The civil war between the Kachin Independence Army and government armed
forces has turn out to be more and more ruthless since news of fierce fighting
cover was largely even in the social media.
Behind the scene of reforms,
government army has increasingly sped up its offensive war to a new phase. The
Burma Army has been attacking the ethnic Kachin rebels’ frontline outpost
fiercely since Christmas Day.
It is appalling because the
government has used not only heavy artillery but also enforced
gunship-helicopters and jet-fighters in this military operation against the
ethnic Kachin rebels. The news about government airstrikes is hitting the
headlines through the media, and civil-based organizations and some
peace-supporters fear the battle will lead to a humanitarian crisis following
75,000 to 100,000 Kachin natives who have fled their homes to seek shelter in
the woodland.
Four fighter jets and two
helicopters took part in air-attack on rebel positions near Laiza, the Kachin
Independence Organization’s de facto capital on 28 December, according to the
Kachin News Group (KNG). Government military planes hit KIO positions in
Lajayang, a key town situated less than 10 miles south of Laiza headquarters.
The fatalities were unknown due to air-strikes, as said by KIO officials in the
area.
The fresh attacks on KIO
locations near Laiza come just days after Burma Army’s Northern Commander sent
a letter to the KIO HQ. The letter
signed by Brig-Gen Tun Tun Naung demands KIO pull out its troops stationed
around Lajayang immediately. However, the KIO rejected Tun Tun Naung’s demand,
by saying it will not withdraw from Lajayang or any other areas of strategic
value in and around the Laiza.
According to the media reports,
currently there are around 40,000 refugees in the KIO controlled area. Those
refugees are facing food as well as medicine shortages because of the
government troops’ enclosure. The government imposed blockades preventing the
UN and its agencies from delivering rations to refugee camps located in KIO
controlled territory.
Refugees International has warned
tensions between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military
has reached boiling point after a 17-year cease fire agreement broke down in
June 2011 in Kachin state. The camps remain inaccessible to aid organizations
and the United Nations from within. Access routes exist from China, but Beijing
is reluctant to host any refugees as it doesn’t want to be seen as dabbling in
a neighbor’s internal affairs.
During her four-day visit to
Burma in the first week of December 2012, the United Nation’s
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has spoken about urgent access to some 40,000 people
in northern Burma who have been displaced by fighting between government troops
and the KIA. Ms Amos said that the Burmese military has permitted only limited
aid motor vehicles into the conflict area.
“For almost six months now, the
UN has not been able to provide assistance to almost 40,000 people as we are
not permitted to go to KIA-controlled areas,” the Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, told a news conference, according to the UN
News Centre.
During her four day visit to
Burma, Ms. Valerie Amos raised the issue of internally displaced people in
Kachin State with the President and her concern about the lack of humanitarian
access in the conflict zone.
“We hope the Government will give
us permission to travel to these areas and provide the aid that is so
desperately needed,” Ms. Amos added.
Even though the
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ms. Amos has made a candid
call, the atmosphere along the battlefield looks like denying access to the UN
Agency. In fact, it is a duty of the current government to provide humanitarian
assistance to thousands of war refugees and internally displaced populations in
various ethnic states.
In December 2011, President Thein
Sein has issued an order to Burma’s Commander-in-Chief to halt the offensive
against the KIO. However, the war continues and people continue to run for
their lives. So, the order of the President does not rule over the military
chief.
One of the biggest problems in
Burma is the armed forces’ failure to recognize truces with ethnic rebels –
truces that were agreed by the army’s own government. It is not clear whether
the government is saying one thing and doing another or the soldiers themselves
are going against their head of state. Nevertheless, human rights violations of
Burmese soldiers in ethnic states must be taken responsibility by both military
chief and the head of state since the buses are inexcusable breaches of
international laws.
According to the ground
situation, President Thein Sein alone may not have enough power to allow the UN
to resume aid delivery or to stop the war in Kachin state. It will certainly be
in the hands of the eleven-member National Defense and Security Council in
which military chief is the most important player by constitution.
Hence, the unjust and inhumane
war launched by the military-faction may not be stopped easily while the
Western democracies undeservedly honor the military-controlled government as a
reformist regime. In the absence of worldwide sympathy, war victims in Kachin
state will have to face a manmade disaster in the year 2013.
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