Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Army, Govt Warn of Militant Attacks on Cities

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 08:46 AM PDT

The Myanmar Army released a statement on Tuesday afternoon alleging that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) could plan to stage attacks in Myanmar's major cities.

The public alert, put forward by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, did not provide evidence for the claim.

The Government Information Committee issued its own statement on Tuesday night reiterating the military's earlier warning, and calling for people to act with restraint.

"People should be strongly mindful that some could instigate racial and religious violence by using the alert as a pretext," it read, adding that the administration "strongly urges the people to collaborate for the country's stability."

The army listed Naypyitaw, Yangon, Mandalay and Mawlamyine as potential targets, and speculated that the ARSA has foreign ties and alleged that members had received training abroad as migrants.

ARSA's activity has been in northern Rakhine State, where the group staged attacks on police and military targets on Aug. 25, leading to the government and military designating the organization as "terrorists."

The Myanmar Army has since intensified clearance operations in the region. Four hundred people have been reported dead, and an estimated 125,000 have fled to Bangladesh. Tens of thousands more remain displaced internally.

In Tuesday's statement, the army asked the public to inform police or military officials of "suspicious activity," like the presence of large amounts of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

During a briefing last week for diplomats and UN agencies on Rakhine State at the National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Yangon, Police Brig-Gen Win Tun alleged that militants had used this type of fertilizer to make landmines.

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New Inventory Reveals Nearly 4,000 Ancient Monuments in Bagan

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 08:01 AM PDT

YANGON — The Association of Myanmar Architects (AMA) logged 3,822 monuments in the ancient capital of Bagan in the first inventory of its kind for more than 20 years, it revealed on Tuesday.

Data collection for the Bagan Architecture Inventory was done from mid October to late December last year, with the help of some 300 volunteer architects and students, according to the association.

From the inventory's 3,822 monuments, AMA identified 3,699 within Bagan's archaeological zone. The remaining 123 structures were recorded by the Department of Archaeology outside of the zone before the inventory process.

The inventory used the previous two records of religious monuments in Bagan–one Unesco-supported effort by French architect Pierre Pichard in the 1980s and another by the Myanmar Archaeological Department in 1996.

Pichard's Inventory of Monuments at Pagan" stated that the ancient capital had 2,834 ancient monuments and the archaeology department in its inventory stated Bagan had 3,122.

Aug. 24 marked one year since the powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, centered about 15 miles west of Chauk town in Magwe Region. According to the religion and culture ministry's archaeology department, out of more than 3,000 temples and pagodas across Bagan—located north of the epicenter—389 were affected by tremors and needed renovation.

The inventory was planned before the quake, but with the damage sustained by temples, work on the inventory was quickened to record the ancient architecture before it underwent repairs.

"The inventory is [important] not only for the architects' association but also for all Myanmar people who value Bagan," AMA's vice-chair U Maw Lin told media on Tuesday in Yangon.

"It is of concern to all Myanmar people and they deserve to know [the findings] as well," he added.

The ancient capital has yet to be granted Unesco World Heritage Site status, allegedly on account of sub-standard, inauthentic restoration efforts under previous governments.

AMA chair U Sun Oo said one Unesco worker recognized Bagan as having the most mural paintings in Southeast Asia. According to the association's inventory, 392 structures—14 percent of Bagan's ancient monuments—still have mural paintings.

The association aimed at completing the inventory before Myanmar's bid in September this year for Bagan to make the Unesco World Heritage Site list.

The inventory would also serve as a reference for future restoration works, U Sun Oo added.

"If these monuments have to be renovated, we are concerned the work will not be carried out systemically without such an inventory," said U Sun Oo. "Even if the renovation works are done recklessly we will at least have a record of how these structures appeared in the past."

According to AMA's findings, 1,179 monuments—32 percent of Bagan's ancient structures identified by the association—are totally deserted, 1,633 are ignored and only 848 are structures that have frequent public access. Only 327 monuments—9 percent—are preserved and restored, AMA's inventory claimed.

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Myanmar’s First Gold Exchange Center Takes Shape in Yangon

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 05:48 AM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar will have its first official market for gold, gems and metal trading in its commercial capital Yangon this year, said U Khin Maung Han, chairman of the Myanmar Federation of Mining Association.

