Non-Ceasefire Groups

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Description: About 12,300,000 results (January 2018)
Source/publisher: www via Google
Date of entry/update: 2018-01-02
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English +?
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Sub-title: အလေးထားရမည့် အကြောင်းအချက်များ အမှတ် – ၁၀
Description: "၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇူလိုင် ၁ ရက် ကနေ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ မတ် ၂၀ ရက်အထိ ရှစ်လတာကာလအကြား တိုင်းရင်းသားလက်နက်ကိုင်တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေ (EAOs) ရဲ့ နယ်မြေတွေမှာ စစ်ကောင်စီနဲ့ EAOs တွေရဲ့ အကြားတိုက်ပွဲ အကြိမ်ရေ ၂,၁၉၃ ကြိမ်ထက်မနည်း ဖြစ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။ တိုက်ပွဲတွေက ကရင်ပြည်နယ်၊ ကချင်ပြည်နယ်၊ ကယားပြည်နယ်နဲ့ ချင်းပြည်နယ်အတွင်းက EAOs နယ်မြေ တွေမှာ ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့တာ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ အဲဒီအထဲကမှ ကရင်အမျိုးသားအစည်းအရုံး (KNU) ရဲ့ နယ်မြေ အတွင်းမှာတော့ ၁,၇၇၅ ကြိမ်ထက်မနည်း တိုက်ပွဲတွေ ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပါတယ်။ မတ် ၁၉ ရက်နေ့ကလည်း KNU တပ်မဟာ ၃ ထိန်းချုပ်နယ်မြေထဲက ကွီးလားကျေးရွာနဲ့ တကက်ပူကျေးရွာတို့ကို စစ်ကောင်စီက လေကြောင်းနဲ့ ဗုံး ၄ လုံး ကြဲချခဲ့တာကြောင့် စစ်ရေးတင်းမာနေတဲ့ အခြေအနေတွေ ရှိနေပါတယ်။ တဆက်တည်းမှာပဲ တိုင်းနှင့်ပြည်နယ် ဒေသအသီးသီးမှာ စစ်ကောင်စီနဲ့ ဒေသခံကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့ (PDF/LDF/CDF/CNDF/KNDF)တို့ အကြား တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားမှုတွေကလည်း ပိုမိုကျယ်ပြန့်လာပါတယ်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇူလိုင် ၁ ရက်နေ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ မတ် ၂၀ ရက်ထိ ကိုးလတာအတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီနဲ့ ဒေသခံကာကွယ်ရေး တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေအကြား တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားမှု ၇၆၈ ကြိမ်ထက်မနည်း ရှိခဲ့ပါတယ်။ စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းမှာ တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားမှု အများဆုံး ဖြစ်ခဲ့ပြီး ၂၉၃ ကြိမ်ထက်မနည်း ရှိခဲ့ပါတယ်။ ဒါဟာ သတင်းမီဒီယာတွေနဲ့ လွတ်လပ်သော အဖွဲ့အစည်းတွေက ဖော်ပြထားတဲ့ တရားဝင် အချက်အလက်တွေ ကို စုစည်းပြီး ကောက်ယူထားတာ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ မြေပြင်အခြေအနေမှာတော့ အခုဖော်ပြတဲ့ ကိန်းဂဏန်း တွေထက် ပိုများနိုင်ပါတယ်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇူလိုင် ၁ ရက်ကနေ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၂၈ ရက်အထိ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ် အတွင်းမှာလည်း မြောက်ပိုင်းမဟာမိတ်တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေနဲ့ သျှမ်းပြည်ပြန်လည်ထူထောင်ရေးကောင်စီ (RCSS/SSA) တို့အကြား တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားမှုတွေရှိခဲ့ပြီး လက်ရှိအချိန်မှာတော့ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ် တောင်ပိုင်း ရပ်စောက်မြို့နယ်နဲ့ ပင်လုံမြို့နယ်တို့မှာ အခြေအနေတွေ တင်းမာနေဆဲ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ ထူးခြားချက်အနေနဲ့ကတော့ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် မတ် ၁ ရက်ကနေ ၂၀ ရက်အတွင်း တိုင်းရင်းသား လက်နက်ကိုင်တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေအကြား ထိပ်တိုက်ရင်ဆိုင်တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားနှုန်းကတော့ သိသိသာသာကို လျော့နည်းလာခဲ့ပါတယ်။ ∎ ဘာကြောင့်အလေးထားသင့်သလဲ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက်ပိုင်း ဖြစ်ပွားလာတဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲ အခြေအနေ တွေကို လေ့လာခြင်းအားဖြင့်လည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရဲ့ ရှိရင်းစွဲ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဖြစ်စဉ် (Peace Process) အခင်းအကျင်း ပြောင်းလဲမှု ရှိ၊ မရှိ အပေါ် သုတေသနပြု ဖော်ထုတ်နိုင်မှာ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ ဒါ့အပြင် ပဋိပက္ခနဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲတွေကို စောင့်ကြည့်ပြီး ပဋိပက္ခနဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲတွေအတွင်း သေဆုံး၊ ဒဏ်ရာရရှိခဲ့ရတဲ့ အရပ်သားပြည်သူ အရေအတွက်၊ သေဆုံး ဒဏ်ရာရခဲ့ပုံ ဖြစ်စဉ်တွေနဲ့ စစ်ဘေး တိမ်းရှောင်နေရတဲ့ ဒုက္ခသည်ပမာဏကို လေ့လာခြင်း အားဖြင့် လက်နက်ကိုင် တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေရဲ့ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှု ကျူးလွန်တာတွေ ရှိ၊ မရှိဆိုတဲ့အပေါ် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းမှု ဆိုင်ရာ တရားမျှတမှု ရှုထောင့် (Transitional Justice) ကနေ သုတေသနပြုနိုင်မှာ ဖြစ်တဲ့အတွက် အလေးထား သင့်သော ဒေတာ အချက်အလက်များပဲ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ ∎ တွဲဖက်လေ့လာသင့်သည်များ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံမှာ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက်ပိုင်း ဖြစ်ပွားလာတဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲအခြေအနေနဲ့ အကျိုးဆက်တွေ အပါအဝင် တိုင်းရင်းသားဒေသတွေမှာ ဖြစ်ပွားနေတဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲတွေ၊ အရပ်သား ထိခိုက်သေဆုံးမှုတွေနဲ့ စစ်ဘေးရှောင်ဒုက္ခသည် အခြေအနေတွေကို လွတ်လပ်တဲ့ သတင်းမီဒီယာတွေ၊ အထူးသဖြင့် တိုင်းရင်းသား သတင်းဌာနတွေရဲ့ မြေပြင် အခြေအနေ ဖော်ပြချက်တွေအပြင်၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆိုင်ရာ ညှိနှိုင်းရေးရုံး (UNOCHA Myanmar) လို ကုလသမဂ္ဂဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းတွေ၊ အခြား လွတ်လပ်သော ပြည်တွင်း ပြည်ပအဖွဲ့အစည်းတွေရဲ့ မှတ်တမ်း၊ အစီရင်ခံစာ စတာတွေနဲ့လည်း တွဲဖက် လေ့လာနိုင်ပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher: Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar
2022-03-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar, ethnic conflict, civil war, ceasefires, landgrabbing
Topic: Myanmar, ethnic conflict, civil war, ceasefires, landgrabbing
