Burmese soldiers kill Kachin civilian in Loije on Christmas Day

Soldiers from the Burmese army shot and killed an unarmed Kachin villager on Christmas Day in Loije, Kachin State, local villagers report.

According to the man's relatives, about 6 p.m. Maran Zau Ja and a friend were walking home from a sugar cane farm when government soldiers opened fire.  Zau Ja, 47 years old, died from his wounds.  His friend survived the attack.

Local residents say that neither of the two men were members of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) or its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army.  The KIA has been in open conflict with the Burmese government since June of this year when a 17 year cease fire between Burma's second largest armed rebel group and the central government ended.

Zau Ja was killed by soldiers stationed in the Loije area from the Burmese army's Light Infantry Battalion No. 321, according to local residents.

On December 27 morning, Zau Ja was buried in Loije by a local church.  He is survived by his wife and three children.

Responding to the death of Zau Ja, a village elder told the Kachin News Group, “the soldiers now consider all Kachin civilians as the enemy.  Unarmed and plain clothed civilians are now a target”.

UN team visits KIO run refugee camps, as regime aid refused.

More than 5 months after refugee camps were initially established along the Chinese Burma border in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), UN officials have finally been able to visit.  This after a small UN convoy arrived at the KIO's Laiza headquarters Monday night.

The UN delegation comprising of staff from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), was supposed to arrive last week but was kept in Manmaw (Bhamo) district for several days and prevented from coming to Laiza by the government's chief administrator for Manmaw U Tay Zar Aung, according to a source close to the UN team.

In October the UN’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, revealed that a UN offer to deliver food to refugees located in KIO territory was refused by the Burmese government, which claimed the aid wasn’t needed.

Aid groups and human rights activists however have become increasingly alarmed at the deteriorating living conditions in the KIO refugee camps. Over the past 6 weeks several major international human rights groups including Refugees International, Physicians for Human Rights, Partners, and Human Rights Watch have all issued statements warning of the worsening food and health situation for refugees trapped behind KIO lines.

Following the UN team's arrival Monday evening, a four person UN delegation met with KIO relief officials in Laiza to discuss the possibility of delivering aid to camps in KIO controlled territory said Doi Pyi Sa, chairman of KIO's IDP and Refugee Relief Committee (IRRC).  The delegation was led by U Myat Thar of UNICEF and included U Moe Aung from OCHA and U Joseph and U Nay Linn Htat both from UNHCR.

During the day Tuesday, UN and KIO relief officials jointly visited six major IDP camps located in the Laiza area, Doi Pyi Sa added.

Doi Pyi Sa said that his organization also accepted 300 family relief kits from UNICEF and 500 similar kits from UNHCR on Tuesday.  The kits, which contain basic household items to help with the refugees cooking and shelter needs, are to be distributed as soon as possible.

UNICEP aid trucks arrived in Kachin IDPs camps in Laiza.

Supplies donated by Burmese government and USDP MP rejected
While accepting supplies from the UN, the IRRC refused a load of supplies brought by the UN that were donated by Burmese officials, according to Doi Pyi Sa.  He reported that the donations were rejected due to what he called the contradictory behavior of the Burmese government, which included recently offering a ceasefire and then launching an offensive against KIO positions.

The rejected relief materials include 1,000 pieces of warm clothing and 300 sacks of rice donated by U Thein Zaw, an MP from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).  Also refused were 1,000 family relief kits from the Kachin State government’s Relief and Rehabilitation Center.

An additional 400 family kits from the the Kachin State Red Cross were also declined.  The Kachin State Red Cross is under the control of the Myanmar Red Cross, an entity considered by many in Burma to be heavily influenced by the Burmese military.

La Rip, a co-coordinator with the Laiza based Relief Action Network for IDP and Refugee (RANIR) while pleased that UN officials had arrived in Laiza complained that they should have come much earlier.

“They should have come a long time ago,” La Rip said.  “The UN shouldn’t stop after their first introductory trip,” he added.   “We would like the UN agencies to make a proper survey of all the IDP camps for further relief assistance”, he said.

La Rip added that the UN's World Food Program should also assist IDPs presently living in camps in KIO territory.  The World Food Program since August has assisted in the distribution of rice to IDP's sheltering in government controlled towns such as Myitkyina and Waingmaw, but not in KIO controlled areas.

La Rip also said that both Burma’s central government and the KIO should understand the relief mandate of the various UN agencies.  La Rip noted that he wants to see the UN take a leadership role in refugee relief activities.

Relief groups estimate that more than 56,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the Burmese government launched its offensive against the KIO in June of this year.  It is estimated that more than 30,000 of these people have taken refuge in camps located in KIO controlled areas along the China border.  An additional 15 - 20,000 people are said to be living in temporary camps located on the Chinese side of the border or are living in Yunnan’s towns and cities including Rulli and Kunming.

