Kachin IDPs Face Hunger and Homelessness

par | Juin 15, 2017 | Ethnic conflict

TANAI TOWNSHIP, Kachin State — Three days ago, Steven Naw Ring, 35, and his family fled their home in the mining village of Nan Kon in Tanai Township, Kachin State.
Fighting had broken out between the Myanmar Army, also known as the Tatmadaw, and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), forcing the ethnic Kachin farmer to abandon not only his house but also most of his possessions, including his animals and important documents.
Sitting on the concrete floor of the assembly hall at a Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) church in Tanai town, he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday afternoon he wanted to go back, to collect some papers.
About 500 people—most of whom were children and women, some nurturing newborn babies—huddled in groups on the floor. Families lined up to receive food donations; others were too exhausted, and slept.
Around 950 the Kachin internally displaced people (IDPs) have sought shelter at Tanai’s churches: 500 are with the KBC, 200 are in the care of the Catholic Church, 133 are in the Anglican Church, and 120 are staying at two Buddhist monasteries.
But local sources estimate that thousands of villagers and migrants working in amber and gold mines have fled from 10 communities in KIA-controlled territory near the Kawng Ra, N’Ga Ga and Nambyu areas, since fighting broke out between the KIA and the Tatmadaw on June 6.
Many of the migrant workers sheltered at Buddhist monasteries in the township, and some traveled to the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina on the journey back to their hometowns. However, local people have felt that they have nowhere else to go.
“We are in a different condition from the migrant workers,” said Steven Naw Ring, who sometimes works as a miner. “We have to abandon our properties, but they don’t.”
Leaflets dropped from Myanmar Army helicopters over his village on June 8 warned residents to leave by June 15 or the army would recognize them as “insurgents” and take action against them when they launched military operations in the area.
But local sources said Myanmar Army ground troops began attaching the KIA on June 9. The leaflets stated the Tatmadaw would attack the KIA as it had allowed mining in its territory and was destroying the environment.
Mining in the area has not been a recent development, according to locals. Mining operations have been active since 2000 following a ceasefire agreement between the KIA and the Tatmadaw.
Amber and gold mining is the main source of income for the KIA, migrant workers and locals in the area. The majority of Tanai’s people and businesses rely on mining for an income.
Tanai has become crowded with those who fled the mining areas in recent days. Guesthouses and restaurants are packed, while buses and taxis regularly shuttle people to Myitkyina.

Pressure to Evict IDPs

The Myanmar Army is pressuring Christian religious leaders to remove the Kachin people who fled the conflict, including Steven Naw Ring, sheltering at one of its churches, according to an IDP camp committee.
Reverend Dabang Jedi, a KBC spokesperson for Tanai IDPs, told The Irrawaddy that a Burma Army colonel told the committee in a meeting on Tuesday to turn away the IDPs.
“He has told us this at every meeting. He even told us yesterday to move out those IDPs from the town, then send them to stay at Kawng Ra village,” said the reverend.
Kawng Ra, about 10 miles from Tanai town, has experienced fighting for the last two days, according to the KBC.
“We told him it was not safe to send them there,” said reverend Dabang Jedi, adding that the Tatmadaw and local authorities heavily scrutinized IDPs who arrived in the town.
KBC member Naw Seng recounted the colonel telling the committee that if they did not force the IDPs out of town, the army would hold it responsible for any future problems involving the IDPs.
“They put a lot of pressure on our religious leaders to force IDPs out of the town,” said Naw Seng.
Tu Ja, a Kachin IDP camp leader from the Roman Catholic Church, said, “If it was possible, the army would not have IDP camps in Tanai. Maybe they do not want to take responsibility for the IDPs or they do not want to have IDPs camps in the country in the future.
“In order to make them happy, we told them that those people were just temporary IDPs. But if in a year they can not go back to their villages, they will have to stay here,” he added.
The KBC church has a ration of four bags of rice per day for about 500 people so far, according to the committee, and the Myanmar Army has not donated anything yet for IDPs.
The committee added that only one representative of the government—the lawmaker from Tanai—helped the IDPs, donating four bags of rice, and the township authorities donated one bag and one basket of cooking oil.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) donated 10 bags of rice, and a local company—Citizens Star—donated 10 bags of rice and some drinking water, according to the KBC.
“We will help the IDPs as much as we can. But we do not know how much longer we will have rice to cook for them. We will ask others for donations, too,” said reverend Dabang Jedi.
Father La Sai from the Roman Catholic Church said children were suffering the most, as many of the older people had built up some resistance.
“It was difficult for the IDPs to travel during the rainy season, especially the children, as they had to travel all day,” he said.
The government and the Myanmar Army did not prepare camps for people fleeing their homes in the mining areas, according to local sources, and the wave of IDPs came as a challenging shock to the KBC.
Some local people fled their homes driven by the fear of a coming battle in which the roads would be blocked, preventing them from escaping to Tanai. KIA leaders also told Kachin people to leave the areas, as they said that they could not provide security, according to local sources.
The Myanmar Army has tightened security in Tanai and is checking vehicles traveling on the township’s roads. Local sources said the army is preparing to launch another military offensive against the KIA.

