Former USDP organiser forms Kachin party

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Tuesday, 06 July 2010 11:32 Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Members of the Kachin ethnic minority who belonged to the junta’s nationalist social organisation applied to the Burma’s electoral watchdog in Naypyidaw to form a new political party last Friday.

Duwa Khet Htein Nan, originally nominated as a candidate for the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) party in the upcoming election, will serve as chairman of the Unity and Democracy Party for Kachin State (UDPKS), sources close to him said.

He also served as an organiser for the USDP in Naug Nan village, eight miles (13 kilometres) north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

But the relationship between the USDP led by serving Prime Minister Thein Sein and the UDPKS remains unclear. The new party has emerged as the electoral watchdog, the Union Election Commission, has been deliberately rejecting applications from other Kachin groups that sought to form political parties.

The total number of ethnic Kachin parties has reached four and include the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), led by former Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) leaders; the United Democracy Party (Kachin State); and the Shan State (North) Progressive Party.

Other leading office holders of the UDPKS, formed in the middle of last month, are also former USDP members: vice-chairman Fowler Gham Phan, lawyer Dwe Bu, lawyer La Mya Gam and adviser Madein Zone Teng, who is also chairman of the Kachin Cultural Organisation. They formed their party in middle of last month.

Dwe Bu attended the junta-sponsored “National Convention” held in Nyaunghnapin, representing Kachin State as an elder and eminent person, Mizzima was told.

Fowler Gan Pham, a party nominee to contest in the Mansi Township constituency, Bamao District, said it was premature to answer questions on party policies.

“It’s a bit premature to answer these questions. We will represent all 18 townships in Kachin State in the upcoming elections and will become the major party to represent all people in Kachin State”, he told Mizzima.

Kachin Cultural Organisation central committee member Duwa Khet Htein was unreachable for comment. Local residents speculated that he would also campaign in Kachin State. He owns the Aung Shwe Kabar gold and jade mining company and is part owner of the My Gin Dai gold mine, a source close to him says.

A local resident in Myitkyina who is close to him said that he had won the respect and trust of Kachin people as he had served four times as head of the Kachin traditional Manau dance festival, which commemorated Kachin State Day. He had also led the 62^nd Manau dance festival last year.

“Under his leadership, we are well organised and united. He knows well he is being exploited by the military regime,” the resident told Mizzima. “He is well known and a crucial person for organising the people.”

Observers said that the new Kachin party had entered the fray after the visit to the state last month by Communications, Post and Telegraph Minister Brigadier General Thein Zaw and Ministry of Industry No. 1 Minister Aung Thaung, who had urged participants to form a new ethnic Kachin party.

Burma's Kachin army prepares for civil war

Kachin military leaders know they are outnumbered by the Burmese army

By Alastair Leithead BBC News, Laiza, northern Burma

The sharp sound of loading and unloading weapons and the barked orders of the sergeant-major cut through the mountains of northern Burma as the young cadets are put through their morning drills.

Their discipline is good, their uniforms smart and there is little doubting their sense of purpose or patriotism towards the red and green flag with crossed machetes they proudly wear on their right shoulders.

They are the next generation of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and say they are not afraid to be the generation that fights in a civil war many fear may soon be upon them.

"The Union of Burma was formed on the basis of equality for ethnic people, but there has been inequality throughout history and we are still being suppressed," said cadet Dashi Zau Krang.

He is 26 and has a degree in business studies, but says inequality has stopped him getting a good job and driven him to join the military.

The Kachin people say they suffer discrimination in Burma

But he is not afraid.

"The Burmese army may be the strongest in South East Asia, while we are very few, but God will help us to liberate our people to get freedom and equality. This is our responsibility," he said.

It is a war the Kachin people do not want and one they cannot win.

But their generals believe a 17-year ceasefire could soon end as a Burmese army deadline approaches, demanding the forces merge or disarm.

They have already refused, and although their leaders are still pushing for a political solution, their commanders are preparing for the worst when time runs out at the end of February.

"I can't say if there will be war for sure, but the government wants us to become a border guard force for them by the end of the month," said the KIA's Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Gam Shawng.

"We will not do that, or disarm, until they have given us a place in a federal union and ethnic rights as was agreed in 1947."

