Armed conflict in Kachin State - economic factors associated with the conflict
|Title:|| ||China, the United States and the Kachin Conflict
|Date of publication:|| ||January 2014|
|Description/subject:|| ||KEY FINDINGS:
The prolonged Kachin conflict is a
major obstacle to Myanmar’s national
reconciliation and a challenging test
for the democratization process.
The KIO and the Myanmar
government differ on the priority
between the cease-fire and the political
dialogue. Without addressing this
difference, the nationwide peace
accord proposed by the government
will most likely lack the KIO’s
The disagreements on terms have
hindered a formal cease-fire. In addition, the existing economic interest groups profiting from the armed
conflict have further undermined the
prospect for progress.
China intervened in the Kachin negotiations in 2013 to protect its national
interests. A crucial motivation was a
concern about the “internationalization” of the Kachin issue and the potential US role along the Chinese border.
Despite domestic and external
pressure, the US has refrained from
playing a formal and active role in the
Kachin conflict. The need to balance
the impact on domestic politics in
Myanmar and US-China relations are
factors in US policy.
The US has attempted to discuss
various options of cooperation with
China on the Kachin issue. So far,
such attempts have not been accepted
|Author/creator:|| ||Yun Sun|
|Source/publisher:|| ||Stimson Center (Great Powers and the Changing Myanmar - Issue Brief No. 2)|
|Format/size:|| ||pdf (1.1MB)|
|Alternate URLs:|| ||http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/Myanmar_Issue_Brief_No_2_Jan_2014_WEB_3.pdf|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||23 January 2014|
|Title:|| ||Guns, Briefcases and Inequality: The Neglected War in Kachin State
|Date of publication:|| ||21 September 2013|
|Description/subject:|| ||"Burma Partnership is pleased to announce the launch of a new documentary film today to coincide with the International Day of Peace. The film, entitled “Guns, Briefcases and Inequality: The Neglected War in Kachin State,” demonstrates the need for the government of Burma to engage in meaningful political dialogue with all ethnic nationalities on equal terms, including discussing amendments to the 2008 Constitution. These are necessary in order to address the underlying causes of armed conflict: self-determination, the lack of ethnic rights, and inequality, and to move towards lasting peace throughout the country.
The short documentary film also highlights how development projects and natural resource management are exacerbating armed conflict and human rights violations in ethnic areas, without adequate means to justice for the people.
The film was written and directed by Daniel Quinlan. It features interviews with Kachin internally displaced persons (IDPs), civil society and community-based organizations, leaders of ethnic non-state armed groups and advocates for human rights and democracy in Burma"|
|Source/publisher:|| ||Burma Partnership|
|Format/size:|| ||Adobe Flash (15 minutes 29 seconds)|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||21 September 2013|
|Title:|| ||Blood and Gold: Inside Burma's Hidden War (video)
|Date of publication:|| ||04 October 2012|
|Description/subject:|| ||Deep in the wilds of northern Myanmar's Kachin state a brutal civil war has intensified over the past year between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
People & Power sent filmmakers Jason Motlagh and Steve Sapienza to Myanmar (formerly Burma) to investigate why the conflict rages on, despite the political reforms in the south that have impressed Western governments and investors now lining up to stake their claim in the resource-rich Asian nation.|
|Author/creator:|| ||Jason Motlagh and Steve Sapienza|
|Language:|| ||English, Burmese, Kachin, (English subtitles|
|Source/publisher:|| ||People & Power (Al Jazeera)|
|Format/size:|| ||Adobe Flash (25 minutes), html|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||08 October 2012|
|Title:|| ||Untold Miseries - Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma’s Kachin State
|Date of publication:|| ||19 March 2012|
|Description/subject:|| ||'When Burmese President Thein Sein took office in March 2011, he said that over 60 years of armed conflict have put Burma’s
ethnic populations through “the hell of untold miseries.” Just three months later, the Burmese armed forces resumed military
operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), leading to serious abuses and a humanitarian crisis affecting tens of
thousands of ethnic Kachin civilians.
“Untold Miseries”: Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Kachin State is based on over 100 interviews in Burma’s Kachin
State and China’s Yunnan province. It details how the Burmese army has killed and tortured civilians, raped women, planted
antipersonnel landmines, and used forced labor on the front lines, including children as young as 14-years-old. Soldiers have
attacked villages, razed homes, and pillaged properties. Burmese authorities have failed to authorize a serious relief effort in
KIA-controlled areas, where most of the 75,000 displaced men, women, and children have sought refuge. The KIA has also been
responsible for serious abuses, including using child soldiers and antipersonnel landmines.
Human Rights Watch calls on the Burmese government to support an independent international mechanism to investigate
violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by all parties to Burma’s ethnic armed conflicts. The government
should also provide United Nations and humanitarian agencies unhindered access to all internally displaced populations, and
make a long-term commitment with humanitarian agencies to authorize relief to populations in need.'|
|Source/publisher:|| ||Human Rights Watch|
|Format/size:|| ||pdf (1.7MB - OBL version; 2.25MB - original))|
|Alternate URLs:|| ||http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/burma0312ForUpload_1.pdf|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||20 March 2012|
|Title:|| ||KIO warns China: Myitsone Dam could spark ‘civil war’
|Date of publication:|| ||20 May 2011|
|Description/subject:|| ||"In an open letter sent to Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has asked China to stop the planned Myitsone Dam to be built in Burma’s northern Kachin state, warning that the controversial project could lead to civil war.
The English-language letter dated March 16 but only recently made public and obtained by Mizzima states that the KIO ‘informed the military government that KIO would not be responsible for the civil war if the war broke out because of this hydropower plant project and the dam construction’..."|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||20 May 2011|
|Title:|| ||KIO Open Letter to the People's Republic of China
|Date of publication:|| ||16 March 2011|
|Description/subject:|| ||Text of the open letter sent to Chinese President Hu Jintao, in which the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) asks China to stop the planned Mali Nmai Concluence (Myitsone) Dam Project to be built in Burma’s northern Kachin state, warning that the controversial project could lead to civil war|
|Source/publisher:|| ||Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)|
|Format/size:|| ||pdf (878K)|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||21 May 2011|
|Title:|| ||Dam Nation
|Date of publication:|| ||April 2010|
|Description/subject:|| ||"Burma and China prepare to build seven hydroelectric dams in Kachin State that will not provide the people of Burma with jobs, security or even electricity
Large-scale hydroelectric dams have long been decried for the immense damage they do to the environment and rural communities. Not everyone agrees, however, that the problems associated with mega-dams outweigh their benefits. After all, say pragmatists, dams are a reliable supply of electricity, without which no country can hope to survive in the modern world.
(Illustration: Harn lay / The irrawaddy)
But in Burma, such arguments fall flat. Not only do massive dam-building projects take an especially high toll on people’s lives—besides destroying villages and the environment, they result in intensifying human rights abuses and make diseases such as malaria more prevalent—they also come without a payoff for the general population.
At the end of the day, the electricity they generate—the only benefit the Burmese people can expect to get from them—remains as scarce as ever..."|
|Author/creator:|| ||David Paquette|
|Source/publisher:|| ||"The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 4|
|Date of entry/update:|| ||19 April 2010|