By Lawi Weng 14 June 2017

 

 

Programme Culturel Yangon juin 2017

Programme Culturel Yangon juin 2017

par | Juin 13, 2017 | Culture

Let My Voice Be Heard: Photography Exhibition | June 9-18

This photo exhibition showcases a selection of photographs produced through a participatory photography project with young people displaced by conflict in Kachin State.

 

Myo Haung Road | June 17-21

The solo exhibition of artist Nay Myo will showcase about 50 watercolor and acrylic paintings.

Myanmar Music Festival | June 18

This concert will premiere seven new compositions, written for this tour by composers from the United States, Peru, Taiwan, and Myanmar. These pieces explore both traditional Myanmar and Western instruments in the most exciting new combinations.

Mingalarbar 72 | June 17-21

Artist MPP Ye Myint will showcase 54 acrylic paintings in this exhibition marking the 72nd birthday of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hello Kitty’s Fantastic World | June 1-30

This event is for children with a lot of games and fun plus gifts.

Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival | June 14-19

The fifth edition of Human Rights Human Dignity International Festival will feature 15 international films and 54 local films.

Bespoke: An Installation by Htein Lin | June 10-20

Htein Lin will present three installations in which audiences can participate.

First Myanmar Entrepreneurs Festival | June 16-18

This event is dedicated to young entrepreneurs and will provide networking opportunities for start-ups and small and medium enterprises. It will also feature talks and intensive training on entrepreneurship.

Yangon Employment Fair | June 18

Over 500 positions are up for grabs in various industries at this recruitment event. Details at 09-31349834

U Wirathu Claims Facebook Blocked His Accounts

U Wirathu Claims Facebook Blocked His Accounts

par | Juin 13, 2017 | Religious fundamentalism

Myanmar’s ultranationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu claimed Facebook temporarily shut down his account in a video shared on another Facebook account last Friday.
“On May 31 [Facebook] said they would shut down the account for a month, after sending a report,” he said, adding that he had not posted anything that violated Facebook policy.
A screenshot of Friday’s video displayed a report sent by Facebook saying the account was temporarily blocked for 30 days as the account holder had repeatedly made posts, which were not allowed on Facebook.
The account had almost 400,000 followers.
“I did not write the names of people on my Facebook,” said the firebrand monk in the video. “I did not post any personal attacks, I only wrote simple things, but they shut it down,” he said.
U Wirathu, a prominent member of ultranationalist organization Ma Ba Tha known for his anti-Muslim hate speech, spuriously accused Facebook of falling under the control of Muslims.
Another of his accounts under the name Ma Soe Yein Wira Thu in Myanmar language with 70,000 followers was allegedly also shut down.
“I got a report saying they would close it for a week. But, I found later that they destroyed it completely,” he said in the video.
The National League for Democracy-led government has sought to curb hate speech by U Wirathu and other Ma Ba Tha members. In March, the Buddhist authority State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, known as Ma Ha Na, banned U Wirathu from delivering sermons across the country for one year.
Last month, Ma Ha Na imposed restrictions on Ma Ba Tha, banning the organization from operating under its current name and ordering that their signboards be taken down across the country by July.
It was the second blow by the Buddhist cleric authority after its announcement last year that Ma Ba Tha was not a “lawful monks’ association” as “it was not formed in accordance with the country’s monastic rules.”
Late last month, Facebook seemed to impose a ban on the word “kala,” which originally was used to describe those of South Asian descent but has increasingly been used as a derogatory term for Muslims.

