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Will Burma achieve peace in 2013?

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DVB
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DVB’s latest debate comes in the wake of a series of deadly bomb attacks in Burma, which have been blamed on rogue elements within the Karen National Union.

But despite the timing, the panelists dismissed any connection with the continuing peace talks, and the chairman of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Khun Htun Oo, said he was confident the bombs were unrelated to the peace process.

The Myanmar Peace Centre was optimistic that they will reach a ceasefire agreement by next month.

“The essence of the nationwide ceasefire is not just about reaching the ceasefire but more than that, to open door for political dialogue,” said the general director of the government-backed Myanmar Peace Centre, Min Zaw Oo.

Cartoon by DVB Debate
Cartoon by DVB Debate

Khun Htun Oo disagreed and claimed that the government was urging ethnic armies to sign a ceasefire first and talk later.

“What the ethnic people wish for is a political dialogue and only after, sign the agreement,” he said. “But at the moment, we are being told to sign the agreement first and negotiate afterwards.”

A heated argument followed as Khun Htun Oo questioned how the ethnic groups were meant to trust the government when clashes were still erupting, even after peace deals were signed.

“What if everyone signs the agreement and then gunfire breaks out again?” said Khun Htun Oo. “A shot fired means the end of the agreement.”

But Min Zaw Oo said the fighting would continue.

“Don’t expect the gunfire will absolutely end just because the ceasefire agreement is signed,” he said.

Much of the debate centred on Khun Htun Oo’s argument that there would be no point in signing a blanket nationwide ceasefire without seeking political solutions.

Another point in the debate was the financial situation of rebel soldiers.

Khun Htun Oo said the Myanmar Peace Centre has no budget to spend on ethnic soldiers after the ceasefire. He insisted that if the soldiers do not get any financial support, they will turn to the opium trade.

[related]

In the past ceasefires have been signed based on an agreement that ethnic groups can profit from natural resource deals, but Khun Htun Oo said this time it would not be so simple and the government must support them.

Next on DVB Debate, how will Burma solve its traffic problem?

You can join the debate and watch the full programme in Burmese at www.dvbdebate.com

Or share your views with us by commenting on our website at www.dvb.no

Multi-ethnic conference begins in Kachin rebel HQ

By
AYE NAI / DVB
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1
Ethnic leaders gather in Kachin state's Laiza for the first day of the Ethnic Armed Organizations Conference (DVB)

A multi-ethnic conference kicked off on Wednesday in the Kachin rebel headquarters Laiza, where representatives from Burma’s ethnic rebel groups are gathering to discuss a government proposed nationwide ceasefire.

The three-day Ethnic Armed Organisations Conference aims to hash out a mutual agreement between rebel groups on how to approach government plans for a nationwide ceasefire in November.

Attendees, who include members of the leading ethnic umbrella group, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), as well as the Shan State Army – South (SSA-S) and other smaller groups, will all get the opportunity to voice their views.

The UNFC is also due to give a presentation on an agreement reached among their membership, while the Karen National Union and the SSA-S’s political wing the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) will debrief the conference on their discussions with the government.

“The objective of holding this conference is to lay out the initial procedures to facilitate political dialogues and we are hopeful that we can work out mutual agreements by gathering and discussing the opinions of all ethnic nationalities, Lanyaw Zawng Hra, chairman of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), told DVB on Wednesday.

“As each of the resistant groups already have so much experience and have constantly been hearing opinions from relevant ethnic populations, we believe that the right decisions will be made.”

Mutu Say Poe, chairman of the KNU, said that his group is standing by the principle that the country’s political problems should be resolved through political means and that it can be achieved by building unity among ethnic groups.

“In order to implement unity, all ethnic groups should be given an equal role and I believe that we will be able to reach our goals through comprehensive discussions,” he said.

The KIO’s general and the current chairman of the UNFC, N’Ban La, said: “In the past, we’ve experienced a false ‘union’ and it would be impossible for us to go through that again – we need a genuine federal union based on the principles of equality and fairness.”

“We would like to urge to all, including the members of the Tatmadaw [Burma’s armed forces] to work together to build a unified federal union.”

President Thein Sein, who has been credited with inking peace deals with 10 out of 11 major armed groups in Burma, also delivered a message to the conference.

“I believe that the decisions, agreements and frameworks resolved in the conference will facilitate the nationwide ceasefire agreement, laying framework for the political dialogue and peace building through the political dialogue to restore peace in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” he said.

The KIO, who is hosting the meeting, is the only group that has yet to reach a formal peace deal with the government and clashes continue to rattle southern Kachin state. At a meeting in Myitkyina earlier this month, government and rebel negotiators reached a fresh peace deal that aimed to reduce fighting but stopped short of a full ceasefire.

The Kachins, who have repeatedly pushed for political dialogue as the cornerstone of any agreement, said they must first consult other ethnic groups before deciding weather to join the proposed nationwide ceasefire planned for November.