Description: "ABSTRACT: A reform process initiated in 2011 in Myanmar brought hope to end decades of civil war and ethnic conflict. But new ceasefires have not moved into real political dialogue, the ‘peace process’ has stalled, and fighting continues in parts of the country. Economic reforms have favoured foreign investment and local elites, and have had detrimental impacts on communities in ethnic borderlands. The new ceasefires facilitated this, and coupled with economic reforms brought loss of land and related natural resources, and strengthened the central government and the military’s political and economic control over ethnic borderlands. This article argues that this is a continuation of the ‘neither war nor peace’ policy of a previous round of ceasefires in the 1990s, but by different means. In the past this focused on coercion and military pressure, but now these military tactics have been complemented with the use of the new legal framework.....Introduction: Myanmar has suffered from ethnic conflict and civil war since independence in 1948, and the national armed forces (known as the Tatmadaw) have played a dominant role in national politics since it staged a coup d’etat in 1962. In 2011, a reform process started that brought hope at home and abroad that finally a political solution could be found at the negotiation table to more than sixty years of armed conflict. Almost a decade later, newly agreed ceasefires have not moved into real political dialogue, the so-called ‘peace process’ has all but stalled, and fighting continues in many parts of the country, causing new displacement of the civilian population. Meanwhile, economic reforms initiated in the same period favouring foreign investment and local elites have had detrimental impacts on rural communities in ethnic borderlands.1 The new ceasefires have played a large role in facilitating these negative consequences. Rather than bringing peace and inclusive development that respects and promotes social justice and local customs, the ceasefires and economic reforms have brought loss of land and related natural resources and the destruction of local cultures. Legal reforms have further paved the way for these negative developments. This article analyses why the new ceasefires have not transformed into a lasting political settlement, by comparing them with previous ceasefire attempts and by placing them into the larger conflict dynamics in Myanmar. It will explain the impact of these failed ceasefires on the right to land for rural communities in the ethnic borderlands. It will show how the ceasefires and the economic reforms strengthened the central government and Tatmadaw’s military, political and economic control over ethnic borderlands. It is argued that what is being experienced currently is a continuation of the ‘neither war nor peace’ policy of the first round of ceasefires in the 1990s (Kramer 2009a), but by different means. While in the previous round of ceasefires this involved mostly coercion and military pressure, in the present times these military tactics have been complemented with the use of the country’s new legal framework..."
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Source/publisher: The Journal of Peasant Studies via Routledge (London)
2020-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar faces a number of significant stabilisation challenges including frequent natural disasters, environmental challenges and organised crime, in addition to the challenges associated with a nascent democratisation process. This report, however, focuses exclusively on violent conflict and displacement. Myanmar has been afflicted by armed conflict since independence. During the 1960s-1980s, a number of armed groups were able to establish ‘effectively independent micro-states’ (EC, 2016, p. 3). These had their own ‘rudimentary’ governments, service provision, and foreign policies (EC, 2016, p. 3). This situation persists in some parts of Myanmar (EC, 2016, p. 3). The communities currently most at risk of, and affected by, conflict and violence are those living in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone and in other parts of northern Shan State. Other affected communities include those living in Kachin, Rakhine, Chin and Kayin States. The community most affected by the threat of forced displacement is the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, in Rakhine State. The nature of conflict in these areas ranges from occasional to frequent clashes between armed groups and government forces. In addition to armed conflict, Rakhine State suffers from tensions between the Muslim and Buddhist communities. There were more than 700,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Myanmar in 2016 (McConnachie, 2016, p. 4). Moreover, more than 128,000 refugees from Myanmar were living in Thailand in 2014 (UNICEF, 2014, p. 3). According to UNICEF, displacement can constitute a driver of conflict, depending on whether it is forced or not, and on the extent to which host communities are prepared for IDPs. Women and children are reportedly disproportionately affected by migration and displacement, and make up the majority of those who are IDPs and refugees (ibid). The literature identifies a number of sources of resilience in Myanmar, which include:  Institutionalisation of peace-making: Both the previous and current governments declared their commitment to ending conflict in Myanmar. A number of peace initiatives and inter-faith dialogues have taken place in order to mitigate tensions and conflict in the country.  Economy: Myanmar’s economy has considerable potential. A number of economic reforms have been undertaken and economic growth is strong, although it has been slowing recently.  Strengthened civil society: The previous government’s decision to allow issue-driven CSOs to operate in Myanmar has led to a proliferation of such organisations.  Education: The previous government undertook steps to reform the education system in Myanmar in a bid to end discrimination against ethnic minorities.  Release of political prisoners: A significant number of political prisoners have been released since the new National League for Democracy (NLD) led government came to power.  Increased press freedom: Extensive media reform has resulted in a proliferation of ‘alternative’ information and has rendered the government subject to increased scrutiny. The literature identifies a number of policy options for mitigating tensions in Myanmar. International actors could potentially provide support and assistance in a number of areas. These include technical support for the conclusion, implementation and monitoring of ceasefire agreements, and support for an inclusive national political dialogue. They also include various forms of assistance for recovery and development, as well as support for educational reform. There is a sizeable body of literature on Myanmar’s stabilisation challenges. This consists of a mixture of peer-reviewed journal articles, policy briefs, and reports by NGOs and international organisations. While gender is not addressed in all of the papers reviewed for the purposes of this report, a number of papers do look at gender, specifically in the context of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and in the context of peace-making and peacebuilding..."
