CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: "...This report provides evidence that the Burma Army is committing war crimes ? in particular torture, shelling of civilian targets, and enslavement of civilians as porters and human shields -- on a widespread, systematic scale during its ongoing offensives in Ta?ang areas of northern Shan State. The fact that the crimes are being committed with complete impunity, not only by locally based battalions, but increasingly by battalions deployed under combat divisions deployed from central Burma, indicates clearly that the crimes are being authorized from the central command. TWO is gravely concerned that the Burma Army, which remains exempt from civilian oversight under the current constitution, is not only continuing its offensives in the ethnic areas in defiance of the ?peace process”, but is also systematically committing war crimes against the ethnic peoples in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. It is urgently needed for the National League for Democracy (NLD) to act to curb the military?s power, its criminal practices and impunity. Simply sharing power with the Burma Army under the current government will only maintain the military status quo, perpetuating the war and condemning the ethnic peoples to untold ongoing suffering..."