The trade center will be built in Yangon's Mingalardon Township near Yangon International Airport, U Khin Maung Han said. The association is in the process of discussing land acquisition and security matters with the concerned ministries, he said.

"We will build a temporary center near 6th Mile [in Mayangon Township] while the trade center is being built in Mingalardon. We are establishing an official market for the trading of gold, jewelry and gold items and metal," he told The Irrawaddy.

Similar centers will also be built in Naypyitaw and Mandalay, and are expected to be completed in two years.

The official market will prevent the smuggling of gold and jewelry items and metal, and will assist the government in identifying the precise number of deals, as well as earn tax revenues, U Khin Maung Han explained.

"The official market will also encourage gem factories and create job opportunities," he said.

The official gold market has been in the works for three years, and various ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Ministry of Commerce, Central Bank of Myanmar, Myanmar Federation of Mining Association and Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs have been collaborating in its creation.

"We've coordinated with concerned businessmen to open a gold and gems trading center round the clock throughout the year," said Union minister for Planning and Finance U Kyaw Win at the ninth meeting between Vice President Henry Van Thio and local businessmen.

"Dealings will be made there, taxes will be levied there. They can either export or sell to local buyers. And related handicraft businesses and other services can be provided there on a wide scale. Only then, will we have a Myanmar market, and our products will fetch good prices," the minister said.

Companies from around 30 countries have expressed their interest in investing in the official gold exchange market, which will be modeled after Shanghai and American gold exchanges. Myanmar has also signed a memorandum of understanding on technical cooperation with Singapore's Gold Market Association.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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Dozens of Hindus Killed in Maungdaw: Relatives

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 03:02 AM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State – Eight-year-old Muni is one of the sole survivors in her Hindu family, after eight of her relatives were reportedly killed by Muslim militants one week ago in Kha Mauk Seik village, some 40 miles from downtown Maungdaw, in northern Rakhine State.

The girl had left her family to work in the home of a friend, Mina Kumari, also in Maungdaw Township, six months earlier.

Through an interpreter, Muni told The Irrawaddy on Sunday a statement that was echoed by other relatives and a Hindu community leader in Bangladesh—that she had heard her parents, grandmother, newborn brother, sisters and brothers-in-law had been killed.

One of her elder sisters is among eight women who said they were initially abducted by militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), but now sheltering at a relief camp in Bangladesh's Kutupalong District. Following ARSA attacks on 30 police outposts on Aug. 25, the Myanmar government declared the group a terrorist organization.

According to aid workers, Bangladesh is also now hosting some 87,000 self-identifying Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled northern Rakhine State since the Myanmar Army began renewed clearance operations in Maungdaw following the ARSA attacks.

They join hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees already in the region, displaced after an earlier round of attacks in 2016.

An additional 11,700 Buddhist Arakanese, Arakanese subgroups, and Hindus have been internally displaced, with many taking shelter in monasteries in the state capital of Sittwe, and Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships.

Bangladesh's The Daily Star reported on Sept. 1, that around 400 Hindus had left Rakhine State for Bangladesh and were staying at makeshift camp in Kutupalong, alongside displaced Muslims.

More than 500 Hindus are also taking refuge at four temples in Sittwe, partially supported by a government relief team, according to community leaders in Sittwe.

The Daily Star said that the displaced villagers estimated that more than 80 members of their communities in Rakhine State had been killed by unidentified armed men.

As journalists are barred from the conflict zone, The Irrawaddy spoke to religious leaders and relatives of the deceased in Sittwe.

Villagers who arrived in Sittwe on Sunday told The Irrawaddy that they believed around 70 residents of three communities—Kha Mauk Seik Taung Ywar, Kha Mauk Seik Yebaw Kyar, and Ohtein (also known as as Fakirabazar, Riktapara, and Chikonchhari respectively)—had been killed.

"The news about Kha Mauk Seik was heard on Saturday, and they are so desperate. They have no family members left to take care for them," said U Maung Hla, the vice chairman of the Rakhine State Hindu Council, referring to 8-year-old Muni and another girl—16-year-old, Kajali, who told The Irrawaddy that since she left Maungdaw four months ago, she had lost nine relatives.

