Burma Campaign UK today warned that Burmese Army attacks on a Karen armed faction in Myawaddy Town in Karen State, Burma, could be just the first example of many such attacks against armed ethnic groups, creating a major humanitarian and human rights crisis. Burma Campaign UK has repeatedly called on the international community to take steps to prevent such a crisis, but no action was taken.
Yesterday a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) occupied Myawaddy Town, in Karen State, on the border with Thailand, claiming they were defending people who were being threatened by the Burmese Army to vote for the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Party. The group claims to have 2,000 soldiers in the area, and that more soldiers are defecting from the main DKBA Border Guard Force and joining them.
At around 9am this morning the Burmese Army attacked the DKBA forces, using machine guns, rifles and rocket propelled grenades, despite there being large numbers of civilians in the town. More than 10,000 civilians have been forced to flee into Thailand and more are fleeing inland. Reports received by Burma Campaign UK sources suggest at least three civilians in Burma have been killed, and more than 20 injured.
Under Burma’s new constitution, armed ethnic groups which have been on ceasefire for many years have to place themselves under the control of the Burmese Army, as Border Guard Forces. However, the new Constitution grants none of the rights, protection and autonomy for which the groups took up arms in the first place, and so most major armed groups have rejected the demand. The dictatorship has threatened them with military force if they refuse.
In response, many armed ethnic groups, those on ceasefire and not on ceasefire, have formed a new military alliance. Some such as the United Wa State Army, and the Kachin Independence Army, claim to have up to 55,000 standing and reserve soldiers between them. They say they will not fight unless attacked.
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which split from the Karen National Union in 1994, had been seen as being a close ally of the dictatorship. However, it split itself over the demand to become a Border Guard Force under the Burmese Army, with a faction led Saw Lah Bwe, nickname Na Khan Mwe (Mr Moustache).
Fighting between the DKBA and Burmese Army is also reported in other areas of Karen State, including Thin Ka Nyi Naung, Waw Lay Kee, Toh Kaw Koe and Three Pagodas.
“This kind of fighting was predictable and possibly preventable, if the international community paid more attention to what happens in ethnic areas of Burma,” said Zoya Phan, International Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. “If the dictatorship goes ahead with its plans to attack all armed groups refusing to surrender, today’s fighting will be the equivalent of a first small skirmish. The United Nations Security Council must tell the dictatorship to observe a nationwide ceasefire, and solve problems in Burma through dialogue, holding negotiations with ethnic groups and Burma’s democracy movement, including Aung San Suu Kyi.”
The European Union also missed an opportunity to send a strong signal to the dictatorship that there would be consequences if they increased military action which breaks international law. The European Union failed to follow the advice of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, for the UN General Assembly to establish a commission of inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. They left the establishment of an inquiry out of the draft Burma resolution to be voted on later this month.
FOR BACKGROUND: In April this year Burma Campaign UK repeated its call for action to be taken to prevent the kind of conflict that has broken out in Karen State today:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/news-and-reports/news-stories/international-community-ignores-danger-of-burma-sliding-into-war/16
Article first published in July 2007 on the dangers of the international community ignoring implications of Burma’s new constitution bringing more conflict and human rights abuses to the country, and instead focussing on reforming the General’s agenda, and free and fair elections:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/reports/National_Convention.pdf