The Burmese government led by President Thein Sein looks as if it is
paying no attention to its own promises.
The President has pledged during
the presidential inaugural ceremony that he would mainly work in support of
good governance, national reconciliation, poverty alleviation and establishing
a long-lasting peaceful society.
However, the regime is unwilling to honor equal rights and self-determination
of the ethnic population.
Without peace and stability, a
country cannot build its democracy. People cannot practice a democratic system
in the absence of peace and stability. How much time does the President need to
create a national reconciliation that is essential for a peaceful Burma? The
cost of further delay to end the civil war will be paid in thousands of
innocent lives under the incompetence of economic development.
According to the Kachin News
Group, Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Battalion 6 commander Lt-Col. Nhkum Zau
Doi asserted on 7 October that 211 government soldiers have been killed and 36
injured over the past two months during heavy fighting in the Hpakant jade
mining district of western Kachin state.
Burmese government armed forces
operate quite a lot of aggressive assaults in recent weeks in Kachin and
Northern Shan State even though suffering a heavy death toll. Fighting goes on
fatally all through Kachin and Northern Shan State in the face of government
peacemaking pledge to the United States and the EU. All the battles have occurred in KIO’s
territories including some areas where government troops occupied Kachin areas
after a 1994 ceasefire agreement.
The Kachinland News has reported
that KIA’s 15th Battalion under 3rd Brigade fought against the Burmese
government’s 88th LID near Dum Bau hill on 10 October. But there were no
immediate reports of casualties on either side. Another fierce battle took place
on 9 October at Hpakant, Lawng Hkang, an area controlled by KIA’s 6th Battalion
under 2nd Brigade.
KIA’s 6th Battalion encountered
government army 228th LIR at Lawng Hkang, as said by a local frontline source.
The Burmese army reportedly fired several rounds of 81mm mortar shells to
residential areas and injured some villagers.
Also on 9 October, KIA’s 24th
Battalion under 5th Brigade had encountered the Burmese army’s 242nd LIR near
Ding Ga Yang in Daw Hpum Yang Township. According to KIA source, the Burmese
army’s artillery unit assisted its infantry units by firing several rounds of
120mm mortar shells during the battle.
On September 7, Burma President
Thein Sein met national races affairs ministers from regions and states at the
Presidential Palace in Nay-Pyi-Taw. Speaking on the occasion, the President
said that national races live in the country as blood brothers. Hence, he said,
they have the basic rights of citizens stated in the constitution.
Thein Sein also confessed that
border regions still failed to sustain development on education, health,
transportation, and the economy due to fragile stability and the problems with
rule of law. This has resulted in conflicts with ethnic armed groups, he
acknowledged. He has been making efforts to end long-lasting armed conflicts so
as to restore peace. Thein Sein emphasized that there has been progress in
making peace with the ethnic armed-groups. However, he also confessed the
failure of peace talks with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
However, authorities of the
quasi-civilian government repeatedly say that skirmishing still comes about in
Kachin areas because of mixed-up positions of both armed units and close
proximity between the two sides in frontline areas. Actually, the government
armed forces have violated the 1994 ceasefire agreement and invaded Kachin
controlled areas. Then, the government deployed more infantry units in Kachin
territory and turn down to pull out even though constant calls from KIO and
local residents.
The Kachin Independent
Organization has also refused to accept the government’s three-step plan –
first to make a ceasefire at state level talks, second to establish a Kachin
ethnic political party and third the ethnic party has to put forward the ethnic
questions to the parliamentary assembly where the problems have to be solved in
line with the 2008 constitution.
KIO Brigadier General Gun Maw has
told the media occasionally that the KIO prefers its own three-step process —
the first step would be an agreement on the distribution of troops and their
locations; the second step would be an all-inclusive discussion similar to the
Panglong Conference, which would involve all ethnic leaders and the government
in order to work out long-standing political disagreements; the third and final
stage would be to enforce the agreement in whatever structure is fitting.
To sum up, the first thing the
Thein Sein government ought to do is to withdraw its armed forces up to
positions of the 1994 ceasefire agreement. Then, to show its generosity and
peace-loving approach, the government should stop fighting unilaterally. The
most important duty of government is to protect its ethnic Kachin citizens
equally and it needs to release all Kachin ethnic prisoners who are in prison on
suspicion of helping the KIO.
If the government’s priority is
to exploit the natural resources together with Chinese companies, the war in
Kachin state may not stop easily within a short time. Then, the President’s
promise — good governance, national reconciliation and poverty alleviation — is
just a sham to the people.
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