Burma’s largest armed ethnic group, The United Wa State Army, as well as the Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Mong La-based National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State, are not attending the conference. Some reports suggest the Wa backed out following pressure from China.

Shan civilians accuse Kachin rebels of human rights abuses

By
NANG MYA NADI / DVB
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1

A Shan civil society group is planning to conduct a region-wide survey to expose human rights violations they say Kachin rebels have committed against ethnic Shans during the civil conflict in northern Burma.

The Shan Ethnic Affairs Organisation (SEAO), which represents Shan communities in Kachin, told DVB the group plans to survey 800 villages to uncover abuses against the Red Shan ethnic group, a minority living in the region.

Locals say that both Kachin rebels and government forces, who have clashed in the northern state for over two years, have carried out mass atrocities against the Shan minority including extortion, forced recruitment, rape and torture.

“The KIA [Kachin Independence Army] has abducted Shan villagers they come across [for forced recruitment] – sometimes taking almost entire villages,” said Sai Tin Myint, an executive member of SEAO.

“They punished and executed those who tried to defect, especially in the past when there was no government process to accept [rebel] deserters,” he said referring to a new scheme offering protection to former rebel fighters.

In the past, most rebel defectors would have been forced to return to their home villages, where they could easily be identified and re-captured.

“In the last year, a 15-year-old teenager was abducted by the KIA and his parents are still unable to learn his whereabouts today,” said Sai Tin Myint.

He added that Red Shans, the name for ethnic Shans living in Kachin state, have been subjected to serious violations for the past 50 years. But they have not been able to speak out until Burma embarked on its democratic reform programme under President Thein Sein’s government.

“We aim to accurately expose human rights violations committed by any armed group in the region against our population,” said Sai Tin Myint.

“The Shan people in the region have been subjected to arrest, extortion and rape by armed groups operating in the region but we have never been able to complain – when we reached out to the KIO [Kachin Independence Organisation], the Burmese army would punish us for making contact with the rebels.”

It follows numerous media reports of Shan civilians being forced to work as porters or fighters for the KIA, although the rebels have repeatedly denied the allegations.

[related]

Sai Tin Myint said the completed survey will be submitted to the International Human Rights Commission, adding that they have already compiled over 100 case studies from Myitkyina, Mohnyin, Mogaung, Hpakant, Bhamo and Mansi townships. But he said it has been difficult to verify evidence and many witnesses are too afraid to come forward for fear of retribution by armed groups, so it is not clear when the research will be completed.

In March 2012, a major report by Human Rights Watch implicated the Burmese army in mass abuses against civilians in Kachin state, while the KIA was accused of using child soldiers and anti-personnel land mines. But to date no comprehensive study has been carried out implicating rebels in mass atrocities on the scale described by SEAO.

The group met with the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tomás Quintana, in August last year and US ambassador Derek Mitchell in October, to discuss their concerns.

Ethnic Shans are estimated to make up around a quarter of the population, or around 300,000 people, in Kachin state. The Kachin conflict has forcing some 100,000 civilians, including many ethnic Shans, from their homes.

Parliament to review govt spending on security for mining projects

By
KO HTWE
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1
Government forces ordered the KIA to leave Hpakant after some jade companies complained about paying taxes to the KIA (PHOTO: Kyauk Hpa Kyae)

Burma’s parliament is planning to review government spending on the deployment of army battalions to provide security for state-owned mining projects across the country, which is estimated to cost millions of kyat each year.

The upper house’s Mines and Natural Resources Committee has criticised the government for spending money allocated to the Ministry of Mines on military expenditures – a practice that dates back to the junta era.

The committee’s secretary, Hla Swe, told DVB that millions of kyat have been spent annually on the deployment of 16 army battalions to protect natural resource projects owned by six government ministries, including the Ministry of Mines, since former junta leader Ne Win’s rule.

“Ideally, the spending for security on extractive projects should be under the defence budget, but it has been designated to the ministries running the projects,” said Hla Swe. “We are going to suggest that it should be allocated to the defence budget.”

Hla Swe explained that the Ministry of Mines is currently paying for six army battalions deployed to Kachin state’s Hpakant jade mining region and a ruby mine in southern Shan state’s Mongshu, although he refused to disclose the amount spent.

Burma’s armed forces are already allocated over 20 percent or one fifth of the annual budget, compared to 4.4 percent on education and 3.7 percent on healthcare.

Militarisation near natural resource projects has been linked to an increase in fighting with ethnic minority rebels across the country, including the resource-rich Kachin state where conflict has raged for over two years. Last year, government troops pushed the Kachin Independence Army out of the Hpakant region as part of their northward offensive against the rebels.

[related]

On Monday, a report by Burma News International warned that natural resource investments in ethnic minority regions were likely to obstruct the peace process.