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Source/publisher: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre
2017-05-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since the February 1 military coup, independent media has faced a crisis in Myanmar. Yet, even before the coup, journalists and rights advocates had decried a diminishing space for independent media, especially media reporting on armed conflict and humanitarian crises in Rakhine State. In early January, we interviewed seven journalists and editors about the risks and challenges they faced when reporting on conflict between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Tatmadaw. Some quotes have been anonymized due to the repressive and unstable situation under the military regime. Those interviewed shared numerous barriers the government created with regard to the media’s coverage of the conflict, which began escalating in late 2018. Some of these barriers were an extension of those already in place since October 2016, when the Tatmadaw began committing “clearance operations” against Rohingya people in the state’s northern townships. At that time, the government refused independent media access to the area. By April 2017, journalists needed permission to visit anywhere in the state. The Ministry of Information organized reporting tours beginning that July but required that participants were accompanied by government “minders” and followed fixed itineraries. One journalist we interviewed in January reflected on a time when they traveled to northern Rakhine without authorization, shortly after the Tatmadaw conducted its second and more sweeping wave of atrocities in August 2017, for which it is now facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice. The journalist was detained by soldiers and forced to sign an agreement not to post or publish anything from their trip. Radio Free Asia also reported that journalists visiting northern Rakhine without authorization during the 2017 crisis faced threats, harassment, and confiscation of their cameras and laptops. In January 2018, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Aung San Suu Kyi the world’s biggest backslider in press freedoms, but the situation only worsened. That September, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo received seven-year sentences for the possession of classified documents during their investigation of the massacre of ten Rohingya. Despite a police officer’s confession that he was ordered to entrap the journalists, they spent more than 500 days in prison before being released by presidential pardon. The AA began escalating its fight for autonomy in late 2018, and the Tatmadaw cracked down with a brutal counterinsurgency campaign. Violence—including indiscriminate airstrikes, gunfire, arson, and enforced disappearances—claimed around 300 lives, while the Rakhine Ethnics Congress, a local civil society group, estimated approximately 230,000 people were displaced. In April 2020, U.N. human rights expert Yanghee Lee documented the Tatmadaw’s targeting of civilians and called for an investigation into allegations of ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Rakhine and neighboring Chin State. As the conflict worsened, journalists faced increasing obstacles to reporting safely, accurately, and freely on human rights abuses that occurred. The journalists we interviewed described numerous ways authorities limited access to information and sources and left them vulnerable to arrest. In June 2019, the government ordered telecoms operators to shut down the internet in nine townships, impacting more than one million people. Although the restrictions were at times partially lifted, the internet remained effectively inaccessible across eight townships until, a day after the coup, the new military regime restored full access as it scrambled to earn the favor of marginalized ethnic groups. “For media workers to access facts and information has been difficult since the internet was blocked,” Myint Kyaw, former Secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, told us during a phone interview in early January, when the internet restrictions were still in place. Before the coup, the Myanmar Press Council had served as a semi-independent media adjudication body whose members were appointed by the National League for Democracy government, media associations, and civil society; now, most of its members have resigned due to military directives since the coup. “Media are just using photos of signboards with village names for news coming from Rakhine; the photo quality really decreased. Also, villagers cannot post things on social media, so they cannot share what is happening,” said Myint Kyaw in early January. Internet restrictions impacted the ability to cross-check information as well. “When someone from an internet-restricted area tells me something, it’s very difficult to verify,” said a reporter with the Rakhine State-based Development Media Group (DMG) in a phone interview in early January. “I try to verify it by calling four or five people, but sometimes updates happen in the meantime. I also have to consider each person’s background and whether what they say is likely to be accurate.” Without internet access, journalists were also unable to use encrypted messaging applications or send or receive emails from internet-restricted areas, leading them to transport files by car and use phone calls and text messages to communicate with each other and with sources. “These challenges lead not only to delayed communication but also a massive risk for journalists, as they can be under surveillance,” said a local media expert in an email on January 9. We have withheld their name due to security concerns since the coup,. On March 23 of 2020, the government ordered telecoms operators to block 230 websites, including 67 websites it categorized as “fake news.” Among the “fake news” sites were DMG and Narinjara, the only two Rakhine State-based media reporting in English. The local media expert said the block had both affected advertising revenue and hindered information access. “Blocking the websites of these media takes away the rights of people to know the situation of conflicts and human rights violations in conflict regions,” she said. Also on March 23, the government designated the AA a terrorist organization. In the ensuing weeks, authorities raided three media outlets and their journalists’ homes and charged their Editors-in-Chief under the Counter-Terrorism Law for publishing interviews with the AA’s spokesperson. Charges against Nay Myo Lin of the Mandalay-based Voice of Myanmar were later withdrawn, while cases against the Editors-in-Chief of Narinjara and Yangon-based Khit Thit Media remained ongoing as of the coup. They are among 67 legal cases filed against the media during the first four years of the National League for Democracy’s term, of which the government filed 31, the military filed 11, and the rest were filed by religious institutions, political parties, armed groups, private claimants and others, according to a May 2020 report by the Yangon-based freedom of expression organization Athan. “If we write true news, we can get arrested anytime,” said Thar Loon Zaung Htet, Khit Thit’s founder and Editor-in-Chief, in a phone interview in early January. “We can’t make balanced news about the conflict because we can’t interview the AA according to the law … It’s also difficult to follow media ethics if we don’t know the ground situation and can only get news from phone calls. It’s like the situation in Rakhine is in the dark. “ Two female journalists we interviewed in early January said they never went alone to conduct interviews in the field. “When I report on politics or human rights issues, I feel unsafe physically and psychologically,” said one local reporter in a phone interview. “I don’t feel safe being a woman journalist,” said another. “I try to encourage myself not to fear because I’m working for the truth.” DMG, which has seventeen journalists focusing on each of the state’s townships and was often among the first to break the news on the conflict between the AA and Tatmadaw, was a particular target of harassment. In April 2019, DMG received an email from an unknown sender that threatened its journalists’ lives