Mina Kumari, with whom Muni is living, told The Irrawaddy that she had lost her son in the violence, but had made contact with her daughter-in-law and Muni's sister now in Bangladesh.

"My daughter-in-law could not speak properly on the phone, she was crying a lot and was very afraid," said Mina Kumari.

Mina Kumari said that her daughter-in-law explained over the phone that she had been forced to undergo a conversion to Islam with seven other women, and that she and her three children avoided being murdered after she gave one of the gunmen her gold earrings.

The Irrawaddy was unable to interview the victims directly on the phone, as they said they were too afraid to speak to the media, in either Burmese, Arakanese or Hindi languages.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy through an interpreter and on the condition of anonymity, a leader from the Hindu temple in Dakshin Nihla in Bangladesh said that the eight women in question—including Mina Kumari's daughter-in-law—were brought to the temple by Bangladeshi border police.

He estimated 470 Hindus had fled to Bangladesh.

He alleged that the women were filmed by members of the ARSA and told to say they feared attacks from ethnic Arakanese and the Myanmar security forces.

A sister-in-law of one of the survivors of the Hindu villages watched the video and told The Irrawaddy: "I know these women, two are from Buthidaung two are from Maungdaw."

It should be noted, however, that widely documented testimony has been given by refugees to international media outlets, human rights organizations, and the UN since Myanmar Army clearance operations from October 2016 to February 2017 following the Oct. 9, 2016 attacks, describing the perpetration of abuses by security forces ranging from torture to rape to arson and extrajudicial killings.

Government figures report that since Aug. 25, 15 members of Myanmar's military and police have been killed and 14 civilians—including seven Rakhine Hindus, three Daingnet, and four Arakanese.

The government states that 370 suspected militants had been killed since Aug. 25, but these figures do not address the deaths of Muslim civilians, who make up the largest displaced group.

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Win Tint Craves New Ideas, Even After Success

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 01:02 AM PDT

Artist Win Tint came to fame for his paintings of pagodas and temples. His Shwedagon Pagoda series 'Gold and Light' and Bagan series 'Beauty of Monument' were a hit among local art lovers. But his success has not stopped his craving for new ideas.

"I always want to present new things rather than old ones. I don't want people to say I show the same old things. I want to give them something new," Win Tint told The Irrawaddy.

The magazine illustrator-turned-painter also works as an instructor at Yangon State School of Fine Art, and his exhibitions have been showcased abroad.

His latest creations will be showcased at Lokanat Art Gallery from September 2 to 11. The exhibition 'Recent Works' features landscapes of Yangon, Inle Lake and Ava on 3×4 and 4×5-foot canvas.

Win Tint said he has used new techniques in his latest works, such as painting with newspaper, which he has enjoyed.

"Previously, I only used brushes. But in this exhibition, I use new techniques. I didn't draw waves with a brush, but twisted a newspaper and painted it, and then pushed it [on the canvas]. I love this technique," he said.

The exhibition, Win Tint's sixth solo, showcases 11 paintings priced between US$1,500 and $2,000.

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Wathann Film Festival Features Local Talent

Posted: 04 Sep 2017 11:44 PM PDT

YANGON — Myanmar's pioneering Wathann Film Festival, organized by local independent filmmakers, returns to Yangon's last standing colonial-era Waziya Cinema from Wednesday through Monday for the event's seventh edition.

Founded in 2011 with the mission of improving the standard of local cinema and creating a platform for Myanmar's young generation of independent filmmakers, the annual Wathann Film Festival (WFF) will showcase 78 films, including 29 from local directors in the competition section, 23 from other Southeast Asian countries, five international feature-length documentaries and other shorts.

Festival director Ma Thu Thu Shein said the WFF has collaborated with curators from regional film festivals to showcase films from six Southeast Asian countries—the S-Express Program—to inspire local filmmakers.

"From these Southeast Asian films, they will know what is happening in the regional independent cinema scene," she told The Irrawaddy.

Portraying a toddler acting as the "king of the set" on its official poster this year, Ma Thu Thu Shein said it was a metaphor for "new filmmakers are born here," adding that most works in the lineup were created by young directors from Myanmar and the region.

