Shan Herald Agency for News |
- Youth groups call for an end to conflict in northern Shan State
- LESSONS FROM TWO ETHNIC CONFLICT SCENARIOS: Ceasefire code of conduct remedy and Northern Alliance offensive
- To Hopeland and Back: The 23rd trip
| Youth groups call for an end to conflict in northern Shan State Posted: 23 Nov 2016 01:07 AM PST Two leading ethnic Shan youth groups on Tuesday released statements calling for an immediate end to fighting between Burmese government forces and ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State.
According to Sai Harn, the head of the Tai Youth Organization (TYO) in northern Shan State, the conflict has created many problems, including human suffering, economic damage, and an adverse effect on the ongoing peace process. "We oppose any group that creates problems for our people," he said. "As peace talks in the country are continuing, we want these matters brought to the discussion table. Our people have been living in a war zone for too long. We do not want this kind of thing to happen again. "Because of the fighting, our people are afraid to [go outside to] grow crops. Or even if they do have crops, it is difficult to sell them. Many roads and bridges have been bombed so people cannot travel and sell their crops. "If the people suffer, the armed groups also suffer," he added. "If they have nothing, they collect from the public. If we cannot make incomes, how can we pay them?" Sai Aung Myint Oo, a representative of Shan Youth Yangon (SYY), said that the conflict affects not only civilians but also armed organizations. "If this [conflict] continues, the situation will get worse," he said. "We, therefore, demand an end to all conflict in Shan State." Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Burma H.E. Hong Liang urged all parties involved in the fighting to immediately cease military operations, and start negotiating peacefully. Clashes broke out in the villages of 105-Mile, Mong Koe and Parng Zai in Muse Township, as well as in Namkham and Kutkai on November 20 between the Burmese army and an ethnic alliance of Arakan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). The fighting has compelled thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Many have crossed the border into China. According to China Radio International, more than 3,000 people are staying in makeshift shelters in the town of Wanding, while others are staying with relatives on either side of the border. Aung San Suu Kyi's State Counsellor's Office updated its report on Tuesday, clarifying that at least ten people have been killed in the fighting and more than 30 injured. Yesterday, Shan Herald reportedthat due to renewed clashes, thousands of residents from Muse – one of Burma's largest border trading points – had closed their shops and fled the town, leaving it eerily quiet. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | ||||||
| Posted: 22 Nov 2016 10:56 PM PST  During these few days, the country has again been burdened by more woes, as international rights groups accused the Burma Army troops of human rights violations on "Rohingya", which the government dubbed as being "Bengali", in Arakan State; the face-saving effort, reportedly to limit the damage stemming from the Burma Army (Tatmadaw) attacks on Restoration Council Of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), which is one from eight of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatories; and the recent so-called four Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) – made up of Myanmar National Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) – that called itself Northern Alliance-Burma's (NA-B) offensive on Tatmadaw and police positions. While the issue of accusation from human rights violations facet on the Rohingya would be more likely within the international arena, involving the UN, the effort to limit the damage, regarding the Burma Army's attacks on NCA-signatory RCSS and the recent NA-B offensive on the government troops positions would have a tremendous effect in the making or breaking of the peace process, that has been dragging on for some five years now. But let us look at the RCSS-Tatmadaw conflict last month and the recent NA-B offensives on government positions, to determine whether these occurrences would lead us to positive or negative outcome. RCSS-Tatmadaw October conflict According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), on October 1, about 40 Burma Army troops from IB 292, based in Nawng Wo, Lawksawk township, arrived without warning in the village of Pang Poi, about 25 miles north of Mong Kung town, and released 24 people being kept in the RCSS's local detention center for drug offenders. When RCSS troops based nearby came to intervene, fighting broke out from 4 to 7.30 pm. The next day, about 200 Burma Army troop reinforcements were sent in from the Na Boi army base in Laikha township, leading to further clashes with RCSS near Koong Sar village, about one mile northeast of Pang Poi. Two Burma Army helicopters also flew over the area. This caused over 700 villagers from Pang Poi (including 15 pregnant women), as well as about 200 villagers from the nearby villages of Nar Loi, Wan Mong, Hoi Jik and Koong Sar to flee to seek shelter in temples in Tong Lao, about 1 ½ miles east of Pang Poi. About 1,000 Tong Lao residents also went to sleep at the temples at night as they were afraid that fighting would spread to their village. On October 3, the IB 292 troops retreated from Pang Poi village, escorting the 24 detainees and two warders to the LIB 505 base in Namlan, about 20 miles north. The Burma Army troops then fired mortar shells at Pang Poi village, damaging housing and vehicles. The detainees, including six women, were made to walk between the Burma Army troops, apparently as human shields to prevent RCSS attacks. The detention center in Pang Poi was set up by RCSS at the request of the local community, who were concerned at the