if they did not support the Tatmadaw in their reporting. DMG applied to renew its media license in March 2019, but the Ministry of Information never responded to the application. Nonetheless, DMG pushed forward in its reporting: a search for “IDP” [internally displaced person] on its website revealed 152 articles published from May 2019 to February 2021, while a search for “human rights” revealed 109 results. As DMG continued to cover the conflict, however, it also came under increasing scrutiny. In May 2019, police charged Editor-in-Chief Aung Marm Oo with unspecified violations under the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act, for which he faced up to five years in prison; the case was ongoing as of the coup. During the NLD’s administration, the Unlawful Associations Act had been repeatedly used to charge people who allegedly had contact with ethnic armed organizations, including for journalistic purposes. In the days following the charges, police raided Aung Marm Oo’s office and house, questioning his family and two DMG staff. He went into hiding and, as of an interview in early January, had since been unable to see his wife or three-year-old son or receive medical care for a liver condition. He said that, fearing for his safety, he wouldn’t return home until police withdrew the case. On January 22 of this year, the Tatmadaw charged one DMG editor and one reporter with defamation under the Telecommunications Law, which outlaws defamation over a telecommunications network, in relation to an article that alleged Tatmadaw personnel had looted rice and forced locals to mill it. Neither the Tatmadaw nor the government had responded to DMG’s requests for comment. A local media expert emphasized to us the importance of local ethnic media in documenting armed conflict and promoting accountability for human rights violations.. “Local ethnic media can be a bridge that conveys the news from isolated conflict regions to the whole country and the world. It can eventually lead to a demand to end human rights violations in those areas,” she said. DMG’s deputy editor told us three weeks before the coup that Rakhine State-based media were facing increasing difficulties to survive and that some of DMG’s editors and reporters had resigned due to low salary and security concerns. “Local media are gradually becoming weaker in technology, funding, and human resources,” he said. The people we interviewed were disappointed in the NLD government’s stance toward media freedoms. While the party pledged to support independent media in its 2015 election manifesto, this pledge was absent in 2020. “Related to the law, things really got worse during the NLD administration…The NLD weakened independent media,” said Myint Kyaw, former Myanmar Press Council Secretary. When we called him on February 2, the day after the coup, he told us that the space for media freedoms would “narrow drastically” under the new junta. His prediction was accurate. On April 11, the junta submitted a letter to the Myanmar Press Council warning journalists and media organizations not to refer to it as a “coup government,” saying it violated media ethics. The junta has also ordered telecommunications operators to block all mobile data as of March 15 and wifi broadband networks as of April 1. A nightly internet blackout has been imposed since February 15. On March 9, the junta revoked the press licenses of five local media outlets, including Khit Thit, which had been covering breaking news in the coup’s aftermath, including livestream videos of protests. Editor-in-Chief Thar Loon Zaung Htet told Radio Free Asia on the day its license was revoked that all of Khit Thit’s journalists had already resigned, but he would continue alone to produce news via social media channels. The deputy editor of DMG told us that security concerns had dramatically increased for DMG staff since the coup. The entire team has gone into hiding, making it difficult for the media to collect information for its reports. According to an April 1 article in the New York Times, at least 56 journalists had been arrested with half remaining in detention. Fifteen face charges under Penal Code Article 505(a), which criminalizes disseminating information that might cause members of the military to mutiny, disregard, or fail in their duties with up to two years in prison. Junta forces have beaten journalists on multiple occasions, and a least three have been shot and wounded. When we started our reporting in January, the government’s restrictions on journalists covering Rakhine State significantly hindered reporting on the human rights situation there. The military coup caused a further downfall, while similar restrictions — including internet and website blocks, denial of licenses, and threats of arrest — now affect media coverage across the entire country, and physical insecurity has become pervasive as well. These changes are among many ways the junta has expanded oppressive tactics once practiced predominantly in ethnic states to encompass all of Myanmar, to the detriment of all..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Tea Circle (Myanmar)
2021-04-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Arakan Army's highly mobile and lethal tactics have made a mockery of government's peace process
Description: "As Myanmar’s government sues for peace, its autonomous military, the Tatmadaw, faces a new type of insurgency it seems increasingly ill-prepared to counter and combat. Myanmar’s “new” insurgents are highly mobile and, unlike the country’s older generation rebel groups, maintain few fixed positions, using instead hit-and-run attacks that have rendered the Tatmadaw’s traditional frontal assaults increasingly ineffective. The situation is in many ways similar to the one the United States faced in the Vietnam War: an invisible enemy which strikes from the shadows, making counterattacks more likely to hit civilians than enemy combatants. That’s all conspiring to undermine the Tatmadaw’s leverage and clout against ethnic armed groups that rely on local population support to sustain their insurgent fights. Previously, Myanmar’s myriad rebel groups aimed to control large swathes of territory protected by fixed and often well-armed installations. The Karen National Union (KNU), long firmly entrenched on the Thai border, maintained several bases along the Moei river and a well-fortified headquarters with permanent buildings housing its civilian administration and military command units..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-02-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: CHINA, MYANMAR, INSURGENCY, UNITED WA STATE ARMY, ARAKAN ARMY, TNLA, MANPADS, FN-6
Sub-title: Ethnic rebels unexplained acquisition of Chinese-made FN-6 portable missiles is a political and military game-changer
Topic: CHINA, MYANMAR, INSURGENCY, UNITED WA STATE ARMY, ARAKAN ARMY, TNLA, MANPADS, FN-6
Description: "Myanmar’s seizure last week of a large cache of mostly Chinese weapons from a rebel camp sparked a brief and predictable flurry of nationalist outrage, underscoring as it did the shadowy role of neighboring China in fueling the nation’s many long-running ethnic conflicts. But the real significance of the November 22 incident had less to do with the seized weaponry’s quantity or provenance and much more with unambiguous confirmation that insurgents in active hostilities with government forces, or Tatmadaw, are now fielding man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, weapons that militarily and politically constitute potential game-changers. Amidst the stack of over 150 assault rifles, machine-guns, grenade launchers and nearly 80 sacks of explosives seized in a village in northeastern Shan state’s Namhsan township troops also retrieved in an apparent first a single MANPADS launcher identified as a Chinese-manufactured FN-6. Abandoning the cache after an apparently brief clash with state forces were rebels of the ethnic Palaung Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which operates across northern Shan state and dominates the tea-growing hill country of Namhsan..