                                                                                                                                        By Lawi Weng 12 June 2017

Majorité, minorités.

À travers trois portraits de moines, la Birmanie en devenir se dévoile, tiraillée entre ouverture, liberté, xénophobie et repli sur soi. Le premier, Uthan Bita, a rejoint la Ligue nationale démocratique d’Aung San Suu Kyi. Le deuxième, U War Lay, est un missionnaire bouddhiste auprès des minorités chrétiennes dans des lieux reculés du pays. Enfin, Utu Sait Tha, un activiste nationaliste, ouvertement raciste, milite pour la « protection de la race et de la religion birmanes » contre les 5 % de musulmans du pays, les Rohingya, minorité persécutée, et même menacée selon plusieurs associations des droits de l’homme d’un possible génocide.

Un éclairage bienvenu sur ces événements oubliés des JT.

Le premier a rejoint la Ligue nationale démocratique d’Aung San Suu Kyi. Le deuxième est un missionnaire bouddhiste auprès des minorités chrétiennes du pays. Le troisième est un activiste nationaliste, ouvertement raciste. Trois moines bouddhistes aux convictions opposées donnent à voir la Birmanie d’aujourd’hui, tiraillée entre ouverture et xénophobie.
Traditionnellement, les cinq cent mille moines bouddhistes de Birmanie prennent part à tous les secteurs de la vie sociale du pays et, s’ils restent à l’écart de la politique, maintiennent une réelle influence, à la fois spirituelle et pratique, sur le peuple. En 2011, la dictature militaire, au pouvoir depuis plus de cinquante ans, mise sur l’économie de marché et multiplie les signes d’ouverture, mettant fin notamment à la résidence surveillée de l’opposante historique Aung San Suu Kyi. Depuis 2016, celle-ci est membre du gouvernement, toujours largement tenu par l’armée. Dans cette dynamique inédite, une nouvelle génération de moines s’engage en politique, pour le meilleur et pour le pire.

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Le mouvement ultranationaliste bouddhiste Ma Ba Tha et son leader Wirathu.

Qui est le Vénérable W du film de Barbet Schroeder ?

Ashin Wirathu est un moine bouddhiste extrémiste qui alimente depuis plusieurs années la xénophobie et les attaques à l’encontre de la communauté musulmane vivant en Birmanie.

En 2003, il a été condamné à 25 ans de prison pour incitation à la haine raciale. Libéré en 2010 à la faveur d’une amnistie, il a pris la tête du mouvement 969 qui multiplie les discours de haine à l’encontre des musulmans et appelle au boycott de leurs magasins. Bien que les musulmans représentent environ 4% de la population du pays, Wirathu et le mouvement 969 les considèrent comme des menaces à l »identité » et à la « race » birmane, fondée sur le bouddhisme. Ils alimentent le rejet des musulmans en les assimilant aux massacres perpétués par les groupes terroristes, en affirmant que leur objectif est d’islamiser la Birmanie en épousant les jeunes birmanes et en les présentant comme le véritable danger pour la Birmanie.

Plus sur les mouvements ultranationalistes (version .pdf)  : ICI

Ethnic Media in Myanmar: New Approaches

par | Juin 13, 2017 | Media

After reforms by Myanmar’s post-2011 government, the landscape for both mainstream and ethnic media has changed dramatically, with new media outlets blooming.

Abolishing the country’s censor board and welcoming exiled media groups to publish in-country, the quasi-civilian Thein Sein government pursued major advances toward press freedom. More than 885 publications—including 50 published in ethnic languages—have been approved by the government, up from 300 registered in 2014. Among these publications are three Chin language daily newspapers, 40 ethnic language journals and seven ethnic language magazines, according to Pe Myint, minister of information.