Recognizing all of the significant improvements in the last seven years, Thaid Dhi, co-founder and program director of Wathann, said the festival would also address the obstacles that still hinder the artistic freedom of filmmakers, referring to the censorship process that the lineup had to undergo according to the country's 1996 Motion Picture Law.

While the decades-long practice of literary censorship was abolished in 2012, he said, the film and video censorship board remains a challenge for local filmmakers.

The law urgently needs to be fixed in accordance with democratic norms for the sake of cinematic freedom, he stressed.

The festival will also include other artistic programs this year such as Beyond Narrative, a collection of works by audiovisual artists and Another Landscape, a collection of films by the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

A feature-length documentary In Exile (Pyi Pye in Myanmar), directed by Myanmar filmmaker Tin Win Naing, and a collaboration of Myanmar and Germany production companies, will have its home premiere on Friday evening. The film documents the plight of Myanmar migrant workers who fled civil war and political persecution to Thailand. It has shown at several international film festivals including Busan and Toronto last year.

The festival will also screen the Singapore-produced Yellow Bird, a debut feature film by director K. Rajagopal, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival's Critics Week last year, on Saturday. The film's cinematographer Michael Zaw—a Myanmar-born filmmaker based in Singapore—will host a master class for local filmmakers after the Saturday screening.

Myanmar Deitta art gallery will host an extended screening for competition films from Thursday through Sunday. Awards to be presented at the festival are Best Short Film, Best Documentary and New Vision Award, according to festival organizers.

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Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week

Posted: 04 Sep 2017 10:23 PM PDT

AFF U-18 Championship 2017

Myanmar U-18 will play against Indonesia on Tuesday, Brunei on Saturday and the Philippines on Monday.

Sept 5, 9, 11, 6 pm. Thuwunna Stadium. Ticket prices 1,000-3,000 kyats

Wathann Film Festival

Twenty-nine films are entered in this film festival competition plus more than 70 films from Southeast Asia and Europe will be screened.

Sept 6-11, Waziya Cinema.

Shwe Man Chan Tha Thabin Troupe

Shwe Man Chan Tha Thabin performs its renowned dance theater to mark its 40th anniversary.

Sept 8-9, 6 pm. National Theater, Myoma Kyaung St. Tickets 20,000-50,000 kyats at 09-5011298, 09-421031142, 09-254309453.

Hledan Center 2nd Anniversary

Hledan Center will celebrate its second year with entertainment and giveaways.

Sept 6. Hledan Center.

Exhibition of Asian Lacquer Works

Lacquer art from Myanmar, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and the US will be showcased.

Sept. 9, 1 pm to 5 pm. Myanm/Art. No. 98. 3rd Floor, Bogalay Zay St.

Lat Khat Than Exhibition

Lat Khat Than highlights the role of Myanmar textiles as valuable cultural heritage, while exploring innovative business models for developing and sustaining the livelihoods of female weavers in Myanmar's hand-woven textile sector.

September 5-10. 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. National Museum.

Girl Power in Myanmar

Celebrating women in Myanmar. A kid-friendly party will be held at Nawaday Tharlar Gallery, and an uncut version at Rough Cut. Hear messy, frustrating, beautiful stories and check out limited prints for sale and an early peek at a bilingual children's book on women kicking butt in Myanmar.

Sept. 5, 5 pm to 8 pm. Nawaday Tharlar Gallery. Sept. 7, 6 pm to 8 pm. Rough Cut, Sanchaung.

Expedition by Aung Myint

In this exhibition, Aung Myint explores materials and stylistic impressions that mimic some of his previous work, while departing from the old and engaging with new territories of patterns, shapes, colors and themes.

Sept 8-18. Myanm/Art. No. 98. 3rd Floor, Bogalay Zay St.

Maha Bagan

A group art exhibition of five artists will feature landscapes of Bagan.

Sept 10-14. Hninzi Myaing Art Gallery, Hninzigon Home for the Aged.

Dancing

Artist Soe Naing will showcase around 40 modern paintings in his solo exhibition 'Dancing.'

Sept 9-13. OK Gallery. Aung San Stadium (North Wing)

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Casinos in Myawaddy

Posted: 04 Sep 2017 06:48 PM PDT

Would it be surprising to see two modern casinos on the bank of the Moei River – also known as the Thaungyin River – in Karen State's Myawaddy just opposite Mae Sot, Thailand?