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-11-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "More than 92,500 civilians have been displaced by armed conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where hostilities between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army have raged for a year, according to a tally issued Wednesday by a nonprofit organization that promotes ethnic rights. Zaw Zaw Tun, secretary of the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC) and a relief volunteer in the region, said his organization has been surveying the number of ethnic Rakhine civilians who have fled their homes because of armed clashes. “We are trying to survey the IDPs [internally displaced persons] as accurately as possible,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “So far, we’ve recorded more than 92,500 IDPs.” But he added that a true estimate would be difficult to state because of a shortage of people on the ground to count the numbers of IDPs. After fighting intensified in northern Rakhine state in late November, thousands of residents from villages in Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Myebon townships left their communities to seek safety elsewhere Rathedaung township, where the greatest number of clashes has occurred, has the greatest number of IDPs at about 30,000, as estimated by local lawmakers..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Myanmar's armed forces have seized a large amount of arms and ammunition in Namsang township, northern Shan state, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services said on Sunday. The seizure was made during an encounter between a military column and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) near Homein village on Friday. As the TNLA withdrew after a brief fight, the military column conducted a detailed search and clearance in the area later on the day and found the large amount of arms and ammunition stored in three locations. The weapons confiscated include portable air defense system, hand grenades, TNLA uniforms, assault rifles, machine guns, mortar rounds and propellants, and explosives. TNLA is a non-signatory to the government's Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA)..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since the end of 2018, there has been a significant upsurge in violence in Rakhine State after armed conflict broke out between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar Military. The violence escalated following attacks by the AA against military sites in January 2019 and subsequent counter-attacks by the Myanmar Military. The conflict has led to civilian casualties and the destruction of property that has spread to nine townships of Rakhine State (Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung) and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. Ann and Kyaukphyu townships have been affected at certain points. The conflict has led to a significant displacement of people, some for extended amounts of time and some for short periods, with people fleeing violence subsequently returning to their homes within a few days or weeks. While fighting has occurred largely in rural areas and remote locations, key transport routes and urban and semi-urban areas have also been impacted. Tens of thousands of civilians living in villages have been caught in the middle of intense armed conflict..."
Source/publisher: OCHA (New York), UNHCH (Geneva) via Reliefweb (USA)
2019-11-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Size: 351.77 KB (8 pages)
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Sub-title: The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Sunday denied it had carried out an attack on Lashio airport in northern Shan State.
Description: "Mei Eike Kyaw, TNLA spokesman, said its fighters had nothing to do with Saturday’s artillery attack that reportedly injured one woman. ‘’I saw it on social media and heard about it but I don’t know who was responsible for it,’’ he said. Six artillery shells, four of which exploded, were fired at the military headquarters and civilian areas at the airport. A building and a vehicle were damaged in the attack and several flights had to be cancelled. The military blamed the attack on the TNLA. “The airport has reopened this morning, and everything is peaceful and quiet,” said U Myint Maw, a resident of Lashio. Police said the artillery shells were of the same make as those fired during a coordinated attack on Pyin Oo Lwin town in August by the TNLA, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-11-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "With the rise of armed conflict violence, branching out into assassination, random shooting, abduction, extrajudicial punishment, the country seems to be “widening the space of armed confrontation or civil war and narrowing the peace negotiation process,” a phrase now popularly used by Burma or Myanmar political analysts, watchers and observers alike. But let us first looks into some recent developments within the country’s political landscape and determine if this is really the case. On November 10, in Rakhine or Arakan State, Myaypone Township, Wetyu village a fisherman and his wife traveling back home on motor-propelled boat was shot at by the military or Tatmadaw killing the four-month pregnant wife instantly and slightly wounding the husband. A tragic trigger-happy Tatmadaw trooper’s had cost an innocent local’s life. In response to it on November 11, United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) issued a statement condemning the act as a racial hatred move and vowed to revenge, while conveying its heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-11-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A Myanmar military battalion commander and six other soldiers were killed in a mine attack launched by the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township on Wednesday, according to AA information officer Khaing Thukha. The AA attacked the military troops using remote-detonated mines around noon on Wednesday near the village of Thayet Tapin. “We intercepted military troops at a bridge over Tha Yee Creek near Thayet Tapin Village around 12 p.m. yesterday,” Khaing Thuka told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “Seven soldiers, including Light Infantry Battalion 374 commander Lieutenant-Colonel Yan Naung Win, were killed and some were injured,” he said. The bridge is located near the Yangon-Sittwe road. “Yesterday, we heard an explosion beyond the bridge. Nobody dared to go outside after hearing the explosion,” a resident of Thayet Tapin Village told The Irrawaddy. “All the shop owners by the road have closed their shops and stayed in their houses since then. Soldiers are still staying at those shops.” The road was temporarily closed after the incident and was reopened around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, according to local residents. However, Myanmar military Western Command spokesperson Colonel Win Zaw Oo denied there was any mine explosion or that any soldiers were killed near Thayet Tapin Village on Wednesday..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-11-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ongoing hostilities between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army in Rakhine state forced about 1,700 civilians to flee villages in three townships this week, amid fears that they would be detained and possible tortured by national soldiers conducting “clearance operations” in their communities, locals said. Troops have already detained five area villagers to interrogate to determine if they have ties to the Arakan Army (AA), while others who were freed said Myanmar soldiers tortured them during questioning, leaving them with physical injuries. More than 1,000 residents of Ywatharya village have fled their homes in the past few days after Myanmar soldiers entered the community to search for anyone with ties to the AA, villagers said. “Clearance operations” is a term used by the military that strikes fear in local residents after numerous incidents in which soldiers have shot at or abused civilians in Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The success in implementing the peace process depends on enshrining a federal democratic union in the Constitution as a guarantee of the people’s aspirations, U Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President’s Office, said.