The ethnic language publications, in particular, represent a notable expansion of ethnic media—a term I define elsewhere as “publications, broadcasts or websites that are associated with ethnic minority peoples and that focus on ethnic minority concerns, regardless of whether they use Burmese or an ethnic minority language.” Also included as part of “ethnic media” are “state-based” and “locally-based” periodicals, distributed in ethnic minority areas in Myanmar, that take up ethnic-minority concerns.

Under the present administration, led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD), many Burmese media onlookers believe that the media industry will see further progress. However, according to a recent PEN Myanmar press release on World Press Freedom Day, the country’s free expression score is only eight out of 60 possible points. Limited access to information, markets, and funding, harassment of journalists and editors, as well as difficulties in securing long-term sustainability were the main barriers for media groups, both ethnic and mainstream Burmese.

Moreover, journalists and editors face possible lawsuits under 66(d) of the Telecommunication Law, which can result in a prison sentence of up to three years for defamation using a telecommunications network. At least 54 people have been charged under this law, with eight people sentenced to prison for their posts on social media, according to a letter from Human Rights Watch to the attorney general and officials from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Recently, Yangon-based The Voice Daily editor-in-chief and regular satire contributor faced a lawsuit filed by the military under 66(d).

Despite these difficulties, daily, weekly and monthly publications, covering news, sports, entertainment and astrology, both in Burmese and in ethnic languages, are being published in Myanmar. Some publications survive, but many periodicals have disappeared.

The problems facing ethnic media vary depending on the state and region. Some ethnic media or local-and state-based publications cannot maintain their publications in the long term because of heavy dependence on international donors, limitations of their markets, and a lack of human resources. Kantarawaddy Times of Karenni State, for example, depends heavily on the support of international donors, a problem many ethnic media organizations face given that they must compete with the mainstream Burmese publications.

Ethnic media groups face human resource problems because they cannot provide attractive salaries to professional journalists and editors, as mainstream publications can. Despite these challenges, some ethnic media groups are trying to take advantage of opportunities brought about by the advance of technology, using social media to share what is happening in their area. The Danu ethnic group from Shan State, for example, established the Voice of Danu Facebook page to share their concerns. With Internet capable cellphone penetration dramatically increasing (to 70 percent in 2015, according to Freedom House) and the number Facebook users also rising (reaching 11,000,000 in 2016, according to Internet World Stats), many groups see the Internet as central to the future of Myanmar’s ethnic media.

Among them is Tai TV Online, an ethnic media organization based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which posts its content to social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube to try to break the constraints of the media. It sustains itself with no support from international donors, and, despite being without a stable market, has rich human resources. Established in 2013, Tai TV Online is made up of 19 members who are construction workers, domestic workers, sewing workers and students from Chiang Mai in Thailand and Shan State. One of the founders of Tai TV Online, Nang Kham Ing (who learned journalism while working for formerly-exiled Democratic Voice of Burma and Myanmar Radio and Television for over more than a decade) describes the organization.

“We base ourselves on the idea that people who have mobile phones can be journalists. In the community, there are members who are interested in media, so it is a place for them to experiment and test,” said Kham Ing, adding that all workers who are interested in the media can voluntarily become journalists and presenters for their online media platform.

Tai TV Online is an example of how ethnic media can build community-linkages across the Thailand-Myanmar border as members share news, ideas, culture and language, while also proving that migrant workers have media skills that can be developed. All members are volunteers, working as journalists and presenters when they are free, yet aiming to produce TV programs once a week. Most clips are three to 10 minutes, with content on a wide number of topics: internally displaced persons, war, migration, landmines, Shan literature, and the environment. Members learn computer and editing skills from other student members who are from the media and share their knowledge within their media group. All facilities are placed in the Migrant Learning Centre (MLC) in Chiang Mai, and the organization has survived for four years without the support of international donors, though it still faces many financial hardships.