“Business concessions in ceasefire talks are also seen by some to be a ploy by the government to turn ethnic leaders into “mini-cronies” while also performing a public relations stunt to attract more foreign investors,” said the report.

The quasi-civilian government led by President Thein Sein has pledged to improve transparency and good governance in the country’s natural resource sector. But it is unclear whether he will be able to reform the notoriously secretive armed forces, which is known to have significant financial interests in Burma’s lucrative natural resource industries.

Billions of dollars are estimated to have gone missing from state coffers over decades of military rule. The military also enjoys the benefits of a Special Funds Law, announced in March 2011, which allows the army chief to channel unlimited finance to the military without parliamentary consent.

Suu Kyi: I started as a politician not a human rights defender

By
DVB
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177
File Photo: Aung San Suu Kyi has visited Europe three times in the last three years.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has dismissed criticisms of her leadership by insisting that she has always been a politician, rather than a human rights defender.

It follows accusations that the opposition leader has prioritised her presidential ambitions ahead of the protection of minorities in Burma. Many analysts say she has abandoned her principles in order to secure her political power base.

But speaking in an interview with CNN on Monday, Suu Kyi rejected suggestions that she has been forced to transition from activist to politician.

“I’m always surprised when people speak as if I’ve just become a politician. I’ve been a politician all along. I started in politics not as a human rights defender or a humanitarian worker, but as the leader of a political party. And if that’s not a politician then I don’t know what is.”

The Nobel laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest at the hands of the junta, has taken an increasingly conciliatory tone towards the military-backed regime since joining parliament and publicly expressed hopes of running for president.

[related]

She was come under particular scrutiny for refusing to condemn the spread of anti-Muslim violence in Burma, which has claimed over 250 lives since last year.  But Suu Kyi told CNN that she is accustomed to censure.

“I was subjected to the greatest criticisms for 20 years because some people said I was too intransigent, I was not as flexible with the government as I should have been,” she said.

Almost 140,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship and deeply unpopular in Burma, have been stranded in displacement camps in Arakan state since two bouts of clashes with local Buddhists last year.

Human rights groups have described the violence, which has since spread to other parts of the country and disproportionately targeted Muslims, as “ethnic cleansing”.

But in an interview with the BBC last week, Suu Kyi denied that ethnic cleansing is taking place, insisting that “the fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, but on the side of the Buddhists as well.”

It is widely believed that she fears losing her core electorate in the Buddhist-dominated country in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

Suu Kyi is currently on a diplomatic tour of Europe, where she has met with political and religious leaders, as well as collected awards for her work promoting human rights and democracy in Burma.

Shan locals petition against Thai coal mining company

By
NANG MYA NADI / DVB
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39
Farmers plant rice seedlings in a paddy field on the outskirts of Rangoon in 2012. (PHOTO: Reuters)

A group of local activists and politicians in Shan state’s Kengtung township are preparing a petition against a Thai-owned coal mining project, which they say will cause widespread social and environmental problems.

The project will involve the construction of a coal-fired power plant and see the forceful relocation of at least two villages along with the confiscation of over 500 acres of farmland.

A local politician told DVB that a public meeting, held on 24 October with people from eight villages in the Monglet village-tract, showed that the vast majority of locals opposed the project.

“None of the villagers wish to be relocated, and even if they do, they wouldn’t know where to go so all of them are opposed to the project,” said Sai Win Myint, the National League for Democracy’s Shan state Central Executive Committee member.

“We are now collecting signatures from all residents over 18 years old in the villages.”

He said the petition will be submitted to the township authorities and if they refuse to help them, they will turn to the Shan state government and the union parliament in Naypyidaw.

The public meeting was attended by over 300 people including Monglet residents, representatives from political parties including the NLD, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, as well as local Shan, Lahu and Wa parties, as well as police officers and military officials.

The Shan Nationalities and Development Party, who also attended the meeting, say they raised concerns about environmental damage caused by the project as early as two years ago, but no action has been taken.

[related]

The villagers added that the Kengtung district authorities approached them on 20 October to sign an agreement for the project to go ahead. But they refused because the officials failed to give answers to questions about the relocation process, compensation and new job opportunities.

The project will see the relocation of Wantaung and Wankyun villages [in Monglet village-tract] and also cover Kengtung town, which is located in a valley surrounded by mountains, with smog, according to a local elder.

Burma, which is emerging from nearly five decades of military rule, is rich in gems, industrial minerals, oil, and offshore natural gas reserves estimated at 10 trillion cubic feet. But most of the country’s natural resources are found in its volatile ethnic minority regions, including Shan and Kachin states, where violence continues to flare near areas slated for large-scale development projects.

Campaigners warn that an influx of foreign investment could exacerbate local grievances, unless “major shortcomings” in Burma’s legal and regulatory framework, which allow the government to arbitrarily seize land from farmers, are addressed.

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