Description: "“Ethnic people believe that they can achieve their political rights in full only if there is a federal constitution, which they have consistently demanded,” he told a press briefing on Friday. “A federal constitution is needed to get a full political guarantee. It must be a union stipulated by all, not by a one-sided decision.” Although Myanmar has had different political systems in different eras, it has not established a federal union acceptable to all ethnic people, so peace remains elusive, he said. “We all pledged to build the union at the Panglong Conference held in 1947. Although the leaders and system changed, we couldn’t build the union. The federal building process has not been completed. There are barriers,” U Zaw Htay said. As these problems can only be solved politically, meetings such as the 21st Century Panglong Conference are needed. Ethnic armed groups, political parties, civil organisations, the Tatmadaw (military) and the government must all agree on a federal union..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Intense fighting near the Loi Samsip (Thirty Hills) area in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State has led locals to flee their homes and for the highway to the China border to close. A local who lives in Kutkai told NMG on the condition of anonymity that the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) had clashed near the Karlai junction and Kabar Aye pagoda on Wednesday morning. “Clashes broke out at around 7:15 this morning. The sound of guns shooting went silent at around 10:00 a.m.,” the individual said on Wednesday. Locals also told NMG that both heavy artillery and regular guns were used in the fighting and that no one has been allowed to travel on the national highway from Kutkai to Muse. The road remains closed from the Kutkai tollgate accessible from the Muse side. “All vehicles have been blocked… many cars were dumped on the road,” a local source said. During the fighting, four artillery shells landed on the grounds of the area’s Ta’ang Education Center, leading teachers to relocate the children at the school’s boarding house to safety. While none of the 80 people at the site were injured, the school’s infrastructure was damaged..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-11-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Kutkai, Kyaukme, Myanmar ethnic conflict, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Shan State conflict, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw, TNLA conflict
Description: "Fighting broke out in northern Shan State between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar military on Wednesday along the highway in Kutkai, stopping traffic for most of the day. Fighting broke out in at least three places in the townships of Kutkai and Kyaukme, according to the TNLA “Fighting broke out in Kyaukme Township this morning at 6 a.m. Another two battles broke out in Kutkai Town at 7 a.m.,” TNLA spokesperson Major Tar Aike Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. All cars along the highway were stopped during the fighting in Kutkai. Videos posted to Facebook showed some travelers hiding inside their cars and more than a hundred cars were reportedly stopped on the road. Myanmar army spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy that fighting broke out between the Tatmadaw and the TNLA at around 7:20 a.m. in Kutkai, and lasted for 30 minutes. He confirmed that all traffic on the highway stopped during the fighting..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-11-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "PEACE talks have hit a snag between the Myanmar government negotiators and the Northern Alliance, which is made up of four ethnic armed groups. Both were due to convene for talks, following their last meeting in Kyaingtong city in the Shan state on Sept 17, but it was postponed indefinitely, according to The Myanmar Times. U Lamai Khun Ja of the Myitkyina-based Peace Talk Creation Group said: “They do not have any problems. Neither side is ready to meet." Continuation of talks between the two groups was scheduled in October but later postponed to this month as the government wanted to prepare for the fourth anniversary of the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The next round of talks would be the third since fighting broke out between the military and some members of the alliance members in Shan State in Aug. No commitment has been made on the next round of talks, including the time and location, by either side. The alliance comprises the Arakan Army, Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). None of the group has signed the NCA..."
Source/publisher: "New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
2019-11-14
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Lately, news seeping out from government sources indicate that the much talked about bilateral ceasefire negotiation between the Northern Alliance – Burma (NA-B) and the National League for Democracy-led civilian-military regime may be shelved, due to Arakan Army (AA) hostage-taking of the government security personnel. The NA-B members are the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The bilateral ceasefire talks have been held for four times, in Muse, Kunming and twice in Kengtung, without any breakthrough or concrete agreement. And as it now seems, the further meeting will be quite problematic, if not at all impossible. This kind of prevailing atmosphere could be because the culture of angst has overtaken all the stakeholders, fellow peace-negotiators or contenders in Burma or Myanmar political arena, said Khuensai Jaiyane, director of the Pyidaungsu Institute, patron of the Shan Herald Agency for News and advisor of the Restoration Council of Shan State, an Ethnic Armed Organization (EAO) that inked the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in October 2015..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-11-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Arakan Army on Wednesday released 18 firefighters detained in October in western Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine state, saying that its soldiers are holding no others civilians except for a local lawmaker taken three days ago. A statement issued by the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting government forces in a quest for greater autonomy in Rakhine state, lists the names and personal information of the 18 men on a statement it issued about their release. The statement also said that the ethnic army is holding legislator Hwai Tin for security reasons, but did not elaborate. AA soldiers detained 18 firefighter recruits and the deputy station chief of the state Fire Services Department on Oct. 11 as they traveled on a bus from central Myanmar’s Mandalay region to Rakhine’s capital Sittwe after completing basic firefighting training in the town of Pyin Oo Lwin. The AA troops believed that the firemen were auxiliary soldiers of the national army. On Oct. 28, the AA released a dozen other bus passengers it had detained, including construction workers, after determining that they were civilians and had no connection to the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A number of hostages seized by ethnic Rakhine rebels in a raid on a ferry packed with scores of Myanmar security forces have been killed, the insurgents and army said late Sunday, blaming each other for the deaths. On Saturday rebels from the Arakan Army (AA), who are fighting for greater autonomy for Rakhine Buddhists from the state, forced a ferry to the shore taking around 50 people hostage including 14 soldiers and 29 police officers. The army said it deployed attack helicopters in pursuit of the rebels who tried to escape with the detainees loaded onto three boats. Both sides confirmed some of the hostages were killed in a melee, but did not give a number for the dead and traded blame for who was responsible. The AA released a statement late Sunday saying military attack helicopters armed with machine guns and rockets hit the group as they were being “taken for questioning to a safe place in boats.” “Some detainees we took for questioning were killed, two boats were completely destroyed.” The army refuted the allegation saying the AA “killed them before the fighting took place” with security forces..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "The Guardian" (UK)
