Weekly Highlights: Burma Army Sets Out a Pattern of Offensives for 2014

March 3, 2014

As the peace process stalls, more and more reports are emerging of clashes between the Burma Army and ethnic armed groups northern Burma; the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Shan State Army – South (SSA-South) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Yet as highlighted by a report released by Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO), it is the civilians on the ground who are experiencing the most suffering, as human rights violations committed by the Burma Army continue as militarization and conflict in ethnic areas increase.

On 23 February, a combined force of Burma Army and its proxy, Border Guard Force (BGF), attacked a SSA-South position in Mongton, Shan State, while the TNLA reported that their troops were attacked while they were carrying out drug eradication activities in Namhsan, Kutkai, and Manton townships, northern Shan State. Since 31 January, the Burma Army has also taken three KIA outposts and seized a Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) county office. This follows on from a pattern of greater militarization and increased troop movements in these areas. The Burma Army is reportedly building a road in order to have greater access to KIA Brigade One areas and rotating troops on the frontlines.

The report released by TWO confirms this increased militarization, outlining how the number of Burma Army battalion in Ta’ang areas has increased from 16 to 30 last year, which, according to the report, contradicts the “Burmese government’s claims to be seeking a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict.” Of course this militarization and escalation in conflict has severe impacts on the civilian populations of these ethnic areas. Since offensives were launched against the KIA in June 2011, around 100,000 have been displaced while the TWO report states that 4,000 Ta’ang people have been driven from their homes. Human rights violations are also occurring on a regular basis. The report highlights cases of torture, sexual abuse and forced labor such as portering, committed by the Burma Army. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has highlighted the case of Laphai Gham, a Kachin farmer who was taken away from an IDP camp and severely tortured to extract a confession. He is still in jail.

It is worrying that as the government’s chief peace negotiator, Minister Aung Min, and his peace team prepare for the next round of talks, the Burma Army is increasing its presence and its offensives, especially in northern Burma. There is a huge trust deficit between the Burma government and ethnic nationalities, yet continuing offensives, increased militarization, and more human rights violations are becoming an established pattern in 2014 in Kachin and northern Shan States.

A US embassy official in Rangoon recently stated that the goal of the US is “to promote the professionalization of the Burmese Armed Forces—and we define that to include accountability, civilian control, understanding of, and adherence to, international law, and the protection of human rights.” This echoes the stated aims of the UK government in its engagement with the Burma Army. Yet despite the political reforms that have been made in Burma in the last few years, one institution which has not reformed at all is the Burma Army and the road to achieving the above mentioned objectives hasn’t even started yet. The international community must apply more pressure to reform the Burma Army, and to find a political solution that reduces its dominance in the political arena and serves to protect the people of Burma rather than waging war in ethnic areas. Otherwise, the road of displacement, human rights abuses and conflict that has been trodden for over sixty years by Burma’s ethnic nationalities will have no end in sight.