Finances and funding remain huge obstacles for ethnic media’s long-term sustainability. The funding of ethnic media groups in Myanmar varies, with some depending on their own funding. My previous work argues that dependence on financial support from international donors resulted in negative experiences for Hsen Pai, a Shan language journal now trying to rely on self-funding, on local donors or shareholders from the Shan community, and on sales and advertisers.

Yet, some ethnic media still heavily depend on international donors to such an extent that they cannot stand on their own feet. When they have tried to stand on their own, they cannot effectively increase their income from media production. While the former exile media Irrawaddy Publishing Group and DVB Multimedia Group earn income from their websites and from online advertisements, ethnic media groups like Tai TV Online have also tried this model, but often their staff struggles to create or attract such advertisements. Ethnic media groups also note that they do not receive financial support from the government.

“We wish to receive income for our program. We tried to receive money using YouTube but we failed,” said Kham Ing, noting that, while his group knew their content could earn money from online advertisement, their members did not have sufficient IT knowledge to implement such a model.

More international funding is not the solution for the sustainability of ethnic media, but cutting funding before the ethnic media groups can stand on their own would lead to wasted resources. The Hsen Pai model for self-funding is good, but different groups have different challenges. Rather than providing financial support, donors might think of offering IT trainings regarding how media groups can earn income from online advertisements, or support the creation of a way to sell ethnic media products to big media groups.

Nai Akar, one of the editors of the Mon State based bi-lingual Than Lwin Times Journal, said all state- or ethnic-based journals in Mon State are financially unprofitable. According to Akar, in the small market of Mon State, there are four state-based journals—two are mainly published in the ethnic Mon language, one with bi-lingual content, and one published in Burmese. “Now information can be accessed from social media, especially in Myanmar. Many young generations do not buy journals to read,” he said, adding that some media groups’ strategy to produce video clips for the news is a way for long-term sustainability, as they can sell these to other big media groups.

As for Tai TV Online members, they only produce web TV they than post on YouTube and Facebook, where they have 93,716 followers and over 87,678 likes. These figures are much higher than other long-operated ethnic media sources such as Karen Information Centre (with 21,471 likes), Shan Herald News for Agency (with 15,205 likes), and Mon News Agency (with 35,170 likes), but still much lower than those of mainstream Burmese media.

Yet, despite its popularity, Tai TV Online has limitations as they only use Shan and Thai languages, which cuts off possible links with other ethnic minority groups. However, the founder views this as a strength of their agency: “Using mother language can provide news for people who cannot speak other languages. We receive trust and confidence from our sources who speak the same language. We can collect direct reliable facts without passing through the interpreter. Some locals are afraid to talk if you ask in Burmese or English. We can directly feel their sensitivity,” said Kham Ing.

Three years ago, Thai Public Broadcasting Service’s citizen journalist program offered Tai TV Online the opportunity to launch a 15-minute daily Shan language program with Thai language caption to be broadcast on their channels. They had to refuse because they cannot produce such content on an everyday basis, as Kham Ing explains: “Some volunteers who wish to be journalists have to earn their living, so they cannot focus on reporting all the time. The offer is just an offer but does not include the means or the ‘how’ to pay for the work.” But compared to other media, Nang Kham Ing explained, Tai TV Online’s strength is that their diverse network of members can receive news from communities’ nooks and corners.

Sai Leik, a Burmese researcher who monitors the current peace process, reflects on this idea, recalling the Kokang and Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) conflict in 2015. In cases such as this, it is ethnic media that becomes a window into such events, when information is difficult to collect. “In my opinion, ethnic media groups have consistent reporting about battles in the ethnic areas. After Tatmadaw warned the media to not contact the Kokang rebels, almost all mainstream media stopped reporting Kokang battle news but ethnic media continued to report about it. But some ethnic media cannot reach the official spokesperson from Tatmadaw for response,” he said.