2019-10-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Description: "The decades-long conflict in northern Shan State has escalated in recent months following attacks by three ethnic armed groups on military installations and other locations in the country on 15 August 2019. The government stated that the attacks were likely to have been carried out in retaliation for recent successful anti-drug trafficking operations in the region. According to the three ethnic armed groups – calling themselves the “Brotherhood Alliance” – the attacks were launched in response to a military offensive in Rakhine State in the west of the country as well as repeated military operations in northern Shan state, despite a military ceasefire in the area. Civilians in northern Shan State, who have borne the brunt of these previous operations, looks set to endure fresh abuses, conflict, and displacement. This report examines international human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law committed since mid-2018 by parties to the ongoing internal armed conflicts in northern Shan State. On 21 December 2018, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral ceasefire in northern and eastern Myanmar, however, as this report shows, while there may have been a reduction of the number of clashes involving the military, Myanmar soldiers have continued to commit serious violations against ethnic minority civilians. The declared ceasefire period has also seen a continuation, and in some areas an escalation, of fighting among ethnic armed groups, some backed by the Myanmar military. Amnesty International undertook research missions to northern Shan State in March and August 2019. In total, Amnesty International interviewed 88 people, including victims and direct witnesses to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The organization also met with local and international humanitarian officials, human rights defenders, community leaders, journalists, and political analysts, and analysed satellite imagery and photographs related to specific documented incidents. Amnesty International wrote to the Myanmar civilian government and military, and to four ethnic armed groups, outlining the organization’s findings, requesting information, and expressing readiness to discuss the situation in northern Shan State. At the time of publication, none had replied..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK) (ASA 16/1142/2019)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.25 MB (44 pages)
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Description: "“The Myanmar military is as relentless and ruthless as ever, committing war crimes against civilians in northern Shan State with absolute impunity,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southeast Asia. “Soldiers – and more importantly commanders – are subjecting civilians to the military’s hallmark brutality in the absence of any form of accountability.” Amnesty International documented war crimes and other military violations against ethnic Kachin, Lisu, Shan, and Ta’ang civilians during two field missions to the region in March and August 2019. Civilians who spoke to Amnesty International repeatedly implicated the military’s 99th Light Infantry Division (LID) in many of the violations. Units from the 99th LID were implicated in some of the worst atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State since August 2017, as well as in war crimes and other serious violations in northern Myanmar in 2016 and early 2017. “Wherever the 99th Light Infantry Division is deployed we see similar patterns of abuse and the commission of horrific crimes unfold. This highlights the urgency of international action to hold Myanmar’s military – not least its senior generals – accountable.”..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Amnesty International says Myanmar military, ethnic armed groups guilty of abuses amid fighting in northern state.
Description: "In Myanmar's northern Shan State, ethnic armed groups have been fighting the Myanmar military for more autonomy for the past 50 years. Amnesty International says both sides are guilty of rights abuses in the ongoing fighting, which has continued since the failure of a nationwide ceasefire which was signed four years ago. That's an issue that will dog its de facto head Aung San Suu Kyi as she starts campaigning for next year's election..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army used combat helicopters to attack Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) forces in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Saturday, the TNLA reported. Representatives of the armed group said that they had three clashes with government forces on a hill near the villages of Nam Huay and Maru Hpakar from morning until midday on October 26, as well as on October 24 and 25. Following these battles, at around noon the Burma Army attacked the TNLA from the air. “We have had at least 10 clashes as of yesterday, since we announced our unilateral ceasefire,” Maj Mai Aik Kyaw, who is in charge of the TNLA’s information department, told NMG on Sunday, referring to a declaration made on September 20. “We are having clashes because they are coming to attack us,” he added. The unilateral ceasefire was declared by the TNLA and two other members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army—and is supposed to last until the end of the year. According to the TNLA, the highest number of clashes have occurred in Kutkai Township, and have intensified since they declared their own ceasefire..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In Myanmar, several hundred young people kick up dirt as they run early one morning along a dusty path. They are preparing to join groups such as the Arakan Army (AA), which operates training camps in the northern state of Kachin. The area also is home to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), another armed group. The AA was formed in 2009 and now claims to have 7,000 troops. It is fighting in Rakhine State against troops loyal to the government of Myanmar, also called Burma. The Arakan Army says it is fighting for more self-rule and control over their territory. “The reason I joined the Arakan Army and train as a female soldier is because I don’t want to see the Myanmar army oppress and kill Rakhine people anymore,” says Soe Soe. The young woman carried an AK-74 rifle on her shoulder as she spoke to a VOA reporter. “The Myanmar army bullies and treats us badly in every way they can. I can’t take it so I made a decision to serve my nationality and army,” Soe Soe added. The AA is just one group belonging to the Northern Alliance. Others include the KIA, the Ta-ang Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)..."
