Shan Herald Agency for News |
| Fewer clashes, more IDPs in 2014: BNI report Posted: 26 May 2015 03:17 AM PDT There were fewer clashes between the Burma Army and the ethnic resistance armies, and still fewer instances of communal violence in 2014, but they were nevertheless sufficient enough reasons for more people being displaced, according to the latest report, still in manuscript form, by the Burma News International (BNI).  "This year, I'm the only one who's doing the writing," says Sai Leik, the principal author, in response to inquiry from government and activist circles. "Naturally, it takes more time." The BNI's Myanmar Peace Monitoring Program (MPM) recorded 482 clashes during the year: Kachin State 73 (68, according to Naypyitaw) Kayah State _ Karen State 13 Chin State _ Mon State 3 Rakhine State 3 Shan State 148 Pegu/Bago Region 1 Tenasserim/Taninthayi 1 Compared to 2013, it was considerably less, according to Lt-Gen Myint Soe, Chief of the Bureau of Special Operations (BSO) #1 for northern Burma, who spoke at the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) meeting in March in Rangoon. "From 2011-2013, we had more than 1,450 clashes (483 clashes per year), with the KIO/KIA (Kachin Independence Organization/Army) alone," he said. "But last year we had only 68." He however warned that if the NCA wasn't signed soon, there were signs that the Kachin conflict was in danger of escalation. "We are barely 3 months into 2015," he said. "And yet we have already fought 32 clashes." Meanwhile, communal violence was at low intensity, in part due to inter-faith cooperation as in Mandalay, where they had formed the Peace Maintaining Committee. BNI refers to Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) for the IDP figures last year. According to its July report, there were up to 642,600 IDPs, who were forced to flee their homes by armed conflict and inter-communal violence: 400,000 Shan, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Pegu and Tenasserim 98,000 Kachin, Northern Shan 140,000 Rakhine 5,000 Mandalay BNI gives several reasons for the continued fighting, which include:
Sai Leik says he thinks he will be able to finish the report by the end of the month. |
| RCSS decides not to attend the ethnic summit in Law Kee Lar Posted: 25 May 2015 10:49 PM PDT The Restoration Council of Shan State/the Shan State Army South has sent a letter to the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) informing them that they do not wish to attend the Ethnic Leaders Summit which will be held at the Karen National Union headquarters Law Kee Lar next month.  "We are not available during this period so we decided not to join this meeting," said Col. Sai Hla, the spokesperson of RCSS/SSA. "However, we have sent them a letter informing them of our reasons." The conference is scheduled to be held from 2 to 6 June to finalize the discussion of the draft nationwide ceasefire agreement, which was signed between the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) and the government. Five representatives from twenty-two ethnic armed groups have been invited to participate in the coming conference at Law Kee Lar. The RCSS/SSA is not a member of NCCT, comprised of 16 ethnic armed groups which include the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army North. However, it has a close alliance with the KNU. These two groups are often blamed by other ethnic armed groups that they have a good relationship with the Naypyidaw government and Burma Army. The first ethnic armed organizations summit was held at the Kachin Independence Army headquarters Laiza in October 2013. The second summit was held at the KNU headquarters Law Kee Lar in January 2014 and the third summit was held at the KIA headquarter Laiza in July 2014. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Shan Herald Agency for News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.