The casinos were built about two years ago in Myanmar, where any form of gambling is illegal.

The two casinos offer stunning views of the Moei Rover and sell liquor, beer, cigarettes and perfume duty free, but not in Burmese kyats – only Thai baht is accepted.

From Mae Sot, a motorized schooner ferries passengers from the '999' border gate.

At the entrance to the casinos, security guards search patrons. Pictures and selfies are not permitted once inside. Neither is wearing sunglasses.

From outside, the two buildings look deserted. But inside, there are hundreds of gamblers either playing or waiting, all holding Thai banknotes. There is no sign of them leaving until their money is gone.

The casinos are open all night and managed by Laotians, according to gamblers.

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Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

TERMINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AID: Shan refugees in the limbo

Posted: 05 Sep 2017 07:09 AM PDT

While the conflict situation in Arakan State is making international headlines, a little less known catastrophe in the making is brewing along the Thai-Burma border among the Shan refugees.

Following notification of aid termination to the Shan refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) along the Thai-Burma border from The Border Consortium (TBC), an umbrella group that coordinates international aid deliveries, angst for future and unsettling situation are rife as the aid termination for the end this month draws nearer each day.

The appeal

As it is, more than 6,000 Shan refugees, currently living in six camps along the Thai-Burmese border, are about to suddenly face with the prospect of surviving without support from the international community, according to Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) report.

The six camps affected are: Kong Moong Murng Camp, opposite Mok Cham Pae, Mae Hong Son province; Loi Tai Laeng IDP camp, opposite Bang Ma Pha, Mae Hong Son province; Loi Lam IDP camp, opposite Wiang Haeng, Chiang Mai province; Koung Jor refugee camp, Wiang Haeng, Chiang Mai province; Loi Sam Sip IDP camp, opposite Fang, Chiang Mai province; and Loi Kaw Wan IDP camp, opposite Mae Fah Luang, Chiang Rai province.

Four of those makeshift villages are recognized as IDP camps, meaning they shelter internally displaced persons, or IDPs, because the camps reside on the Burmese side of the border, according to the recent report in Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN).

On August 30, 2017, Shan State Refugee Committee (Thai Border) and SHRF issued a statement outlining the impossible dire situation that the Shan refugees would face if they return and pleaded for the continuing aid delivery. Part of the statement wrote:

·         We appeal to international donors not to cut off this aid while the peace process is still so uncertain.
·         We cannot yet return to our homes, because our villages are now derelict, or have been occupied by the Burma Army, their militia or the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
·         Despite the peace process, the Burma Army has expanded its troops, and is continuing to carry out military operations and attacks around our villages. Villagers continue to be arrested, tortured and killed.
·         We appeal for our rights as refugees to be respected - the right to receive adequate humanitarian aid, and to be given protection until we can return in safety and dignity to our homes once there is a political settlement and genuine peace in Shan State.

Shan displacement

SHRF report said that refugees have been fleeing from Shan State to Thailand for decades to escape the civil war and Burma Army persecution, but did not flee in large numbers until the 1990s.

The dramatically increased number of refugees from Shan State was due to two key factors, one is the massive scorched earth campaign by the Burma Army in central Shan State beginning in 1996, and the other, the forced resettlement of Wa villagers from northern to southern Shan State beginning in 1999.

Forced relocation

The Burma Army's 1996-1998 scorched earth campaign in central Shan State was the first reason of the Shan displacement.

After the surrender of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) at the end of 1995, MTA remnants, led by Lt. Gen Yawd Serk, formed a new Shan resistance group, the Shan State Army - South (later called the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army – RCSS/SSA). In March 1996, in an attempt to cut off support for this new group, the Burma Army began a massive scorched-earth operation in central Shan State, driving the rural population at gunpoint off their lands into guarded resettlement camps near towns and main roads. 

The results of this operation were devastating. During 1996-1998, over 300,000 people from 1,400 villages were forced from their homes. Those resisting or caught sneaking back to their fields were shot on sight or tortured by Burma Army troops. SHRF documented the killing of over 600 civilians during this time, including the well-known massacre of 56 villagers, including women, in Kunhing, on June 16, 1997. These villagers had been given permission to travel by ox-cart to collect rice from their old villages, but were arrested and shot dead by Burma Army troops on the way.  