Aung Lwin, a regular contributor of the locally-based The Tanintharyi Weekly who faced a defamation lawsuit for an essay about a fish lamenting the destruction of a local creek in the Tanintharyi region, explains that the local journal is one of the driving forces for the local government to implement change under the new government. While Yangon-based journals have limitations reporting about the region, Tanintharyi-based media can fill the gap, he noted: “Reading Tanintharyi is having food prepared at home but reading others’ press is like eating a meal outside. This is the most significant.” In this regard, the role of ethnic media is important for the society in Myanmar, but few people acknowledge and realize it.

During the Fourth Ethnic Media Conference, held in Arakan State on February 2016, ethnic media called on the government to recognize them as equal to mainstream media, while also discussing the need for entry to state and regional parliament along with future funding from the government. Many ethnic media groups remain frustrated.

“…There is no progress. They do not believe and satisfy us. They replied that they will publish their own journal,” said Say Reh Soe, editor of Kantarawaddy Times, adding that NLD’s new state government media relations is poor compared to the former government.

Despite hardships, it is Tai TV Online’s future vision to launch a Tai National Channel. In April, without the support of donors and in opposition to the market, they took their first step. The founders discussed with other seven Shan media groups from Myanmar what it would take to materialize their vision.

The media groups agreed to use the same Shan language for the new technological terms and to avoid reports that can inflame racism and violence between different ethnic groups. Then, they opened a group on Line, an application that allows to ring free calls and messages through which they will share information and help with Tai media groups based both inside and outside Myanmar.

Such innovative solutions must be found if the blooming ethnic media groups are to find long-term sustainability and avoid quickly disappearing due to limitations of funding and constraints on human resources. As Zeya, a poet and journalist for DVB multimedia group, more famous under his pen name Thargyi Maung Zeya, said, ethnic media is like a blooming flower surrounded by the thorns:

“[Ethnic media] are just living without a noise of breath between Myanmar’s Tatmadaw (army) and ethnic armed groups,” he said. “The support for ethnic media from the international countries is like a drop of water for a dying person.

Ko Htwe is a postgraduate student at Cardiff University studying Journalism, Media and Communication. His research “The Role of Ethnic Media in New Myanmar” was published by Chiang Mai University, Thailand. He has also written articles for Bangkok Post, Asia Sentinel, Walkley Magazine, DVB, Irrawaddy and Karen news.

 This article originally appeared in Tea Circle, a forum hosted at Oxford University for emerging research and perspectives on Burma/Myanmar.

By Ko Htwe 10 June 2017

 

 

Programme Culturel Yangon juin 2017

Does The Issue of Kachin State’s Displaced People

par | Juin 9, 2017 | Ethnic conflict

The Issue of Kachin State’s Displaced People.

The Issue of Kachin State’s Displaced People.

Learn More

Displaced Kachin children in 2012.

Nearly 2,000 internally displaced people arrived at Shait Yang village.

Displaced Kachin camp out on a roadside.

As the sixth anniversary of the resumption of Burma’s civil war between the Burma Army and ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) arrives, civilians in Kachin State continue to be displaced by conflict.

Immediately after the second session of the 21st Century Panglong peace conference ended, the Burma Army launched an offensive on KIA posts in Tanai Township, inhabited by tens of thousands of people who depend on mining gold and amber for their livelihoods. Many people have fled the conflict zone, some were injured and two died.

These new Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) join more than 100,000 others in Kachin State—historically unprecedented numbers of displaced people in the area. The war not only produced tens of thousands of IDPs, but has taken the lives of combatants, civilians, and animals. Many villages have been devastated; paddy fields and farms turned to bushes.

The question “do Kachin IDP issues only matter to ethnic Kachin?” needs to be answered. Displacement creates social problems in a peaceful society and disrupts the state, the Union, and the economy.

… / …

The Problem of Unemployment

 

Civil war and displacement creates unemployment in Kachin, impacting GDP growth. According to the Asian Development Bank, Burma has one of the fastest GDP growth rates in the world at 7.7 percent, but its unemployment rate is still high at 4.02 percent. By comparison, Cambodia’s unemployment rate is 0.3 percent, Thailand’s 0.9 percent, Laos’ 1.3 percent, and Vietnam’s 3.7 percent.