The KIA and its civilian organisation have been allowed to control a large swathe of northern Burma as part of a ceasefire agreement with the country's ruling generals.

Trade with China

They provide power, roads and schools funded by taxes on the brisk trade from China as well as the jade and gold mines and teak.

But now soldiers are being recruited, veterans are being recalled and retrained, and an ethnic army is preparing to fight perhaps the biggest military force in South East Asia.

On the car radio are freedom songs, and at one of the training camps a course in traditional dance is being run - cultural nationalism and propaganda is strong.

A BBC team travelled to an area in northern Burma controlled by the Kachin army and its civilian arm, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO).

We were taken to training camps and outposts, but could not walk into Laiza town to talk to people on the street for fear of being seen by an extensive network of Burmese or Chinese government informers and spies.

It made forming a balanced view very difficult, but the determination and planning of the military was clear.

High on a vantage point above their headquarters, trenches are being dug and tree trunks are being hauled and hewn into gun turrets piled high with earth.

They can see the Burmese army positions from here and they know this will be just one of the front lines if fighting breaks out.

A well-oiled and highly polished large-calibre anti-aircraft gun is produced, standing on a tripod in a bunker overlooking the lush jungle valley.

Guerrilla war

The gleaming gun is a statement, a display for the visitors, but the small metal plane stencilled on the sights looks woefully optimistic.

They are organised and say they have heavy weapons, but we did not see them.

There are around two dozen ethnic groups in Burma, mostly scattered around its borders, and the biggest have been in various states of ceasefire or civil war over the past few decades.

Traditional Kachin dances now take on a military theme

The KIA is one of the biggest. Their commanders say it includes 10,000 regular troops and 10,000 reservists, but it is impossible to know for sure.

The Burmese army is huge. It has an air force of sorts and artillery, and the KIA knows the only way to survive will be to withdraw into the jungle and fight a guerrilla war of attrition.

But civil war would create tens of thousands of refugees and create regional instability.

"If we are attacked the other ethnic groups will support us, as they know the same could happen to them," Gen Gam Shawng explained.

The nearby Wa ethnic group has tens of thousands of troops and resources funded by drug smuggling, and we were told a deal with them had been agreed.

Whether civil war comes here is now up to the Burmese government.

If they use this election year to solve what they see as the "problem" of the ethnic groups they will have a fight on their hands, and the region will have to deal with the consequences.

Concern over forced relocation of 60 Kachin villages - Mizzima

by Usa Pichai

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 12:48

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Over 60 villages are in the process of forced relocation from two dam sites in Burma’s northern Kachin State, said the latest report released on Tuesday by a Kachin Environmental group. The Kachin Development Networking Group, (KDNG) a network of civil society groups and development organizations in Kachin State, Burma released a report “Resisting the Flood” on Tuesday. It has monitored developments and the likely impact of the 2,000-megawatt Chibwe Dam on the N’Mai River, work on which has already begun, and the Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam. “Over 60 villages with approximately 15,000 people are in the process of being forcibly relocated without informed consent. This dislocation will cause many secondary social problems including conflicts over jobs and land, and an increase in migration and trafficking to neighbouring countries. Women will be particularly impacted,” the report said. The group also sent an open letter on Tuesday to China Power Investment urging it to immediately stop construction of the Myitsone Dam and other dams in Kachin State “to avoid being complicit in multiple serious human rights abuses associated with the project”. According to a statement from the group, on October 9, residents of Tanghpre village at the planned Myitsone dam site on the confluence at the source of the Irrawaddy handed an open letter directly to Burma’s Northern military commander, objecting to the dam. In August military authorities informed residents that they had less than two months to begin moving out. “We cannot bring our farms with us when we move” said a representative of the Tanghpre Village Housewives Group in a meeting with the commander on October 10. “We do not want to move and we appeal to you to bring our concerns to Naypyidaw for consideration,” the statement noted. On the same day, 300 residents assembled at the confluence for a public prayer ceremony to protect the rivers. Several historical churches will be submerged by the Myitsone Dam project, which will also flood forests in one of the world’s “hottest hotspots” of biodiversity, impact downstream riverine ecosystems that are home to the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin and affect the delta region, which provides nearly 60 per cent of Burma’s rice. The KDNG noted in the report that the project has no environmental, social or health impact assessments, which have been publicly disclosed, locally-affected residents have not been consulted about the project; their attempts to voice concerns have been ignored. The report also noted that it is well-documented that development projects in Burma are accompanied by increased militarization and human rights abuses, including forced labour and rape. The group mentioned that the location of the dams are insecure because it is in a ceasefire area that is extremely unstable; an outbreak of fighting would put local people, the project, and Chinese personnel at risk, and it faces risks from earthquake because it is located a mere 100 kilometers from a major fault line in an earthquake-prone area. China Power Investment is planning a series of seven dams on the Irrawaddy and its two main tributaries. The majority of the electricity from all the dams will be transmitted to China. On June 21 2009, Burma’s Ambassador to China Thein Lwin and the President of China Power Investment Corporation Mr. Lu Qizhou signed the Memorandum of Agreement between Burma’s Department of Hydropower Implementation and CPI for “the Development, Operation and Transfer of Hydropower Projects in the Maykha, Malikha and Upstream Ayeyawady-Myitsone River Basins.”