increasing availability of drugs and high rates of drug addiction in the Mong Kung and Namlan areas. Methamphetamine ("ya ba") pills are cheap and easily available, meaning that even children as young as 10 years old are taking them. The cost of a methamphetamine pill is only 150 kyat (about USD 0.12). Adult drug dealers and users have been detained at the centre for 5-6 months. On 9 June 2016, Tun Tun Win, the 21-year-old son of the Burma Army IB 292 commander, had been arrested at an RCSS gate for carrying about 20 methamphetamine pills and placed in the detention center. However, he had broken out of the center on September 22, 2016. This appears to have been a reason why the IB 292 commander authorized the raid on the detention center on October 1, 2016. According to Ceasefire Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), last month clashes that left two Burma army troopers wounded, in Shan State's Mong Kung township were due to the misunderstanding between the Tatmadaw and the RCSS/SSA. The JMC team recently traveled to Nam Lan, Tong Lao and Pang Poi for a seven-day trip, during which they interviewed troops from both sides. The clashes were taken as a serious set back as the RCSS is a signatory of the NCA. According to the JMC guidelines, NCA has to be adhered, which if violated could be termed as breaching it, leading to question of sustainability of the treaty, even though no enforcement tribunal were included in the treaty to handle the dispute. However, Col Wunna Aung, a Tatmadaw representative on the JMC, downplayed the situation by saying the small-scale conflict was a minor infraction under the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). "There was no collaboration [between the two sides] and so we decided that was an infraction of the NCA," he said. "We reached one solution in today's meeting – that is, it is necessary that ground-level teams have a very good understanding about the NCA," said JMC member U Maung Maung Nyein, according to Myanmar Times report of 21 November. Earlier, the JMC shortly after its investigation to the conflict concluded that it was an accidental occurrence and stems from two factors. One is regarding the drugs related clash, which it said that the people in the area asked for help both to the Burma Army and as well the RCSS, which led to misunderstanding and confusion between the two armed forces. And the other, while the Burma army considered the area as being a military operational one, the RCSS took it as its turf or territory. The JMC investigation team is said to be formed with two civilian, two Tatmadaw and two RCSS representatives. Reportedly, it has suggested that aside from generally promoting better understanding between the RCSS and the Tatmadaw, drugs related crimes should be tackled cooperatively in coordination and the need to draw up demarcation lines for both troops to observe. Northern Alliance Burma offensives On 20 November Sunday, the ethnic militias launched a joint military operation against Burmese government outposts and police stations in the Muse Township villages of 105 Mile, Mong Koe and Pang Hsai, as well as in Namkham and Kutkai areas. On 21 November, the AA, KIA, MNDAA and TNLA released a joint-statement, signed as Northern Alliance (Burma), requesting civilians in the area to take precautions. The second paragraph of the statement emphasized: "The Burmese armed forces have been launching offensive attacks in the ethnic territories of Kachin, Kokang, Ta'ang, Arakan and Shan and military pressures are increasingly mounted. The Burmese armed forces have also intensified not only shelling 105 – 120 mm heavy artillery targeted at innocent civilians but also arresting, torturing and killing indigenous peoples." Col Tar Bong Kyaw, a TNLA spokesperson, when questioned by The Irrawaddy recently on the reason for launching the joint offensive in northern Shan State said: "We launched it because it was necessary. Clashes continue and the joint military operation [aims] to make the government think more practically about armed conflicts in order to solve them as soon as possible." He further explained: "The main objective is to [make the government] solve political problems through political means. We hate that the [military] urges ethnic groups to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA] on one hand and attacks the Kachin [Kachin Independence Army-KIA] on the other hand. We launched the joint offensive to [pressure the military] to cease fire and to solve the root cause of the problem through political means." He also made his disappointment known, when he said: "We had to make hard choices in the face of Burma Army attacks and we think [the offensive] is the best option. The so-called democratically elected civilian government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent about the Burma Army's massive offensives [in ethnic regions]. We don't think forcing us to join the NCA through military offensives will solve political problems. Inevitably, we had to launch joint military operations." Meanwhile Zaw Htay, the deputy director-general of the President's Office, told the Radio Free Asia that attacks by the EAOs have taken place on seven different locations in a concerted manner and that the government is responding the situation with three undertakings of reinforcing the mountain outposts, going after the attackers and safe-guarding the civilian. He also questioned the EAOs if their purpose of highlighting their concerns by attacking civilian and economic facilities are the appropriate way of doing courting attention and visibility and stressed that they are just disrupting the government's peace process. Perspective Of the two ethnic conflict scenarios, one is the restructuring and refining the NCA and JMC code of conduct so as to avoid further armed clashes and the other, the NA-B military offensives on the government positions, that could either derail the nationwide peace process or bring