Government offensive in Kachin state

Besides Kachin State, there were other fights reported even in the northern part of the neighbouring Shan State at the end of September. Khon Ja, a Kachin peace activist affiliated to Kachin Peace Network, a humanitarian organization based in Rangoon, told the Irrawaddy.org news web: “The unfolding situation is really about an offensive, it is not just a gunfight taking place. We have heard that the Tatmadaw was even considering an air strike.” According to other Kachin sources, it seems possible that this action of the Tatmadaw indicates some preparations of an offensive in the foreseeable future.   

Furthermore, Khon Ja specified that the fighting erupted especially in northern parts of this ethnic state where the government is planning to start construction of a huge dam and an oil pipeline, implementation of a major mining project as well as to realize large-scale investment in agriculture. Even though the majority of these projects was formally approved of and signed by the investors already in 2010, the construction has not begun due to safety reasons. Therefore, the Kachin sources suppose that the current offensive is to be used for taking control of these commercially strategic assets so that some investment scheme can be hatched. In this context, last-year events are remembered – then, in the immediate aftermath of the Putao district fights, a Burmese business tycoon Tay Za was granted a logging concession covering 40,000 hectares (about 100,000 acres) of scarce teak tree cover by the government.

Currently, the fighting is under way, even though in May Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government signed a seven-point agreement which confirmed the willingness to seek a peaceful resolution of the crisis, and which was supposed to represent an initial stage in reaching a ceasefire agreement. Furthermore, in January the government declared unilateral ceasefire; yet it has been systematically violated since it came into effect.   

Just before the outbreak of the ongoing fighting, peace negotiations between the government and the UNFC (the United Nationalities Federal Council), which unites eleven most significant Burmese minorities and is presided by KIO, had been concluded. According to the sources close to the Burmese government, the UNFC representatives refused to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement which had just been worked out.

The UNFC General Secretary Nai Hong Sa said: “We did not arrive at any conclusion. When we were invited by the government negotiators to sign the peace agreement, we had to refuse as we deem it necessary to discuss the issue thoroughly.” The UNFC representatives concurred that the ceasefire and subsequent peace settlement cannot be achieved unless the constitution is amended in order to satisfy the requirements of ethnic minorities.

Sources: www.irrawaddy.org, www.dvb.no

See also other Burmese news.