Junta briefs KIO on Kokang war - Mizzima

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Monday, 31 August 2009 20:55
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta has taken pains to explain to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) that its recent war on the Kokang armed group was to nip in the bud production of narcotic drugs and arms and ammunition by the ethnic ceasefire group.

A junta delegation led by Col. Thet Pone from Northern Military Command Military Affairs Security (MAS) met ethnic Kachin leaders on August 29 in Laiza Hotel in KIO’s headquarter in Laiza. Col. Thet Pone told them that the Kokang ethnic group led by Peng Jia Xing was into manufacturing arms and traded in drugs.

On the KIO’s side, the Strategic Command Commander Brig. Gen. En Banla, Vice Chief-of-Staff Col. Guan Mau and Secretary Dr. Laja attended the meeting.

"They made out that the Kokang group led by Peng Jia Xiang fired first at them, when they wanted to inspect their arms manufacturing unit and search for narcotic drugs. After which they had no option but to occupy the area," a Kachin officer said on condition of anonymity.

The military government's mouthpiece the 'New Light of Myanmar' reported that in the three-day clashes between the junta's forces and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), 11 were killed and 31 injured on the Burmese Army’s side. Besides 15 policemen were killed, 13 injured and eight bodies of Kokang soldiers were also found, the news paper reported.

But according to a statement issued by Peng Jia Xiang's, about 200 civilians were killed in the two-day battle and three Chinese civilians were killed in artillery fire from government troops.

The statement added that the junta had threatened ethnic armed groups which had rejected the 2008 constitution. The regime was trying to divide and weaken them.

Military observers in the region said that about 800 Kokang troops were still moving along the Sino-Burma border. Some of them crossed into China and surrendered their arms to Chinese authorities.

A KIO officer felt that the junta had deliberately created a rift among Kokang troops.

"The SPDC (junta) launched the war, while rival Kokang groups were fighting for power, which was created by SPDC. As soon as the new administrative body was formed they set up the Border Guard Force (BGF). If Peng Jia Xiang had gone to that meeting, the junta would certainly have arrested him for interrogation," he said.

The junta backed the breakaway group led by Vice-Chairman Bai So Cheng leading to the clashes.

The SPDC has been putting pressure on all ceasefire ethnic armed groups to disarm and transform into the Border Guard Force. There is concern that there would be similar war against other ceasefire groups which refused the junta's proposal on BGF.

Four ceasefire groups the 'United Wa State Army' (UWSA), 'Kachin Independence Organization' (KIO), 'Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army' (MNDAA) and Maila group or 'National Democracy Alliance Army' (NDAA) formed a military alliance.

The allies, however, did not pitch in, in the war against the Kokang group. The Kachin people are concerned with the clashes between junta’s forces and Kokang forces.

The local military command in Kachin State, the Northern Command, has tightened security in the region.

The military command has restricted movement near Bala Min Htin bridge in Sitapu Ward, Myitkyina August 29 night and announced that all those who violate the restriction will be dealt with.

It has ordered closure of the Myitkyina night market after 10 p.m.

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