There was also widespread use of rape as a weapon of war. The 2002 report by SHRF and Shan Women Action Network (SWAN), Licence to Rape, documented rape and other forms of sexual violence against 625 women and girls by troops from 52 different Burma Army battalions, mostly in the areas of forced relocation in Shan State. 61% of the women were gang-raped. 25% were killed, some horribly mutilated.

Terrorized by these atrocities, and unable to survive in the relocation sites, many of the relocated villagers fled to Thailand. Entire families, including elderly grandparents and young children, fled together, using any means – trekking through the jungle, rafting along the Salween River and renting cars -- to reach the border.

By May 1996, tens of thousands of villagers had fled into northern Thailand, mainly dispersing into farms and orchards to find work as labourers or wait for the chance to move to construction sites in towns such as Chiang Mai. As illegal migrants, the refugees were vulnerable at all times to arrest and deportation, as well as exploitation by unscrupulous brokers and employers. Too afraid to venture from their work-sites, some refugees died of treatable illnesses. Children had no access to schooling and faced health and safety threats from living in crowded, unsanitary work sites, often exposed to harmful chemical pesticides. 

Wa resettlement

The second reason for the massive Shan's displacement was because of the forced Wa resettlement to southern Shan State in (1999-2001).

In late 1999, the Burmese military regime authorized the UWSA, which had signed a ceasefire agreement since 1989, to begin mass forced resettlement of Wa villagers from the Chinese border down to southern Shan State.

The pretext for the resettlement was drug eradication: to move Wa villagers from the mountainous poppy-growing regions in the north down to more fertile farmlands along the Thai border, where they could grow alternative crops. The real reason was political: using ongoing divide and rule tactics, the regime wanted to pit the UWSA against the RCSS/SSA, and weaken Shan resistance in southern Shan State.

Between 1999 and 2001, over 126,000 villagers – about a quarter of the total Wa population in Burma -- were forcibly relocated from the six northern Wa townships down to the townships of Tachileik, Mong Hsat and Mong Ton along the Thai border. The move inflicted huge suffering on the Wa villagers, who were forced to abandon their homes and possessions in the north. Diseases were rife in the resettlement sites and thousands died, according to the Lahu National Development Organization (LNDO) report of 2002.

The large influx of new settlers caused severe disruption for existing villages – mainly Shan, Lahu and Akha - in southern Shan State. Houses, land, crops and livestock were seized without compensation, and in some areas UWSA started taxing and conscripting local villagers. Thousands of local villagers could not bear this oppression and fled to other areas of Shan State or to Thailand. 

Over 16,000 Wa were resettled in the Mong Karn area along the Nam Sai river in eastern Mong Hsat, where there were originally six villages, with about 1,200 inhabitants, who were mostly Shan. When heavy fighting broke out between the RCSS/SSA and Burma Army near this area in early 2001, the Burma Army and UWSA began persecuting Shan villagers suspected of supporting the Shan troops. Hundreds of Shan villagers from Mong Karn fled to the Thai border, where they set up the Loi Kaw Wan IDP camp. The original homes and lands of the Mong Karn inhabitants have now all been seized by the UWSA. 

Current situation in Shan State

According to " Deciphering Myanmar's Peace Process 2016", published by Burma News International (BNI), RCSS clashed 13 times and Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) 34 times with the Burma Army in 2015. In 2016, RCSS clashed 6 times and SSPP 9 times with the Burma Army. However, this is just a conservative estimate and both the RCSS and SSPP said the real encounter is much more than has been reported.

Despite the peace process, it is still impossible for the displaced villagers in camps along the Thai-Shan border to return home. The Burma Army has not adhered to its ceasefire agreements with the RCSS/SSA, and has continued its military expansion and operations throughout southern Shan State. Civilians continue to face systematic abuse.

Any premature forced relocation of the refugees back to Shan State would be unthinkable, as human rights violations are still ongoing.

Widespread arrests, torture, disappearance of civilians under high-level Burma Army operation in Ho Pong after fighting with Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatory RCSS/SSA are stark reminder of the futile situation not conducive for the return of the refugees.

