachin land was nexus of China/Burma/India Theater. Japan invades, British retreat to India, Japan pushes north, Allies (Britain, US, China) fight to retake. India-China Ledo Rd supply rte begun 1942. Air transport over Hump (Mts.) and Flying Tigers flew above Kachinland..."
Source/publisher:
"Project Maje"
Date of publication:
2018-10-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"This History Thread is background on public protests against the war in #Kachin land, Myanmar (Burma.) Civil society groups and individuals also take other steps for peace, incl. negotiation support, conflict resolution training, collective statements, creative work, charity. Anti-war protests were impossible in Myanmar (Burma) under junta rule. Marchers in 1988 and 2007 focused on demands for democracy and economic issues. But overseas, exiled demonstrators connected the regime’s investors to oppression of ethnic groups including Karens and Mons. In 2011 war resumed after a 17 year ceasefire in Kachin State and later adjacent areas of Shan State. Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw attacked the Kachin Independence Army and its allies. Myanmar's first major public peace protests were in response to this North War...ဓ
Source/publisher:
"Project Maje"
Date of publication:
2018-05-16
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Despite a number of peace talks having been conducted between the central government and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), there is no sign of the war ceasing in Kachin state. The ongoing armed conflict has been driving thousands of civilians out of their villages. Many IDPs are now living in church supported camps along with relief from international humanitarian agencies. IDPs living in crowded camps with limited support face various obstacles as they cannot practice their livelihood anymore. Women have always been the ones who share most part of family burden and face many issues including domestic violence. In this interview, Burma Link AOC (agent of change) talks to Pausa Kaw Nan (PSK), a 44-year-old Kachin woman, in one of the IDP camps in Bhamo, Kachin State."
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Internal displacement/forced migration of Kachin, Armed conflict in Kachin State - displacement and the humanitarian situation, The Plight of Women and Children in Burma, Kachin State
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Moon Nay Li is the General Secretary of the Kachin Women?s Association Thailand (KWAT), an organisation which she joined in 2002 in order to work for her people and community. The KWAT was founded on September 9th 1999 in response to recognising the urgent need for women to organise themselves to help solve the growing social and economic problems in the Kachin State...The KWAT is very concerned that foreign aid and investment is serving to subsidise the government?s war machine. As Moon Nay Li points out; ?They (international community) are [giving] more support to the government, [but] now the government military has not stopped attacking the ethnic people.” Instead of funding the government?s offensives, ?they have to give pressure to Burmese government to have real political dialogue in our country,” says Moon Nai Li. ?They have to know that (the real) situation and also have to give pressure, not listen only to the government side. But also they have to listen to the ethnic leaders and also the ground, and CBOs and ethnic people.”
Source/publisher:
Burma Link
Date of publication:
2015-08-03
Date of entry/update:
2016-03-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Kachin (economic, social, cultural, political), Armed conflict in Kachin State - displacement and the humanitarian situation, Kachin State
Language:
English
more
Description:
Executive Summary: "This report outlines the results of the Local Governance Mapping (LGM) conducted by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of
Home Affairs (MoHA) in Kachin State from November 2014 to January 2015. Drawing on
the perceptions of the people and local governance actors, the mapping has captured the
current dynamics of governance at the front line and enables an analysis of the participation,
responsiveness and accountability for local governance and basic service provision.
The report examines processes, mechanisms and the way in which they are functioning
for development planning and participation, people?s access to basic services and the
information, transparency and accountability dimensions of local governance processes in
the four selected townships of Tanai, Putao, Momauk and Myitkyina. While the focus of
the LGM is on local governance institutions, the roles of the State and Union government
authorities and their relationships with the lower levels in a broader governance context are
also relevant and, to some extent, reflected upon in this analysis.
Kachin State occupies the northernmost area of Myanmar bordering India to the west and
China to the north and east. Kachin has the third largest land area of the 14 States and
Regions in Myanmar and has the country?s highest mountain ranges. The people living in
Kachin State belong to various ethnic groups, primarily Kachins, Bamars and Shans. The
four townships of Momauk, Myitkyina, Putao, and Tanai covered under the mapping offer a
variety of examples of issues of access and sophistication of the local economy as well as the
effects of the conflict in the state. Since 2011, Kachin State has seen the most serious of all the
armed confrontations affecting the country, and pending a lasting settlement of the decadesold
conflict, local governance systems and mechanisms will be affected by this state of affairs.
The information collected as part of the mapping and presented in the subsequent sections
must therefore be read and understood as part of the broader geographic, socio-economic,
demographic, historical and political context in which the State finds itself.