logical approach to end the debacle. The remedy thought out by the JMC, including the National League for Democracy-Military (NLD-Military) regime, to at least accept that understanding the ceasefire code of conduct, cooperation and coordination between the RCSS and the Tatmadaw are good approaches, especially if meeting these challenges would be viewed within the concept and context of shared-sovereignty, that addresses the ethnic aspirations, and not sole ownership of the military and the government. However, this remedy although a positive approach might be a little too late, as military positions between the EAOs and the Tatmadaw are becoming hardened and more polemic, with each passing day of ongoing armed conflict. The NA-B offensive, which is a deliberate move to pressure the powers that be into recognizing the participation of the excluded EAOs, could go both ways. The regime could either accept the reality that groups that are actively being in armed conflict have to be in the peace process or go for an all-out retaliation and heightened war of attrition to the already tensed conflict situation, as has mostly been the case where the Tatmadaw is concerned and is well known for knee-jerk reaction. But this time around, the NLD would need to woo its military coalition partner to be more accommodating and should bring in the excluded EAOs into the fold, rather than just siding with the military's hard stance of "negotiated surrender" demand from the EAOs, as there is no other way than to talk to your enemies, if peace is ever to be achieved. | ||||||
| To Hopeland and Back: The 23rd trip Posted: 22 Nov 2016 10:46 PM PST Day Four. Tuesday, 8 November 2016 Moderation is remedy Excess is malady. Burmese proverb I know I have found my masters today. At least they are saying the very things that I have been dreaming of saying but never could find the proper words. Just listen to this:
Opium is a gift from heaven for farmers in conflict: · Unlike other crops, they need only 100 days to grow and harvest it · The yield is of high value · It can be stored for years · It is easy to carry on one's own person · Its market is right where you are · It's not just a cash crop, it's also a social crop, a war crop, and a political crop, you name it · Its problem is too complicated to use just a bamboo stick to slash it down
Others then take part to support his claims. Here's my own pennyworth: · With regards to the drug problem in our country, we need to look at the big picture, from all different angles. We must see the forest, not just individual trees. · It's not just about crime and crime bosses. Law Hsinghan was caught in 1973, but the drug business didn't stop. Khun Sa surrendered in 1996, but the drug industry didn't take notice. Indeed, as Adrian Cowell once told me: Druglords may come And druglords may go But drugs go on forever · Because when it comes to drugs, hardly anybody can claim innocence. A Palaung leader was
· Now that the peace process has begun, it's high time we took this opportunity and dealt with the problem. · The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) Paragraph 25: Tasks to be implemented during the interim period, is, in a way, about cooperation in doing away with the drug problem · Whatever we do about it, we should not forget this: In making war, we look for faults But in making peace, we look for common ground I notice later that some of the participants are not convinced. "In other countries, there is no war like us," says one. "But they still have drug problems." We also touch upon successive governments' manipulation of the drug policy in their fight against armed resistance movements. Such as, when Khun Sa was still fighting on the side of the government, he was allowed to have outside investors set up refineries in his domain. The government's anti-drug campaigns simply left him untouched. But once he started calling for Shan independence and such, the investors abandoned him and went over to the Wa side that was fighting against him. Because they knew they would be strictly left alone by the government if they were with the Wa. And today after several tensions with the Wa, the government supported People's Militia Forces (PMFs) are getting a freehand in the production and trade of drugs. You may say it is quite a lively discussion. The afternoon session is about UNGASS 2016. However, due to a scheduled meeting in Rangoon tomorrow, I leave early, after asking Tom to share the feedback with me afterward. A few developments nevertheless should be mentioned: · Drug use has been on the increase especially among youth · Many of the US states have legalized (or about to legalize) marijuana Several packets of cash are handed over to me before my departure as reimbursement for my expenses. With what I already have in my luggage, it comes to about a million kyat. When I inform this to a friend who is bidding goodluck to me, he grins and quips: "Now you're one of the country's proud millions of millionaires." (I didn't know it then. But on 11 November, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported MPF Brigadier-General Kyaw Win, Commander of the Drug Enforcement Division and Joint Secretary of CCDAC, saying Myanmar drug control policy has "traditionally focused on supply reduction and law enforcement, which has led to limited results". In addition, the Government of Myanmar has signaled that the coming national drug policy will address cross-cutting issues including public health, human rights and the needs of women and children, and it will also contribute to sustainable development. Also the Government of Myanmar and UNODC will partner to undertake a national drug use survey in 2017 to better understand the nature and extent of drug use and associated health risks and harms. The peace process, however, isn't mentioned. But somehow I thought it's something we should not jump to conclusions, just yet.) |
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