During July 16-30, 2017, hundreds of Burma Army troops from at least eight battalions patrolled through three village tracts in Ho Pong township, southern Shan State, arresting and torturing civilians, in what appears to be collective punishment for an armed clash with the RCSS/SSA in the area on July 14, 2017.

Hundreds of the original villages of the refugees have either now fallen derelict, or are occupied by the Burma Army, government militia or UWSA.

For example, the township of Mong Nai – one of eleven townships where forced relocation took place -- used to have a total of 224 villages before 1996. Today, according to official township immigration lists, only 83 villages remain (of which 27 are "new" villages). 141 villages have been completely erased.

Apart from that, for IDPs who fled from areas of Wa resettlement in eastern Mong Hsat, their original homes are now occupied by Wa settlers. The former Shan villages in the Mong Karn valley have now all been completely taken over by the UWSA.

The threat of permanent loss of lands by planned mega-projects implementation is also very real and worrying.

Refugees from areas where the Burmese government has planned large hydro-power dams or mining projects will lose their homes forever if these projects go ahead.

For example, the giant Mong Ton dam on the Salween River, a joint venture with Thai and Chinese companies for export of power to Thailand, will submerge vast tracts of land along the Pang tributary in Kunhing township. Nearly 50,000 people were forcibly relocated from this area in 1996-1998. If the dam goes ahead, many will never be able to return home.

Similarly the large lignite mine and coal fired power plant project planned by the Burmese military-owned Myanmar Economic Corporation and Italian-Thai Power Company in Mong Kok, Mong Hsat township, will make the entire tract, with over 1,000 Shan, Lahu and Akha residents, uninhabitable. IDPs in Loi Kaw Wan camp who fled Burma Army persecution in Mong Kok, will be unable to return home if this project goes ahead. The project has been stalled for about six years as a result of protests from the Thai side of the border (due to potential pollution of the Kok River, one of northern Thailand's main waterways.) However, since August 2017, the project has resumed, and villagers have been ordered out of the mining area.

Adding to all these bleak situation and hopelessness to return home anytime soon, the condition for self-sustenance is not at all possible for the refugees due to lack of arable land near the camp sites. Besides, 70% of the camps' population are children, old people and women.

Perspective

On top of all these negative aspects, the political and military atmosphere are also not at all favourable for the Shan refugees to return.

The ongoing on and off armed confrontation between the Burma Army and the Northern Alliance – Burma (NA-B), in which the Kokang or Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Arakan Army (AA) are involved is directly and indirectly influencing the political situation of achieving peace and reconciliation within Shan State and beyond.

The members of NA-B are also part of the seven-party political alliance Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) led by the UWSA. But although it is said to be formed to conduct political negotiation with the government, it is not clear if this political alliance would become a military one also, if one of its member is militarily attacked by the Burma Army.

Meanwhile, the AA ambushed the Burma Army in Arakan State on August 31 as the latter was said to intrude into its area of operation. In the incidence six of the Burma Army's soldiers were killed, with a sizeable loss of war weaponry. The following day Burma Army made an announcement vowing to crush the AA.

Of course nobody knows if the FPNCC would come to AA's rescue if massively attacked by the Burma Army in Arakan State by opening new war fronts in Shan State as an alliance, to take away the heat. However, one thing that shouldn't be forgotten is that the Burma Army and the FPNCC are on war-footing which haven't even started the peace negotiation process, despite China's pressure on both conflict parties.

The clashes between the Burma Army and the two Shan armies, the RCSS signatory of the NCA and the SSPP member of the FPNCC, have been going on and off for the last couple of years without any sign that effective ceasefire could be achieved. Besides, on political front, the Burma Army has been blocking the Shan National Conference to take place, which according to the NCA is allowed and a necessary step to sound out the Shan population's political aspirations to be presented in the 21stCentury Panglong Conference (21CPC).


To sum up the whole situation with the given facts available, it is fair to say that forcing the Shan refugees indirectly to return by cutting the aid would be a disaster and also counter-productive. And the international community should continue to uphold and respect the rights of refugees, by continuing the support with adequate humanitarian aid and protection until they could return home safely once political settlement and genuine peace prevail in the Shan State.  
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