The legacies of armed conflict, ethnic mobilization and military rule inform and shape the
efforts, undertaken since 2012, of reintroducing some forms of popular participation at the
local level in Kachin State, in particular the townships and the village tracts and wards. The
degree to which Kachin State will be successful in both reflecting its own ethnic diversity
while at the same time delivering basic services in an equitable and effective manner will
depend largely on the progress made in building local governance institutions and processes
that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the local population. Given the pending
peace agreement, perceptions of safety are thus more of an indication of relative change
rather than any absolute measure. At the time of the community-level mapping in November
2014 most people felt the security situation had not worsened. The perceptions of this vary
between townships and since conflict has been more evident in Momauk, nearly half the
respondents felt the situation in the township had worsened although most people (76%)
feel secure in their immediate area. Finding a balanced solution to the underlying causes of
this conflict remains an urgent challenge for the people of Kachin State..."
Source/publisher:
UNDP Myanmar
Date of publication:
2014-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2016-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Decentralisation (Decentralization) in Burma/Myanmar, Kachin State, Governance in Burma/Myanmar
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
5.88 MB
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Description:
"Unregulated gold mining, agro-industrial farming and hydropower development in Kachin State is affecting thousands of villagers, who are suffering from environmental destruction and a loss of farmland, a Kachin rights group warned.
The People?s Foundation for Development, a NGO based in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, launched a report in Rangoon on Monday that documented ten cases in which local villagers lost their land and livelihoods to large-scale investment projects and rampant gold mining.
The group said that in recent years about 3,500 people had been forcibly evicted to make way for the suspended Myistone hydropower dam and for for the Yuzana Corporation?s massive cassava and sugarcane plantations in the remote Hukaung (also Hukawng) Valley.
Since 2006, Yuzana, with the cooperation of local authorities, has been granted 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land in the region. Much of it was reportedly confiscated from hundreds of Kachin families, while the firm allegedly also cleared large parts of a tiger reserve in the valley..."
LAWI WENG
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2013-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2013-05-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Kachin State, Gold mining and trade
Language:
English
more
Description:
a symposium on Northeast India
and the look east policy...
The Problem:
Posed by Sanjib Baruah, Visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi...
NORTHEAST INDIA IN A NEW ASIA:
Jairam Ramesh, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)...
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES OR CONTINUING STAGNATION:
Sushil Khanna, Professor of Economics and Strategic Management, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata...
WATERS OF DESPAIR, WATERS OF HOPE:
Sanjoy Hazarika, Managing Trustee, Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research, New Delhi and Guwahati...
PROSPECTS FOR TOURISM:
M.P. Bezbaruah, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India...
OPERATION HORNBILL FESTIVAL 2004:
Dolly Kikon, Member, Working Group, Northeast Peoples? Initiative, Guwahati...
GUNS, DRUGS AND REBELS:
Subir Bhaumik, East India Correspondent, BBC, Kolkata...
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:
Jayeeta Sharma, Assistant Professor of History, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA...
TERRITORIALITIES YET UNACCOUNTED:
Karin Dean, Asia Correspondent, ?Postimees?, Bangkok...
COMMUNITY, CULTURE, NATION:
Mrinal Miri, Vice Chancellor, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong...
THE TAI-AHOM CONNECTION:
Yasmin Saikia, Assistant Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA...
THE ETHNIC DIMENSION:
Samir Kumar Das, Reader, Department of Political Science, Calcutta University...
BOOKS:
Reviewed by Nandana Datta, Dulali Nag, Bodhisattva Kar, Nimmi Kurian and M.S. Prabhakara...
FURTHER READING:
Compiled by Sukanya Sharma, Fellow, Centre for Northeast India, South and Southeast Asia Studies, Guwahati...
COMMUNICATION:
Received from C.P. Bhambhri and B.K. Banerji.
Source/publisher:
Seminar magazine
Date of publication:
2005-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-05-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
It is known as the ?Road to Nowhere? or ?Ghost Road,? but there are hopes that political and strategic problems can be sidetracked to resurrect the World War II-era Ledo Road, running between India and China through Burma..."...India and China have sometimes made calls to reopen the Ledo Road. They have come from a visiting delegation from the Yunnan Provincial Chamber of Commerce at an international trade fair in Guwahati, the capital of Assam; from the Federation of Indian Export Organizations in Calcutta; and increasingly from a number of individual politicians and members of state governments in India?s northeast, especially from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Academics have also raised the issue. A handful of people are upbeat about the tourism prospects—of driving air-con jeeps across the mountains and through jungles and exotic places from India to China.
China appears to be the most prepared. It has already greatly upgraded its section of the Burma Road, built in 1937-38, into a modern, partly six-lane mountain highway..."
Karin Dean
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 11
Date of publication:
2005-11-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-05-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more