Another 6,000 – 8,000people are estimated to have taken refuge in territory controlled by the Burmese government.

On December 10, Burma’s President Thein Sein sent a letter to General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-chief of the country’s Defense Services calling for the army to halt its offensive against the KIO.

While the letter was read out publicly in the Myitkyina City Hall on Monday by the chief minister of Kachin state, KIO sources say the Burmese army has continued its offensive over the past 72 hours.

Sources in Myitkyina report that also on Monday reinforcement troops consisting of two whole train compartments arrived in Myitkyina station, this despite Thein Sein’s pledge of a halt in fighting.

KIO officials reported today that the Burmese army is increasingly troop numbers at its positions near Mai Ja Yang, the KIO’s second largest town.

KIA raid kills Burmese Major, 17 others in Mongkoe

An attack by the Kachin Independence Army in Mongkoe in Shan state killed at least 18 Burmese army personnel early Monday morning, eyewitnesses report. The attack which occurred in downtown Mongkoe targeted a compound that is home to the Military Strategic Office (Byu-ha Kone in Burmese) and an adjoining police station.

Among the dead was Major Maung Maung Myo, the commander of the Chinshwehawy (Nyankun)-based Infantry Battalion No. 129, claimed a representative of the KIA. While most of the killed were soldiers two of the dead were members of the local police force according to the KIA official.

Several homes and offices located in the military compound that housed the Strategic Office were also destroyed in the raid, said a local resident. The attack in Mongkoe near the Chinese border is just the latest clash between the KIA and the Burmese army in an increasingly violent conflict that began in June.

The raid was carried out by troops from KIA Battalions 36 and 38 under the Kia’s 4th Brigade based in Northern Shan State and lasted approximately 45 minutes a KIA official told the Kachin News Group.

Also killed in the raid was Corporal Sumlut Gam Seng of the KIA's Battalion 36, the KIA official said.

Although a Burmese army convoy carrying reinforcements left Muse's 105 Border Trade Zone shortly after the attack according to local residents it had yet to arrive in Mongkoe by late Monday afternoon.

POTENTIAL WAR CRIMES EXPOSED IN DETAIL IN NEW REPORT TITLED, CRIMES IN NORTHERN BURMA: RESULTS FROM A FACT-FINDING MISSION TO KACHIN STATE

28 November 2011, Bangkok, Thailand - Burma’s army is committing serious human rights violations against ethnic communities in Kachin State that may amount to war crimes, according to a new report released today by the Norway-based non-governmental organization Partners Relief & Development (Partners).

The 59-page report documents first-hand testimony and frontline photographs of the increasingly brutal civil war in Burma’s Kachin State, which broke out on June 9 between the Burma army and the Kachin Independence Army, ending a 17-year-long ceasefire agreement. Partners has traveled to the conflict zone several times since June and documented torture, extrajudicial killing, open fire on civilians, human shielding, unlawful arrest and detention, forced labor, forced relocation, displacement, property theft and property destruction by the Burma army. An estimated 30,000 civilians have fled the conflict and abuses by the Burma army since the war began in June.

The report comes as the new semi-civilian government of Burma touts political and legal reforms; and as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares to visit the country, the first visit by a US Secretary of State since 1955. According to Partners co-founder and international advocacy director Oddny Gumaer, “While the political situation in lowland Burma is being interpreted as a major breakthrough, the situation for millions in the ethic areas is worse than it’s been in two decades.” The principle author of the report, Bryan Erikson, adds, “Our findings reveal civilians to be living in extreme physical duress as a direct result of an attack perpetrated by the Burma Army in October 2011.” Gumaer echoes the activist community stating, “The Burma army needs to immediately cease attacks on ethnic civilians in Kachin State.”

The new report displays graphic images of killings perpetrated by Burma army battalions 74 and 276, as well as wanton property destruction, all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, according to Partners. A Kachin woman, whose 8-year old son was killed on 8 October by the Burma army, is quoted in the report.

“I saw my son face down and there was a lot of blood. He was bleeding from the right side of his chest and from his left hand. I picked up his dead body and took it back to my house. I took his clothes off that night and washed him and washed his clothes. I put clean clothes on him and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, two Burmese soldiers were inside my house taking my belongings and placing them in bags. They were breaking all the things they didn’t want.”
Partners is calling on the international community to support a UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry into international crimes in Burma, and for donors and UN agencies to call for immediate access to populations affected by the war. “Secretary Clinton should prioritize discussion of these abuses with all levels of Burma’s government and let them know the world is watching, and we’re shocked” says Gumaer.

Partners Relief & Development is a registered charity in six countries. The work of Partners has provided emergency relief and sustainable development for tens of thousands of displaced people in Burma since 1994. Partners actively investigates, documents and reports human rights violations for the purposes of advocacy and awareness. Partners seeks free, full lives for the children of Burma and reconciled communities living in peace.