Farm workers, fishermen, and hunters quit their jobs for fear of conflict when traveling in the region. They often become porters to support troops instead. Residents increasingly turn to opium poppy cultivation and drug dealing as a quick way to make money. Instability and unemployment has led to a low standard of living and an increase in violent crime.

A 2015 report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported Kachin State is one of the largest poppy growing areas in the region with 2,000 hectares under cultivation. Unsurprisingly, in some villages, an estimated 20 percent of households deal drugs. High unemployment and opium cultivation breeds drug addiction, particularly among youth. The cycle of unemployment, drug dealing, addiction, and crime will not only impact Kachin, but the country’s society at large.

 

… / …

Loss of Trade

 

Kachin’s major trading partner is China’s Yunnan province, and a major trade route, passing through KIA headquarters in Laiza, has been shut down by conflict. It is the same story for the Lweje trade route. The Kanpaiti trade route was opened as a replacement, but the road is not as good and is longer. It is fair to say that war in Kachin has negatively affected cross-border trade between China and Kachin, and therefore Burma.

The railway between Kachin and Mandalay via Sagaing has been affected by clashes along its course, disrupting domestic trade and pushing up the price of daily commodities which are imported by train to Kachin State. Trade between state capital Myitkyina and the far north’s Putao has also been halted by fighting. In 2012, an acute rice shortage was only alleviated when the government delivered sacks of rice to hungry villagers. Prices in Putao are often double, if not triple, those in the capital.

It’s not just trade of day-to-day necessities that has been disrupted by war—the trade of natural resources including gold, amber, and jadeite have also been affected, naturally affecting the state’s GDP.

 

… / …

 

 

Brain Drain

 

The civil war has driven people in Burma to seek better opportunities abroad. According to the International Organization for Migration, 4.25 million out of Burma’s 51.9 million population are now living abroad. Regionally, Burma has grown to be the largest migration source country in the Greater Mekong sub-region. Among them, 70 percent of migrants living abroad are based in Thailand, followed by Malaysia (15 percent), China (4.6 percent), Singapore (3.9 percent) and the USA (1.9 percent).

 

Although there is no specific data on a “brain drain” of workers from Kachin State, an estimated one person in ten is now working in a foreign country—China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and others. Most initially work in Malaysia and Thailand before seeking asylum in third countries such as Australia, the US, and Europe. This loss of labor undermines productivity in Kachin and the country.

 

Forlorn Hope

 

Despite the six-year anniversary of the civil war, the mounting number of IDPs maintain a forlorn hope for resettlement. The miserable IDP camps face increasing cuts to aid. According to Human Rights Watch, the Burma Army has blocked World Food Program aid since mid-2016 for fear that it could be used to supply KIA troops. Food rations for able-bodied men in IDP camps were cut in March 2017, according to camp organizers.

 

Burma Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing upset many Kachin last month when he accused “insurgents” of using IDPs as human shields in a conversation with International Committee for the Red Cross President Peter Maurer.

 

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—who initially fostered hopes of peace from voters including ethnic minorities—gave IDPs little hope of resettlement when she visited Kachin camps in March this year. “We can close these IDP camps and people can live in their homes only if we attain peace,” she said. Gaining peace seems a long way off for IDPs and their dream to return home remains blurry—they have no alternative but to wait.

 

Now is not time for Burma’s government to increase military spending, but rather to provide aid to IDPs, curtail unemployment, and rebuild communities in Kachin State and elsewhere. The Burma Army and ethnic armed groups should not argue over secession from the Union—as they did at the recent peace conference—but rather seek solutions to end conflict and build lasting peace in the region.

 

The international community, particularly China, must help Burma to end its civil war not just in the interest of border stability, but for the livelihoods of those displaced by conflict. China should not be shy in stepping in to solve the conflict—getting fully involved in order to achieve peace is preferable to being overly cautious and muddling through. Without attempts to broker peace, IDPs will be waiting beyond the seventh anniversary of civil war before they can return home. No one wants that.   Joe Kumbun is the pseudonym of a Kachin State-based analyst.

 

By Joe Kumbun 8 June 2017