Source/publisher: "VOA Learning English" (USA)
2019-10-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "When the ferry pushed off from a dilapidated pier in western Myanmar, few of the passengers could have predicted how dangerous the journey would turn out. Later on Saturday, along a riverbank dotted with mangroves, a rebel group abducted dozens of soldiers and government workers from the ferry at gunpoint. That drew a risky rescue attempt by army helicopters, which swooped in to try to free the hostages as their captors then spirited them away in three separate boats. Gunfire erupted on both sides, and the army later said it had rescued 14 of the 58 hostages. The rebels said some were killed by helicopter fire, and they were keeping the survivors for “further investigation.” The drama unfolded in a rural section of Rakhine State, a strip of land on the country’s west coast where Myanmar’s army, known as the Tatmadaw, staged a brutal ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in 2017. Sign up for The Interpreter Subscribe for original insights, commentary and discussions on the major news stories of the week, from columnists Max Fisher and Amanda Taub. SIGN UP The scale of the abduction suggests that the rebel group, The Arakan Army — a guerrilla force from the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group that makes up most of the state’s population — is using increasingly brazen tactics to press its demand for independence..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Arakan Army rebel group says three military helicopters attacked three boats carrying kidnapped troops and two sank.
Description: "An ethnic rebel army in Myanmar said some of the several dozen soldiers, police and civilian officials it abducted from a ferry were killed in a subsequent attack by government helicopters. A statement posted on Sunday on the website of the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group in the western state of Rakhine, said three helicopters attacked three boats carrying the captured personnel after they were seized on Saturday, sinking two..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Two civilians were injured by a Tatmadaw artillery shell when the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) fought on Thursday and Friday in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township. The mother and daughter were hit by shrapnel from a shell on Thursday as fighting took place in Maw Harn village tract, between the communities of Nam Huay and Maru Hpetkar. They were transferred to Kutkai hospital the next day. “The Burma Army attacked a TNLA base camp last night,” Seng Awng, of Maw Harn village, told NMG on Friday. “Burma Army troops based in Tarmohnye helped its military column by firing heavy weapons… shells landed in our village.” The daughter, a student, endured injuries to her legs, and the mother suffered cuts on her head. Some 60 people fled from their homes in the area when the clashes did not let up on Friday. Most are children, the elderly, and pregnant women, and are staying with relatives. They left Nam Huay and Maru Hpetkar and are staying in Maw Harn. According to TNLA reports, they have had at least 10 clashes with government forces since three members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—of which TNLA is one—declared a unilateral ceasefire on September 20. Three of these clashes occurred on Thursday, one in Namkham Township and two in Kutkai..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Burma Army troops attacked a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) battalion with assault rifles late last week, a representative of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) confirmed. Col Naw Bu, who is in charge of the KIO’s information department, said that the military launched an attack on October 19 on the KIA’s Regiment 254, located not far from the organization’s Laiza headquarters. “It’s the KIA’s patrolling battalion… it is located between Hpalap and Samar hill,” Col Naw Bu told NMG. “The Burma Army, which has been stationed on Samar, attacked our Battalion 254 between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on October 19. Samar belongs to Kachin State. The Burma Army shot at us from Samar hill.” Col Naw Bu added that the assault was carried out with assault rifles, including machine guns, but not artillery. “They shot at us with around 20 bullets. They didn’t attack us with heavy weapons,” he said, adding that he did not know why the attack took place..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) clashed in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Wednesday morning, reportedly leading to casualties on both sides. The fighting occurred near Mang Sup and Nawng Peik villages at around 6:00 a.m. on October 16, with the fighting lasting until 7:30 a.m. According to the TNLA’s field report, one of their soldiers was killed and one was injured. It also said that three Burma Army soldiers were killed and one injured, but SHAN was unable to independently confirm this information. “We heard the sound of small arms being shot and heavy weapons firing. Local people were so afraid,” Lwe Nywe, who lives in Kutkai, told SHAN. “Even though the clash didn’t take place in downtown Kutkai, we were hiding in bunkers because we heard very loud noises from heavy weapons being fired.” She added that the location of the fighting was not far from Kutkai town, and that a Kutkai-based battalion of the Burma Army had opened fire on the TNLA..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Recent overtures suggest the government may be serious about ending years of conflict in its northern state.
Description: "The Jan Mai Kawng Baptist Church camp for internally displaced people is located on the outskirts of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state. Home to more than 1,000 people uprooted by conflict across Myanmar's most northern state, Jan Mai Kawng is a bustling place, where camp residents have established businesses, including restaurants, shops and even a makeshift hairdresser. Among the entrepreneurial tenants is Kai Ra, 52, who has established a small operation selling secondhand clothes in the camp. If business goes well, she can make about $7 a day, but acknowledged that on some days there is no income. "In my home village, I worked on the land and could live off it, but I have no land here," she says, standing outside her home in the camp. "I miss my home, and I miss my livestock: my chickens, my cows and my goats. I miss everything, but I can't go back home at the moment. It's not safe."..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: US News (USA)
2019-10-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Nearly 700 local villagers have fled their homes in recent days as the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) continue to clash in northern Shan State’s Namhsan Township despite unilateral ceasefires declared by both sides in the conflict. According to Shan State MP U Thein Zaw, internally displaced persons (IDPs) are flooding into the town of Namhsan to escape the latest outbreak of violence. “There are 369 displaced villagers staying at Zayanggyi Monastery in Namhsan, and there are more at Phayagyi Monastery. A total of nearly 700 villagers have already arrived in Namhsan,” Thein Zaw told NMG. The sudden influx has created an urgent need for food and other basic necessities, he added. “They need food, medicine, clothing and shelter. They couldn’t bring their blanket or clothes, so the IDPs have to sleep on the ground in the monastery. But what they need most of all is food,” he said. So far, he said, local people and civil society organizations have provided some food and other aid to the IDPs at Zayanggyi Monastery, but those staying at Phayagyi Monastery have yet to receive any assistance..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Much of the reported military action during July took place in north-central Shan State. Civilians suffered from landslides in Hpakant Township while the Metta Organization was able to provide financial aid to families in Mansi Township. On July 23, the Metta Organization, which is a Kachin civil society organization helping with development and relief work, gave 150,000 kyats to families with over five household members, and 180,000 kyats to families with over seven household members in Mansi Township. The organization traveled from Manmaw (Bhamo). On July 23 at 1630 hrs, armed police and security guards from 111-Company, a commercial mining company in Hpakant Township, encountered jade mining thieves that had infiltrated the 111-Company’s compound. The police and security guards opened fire on the thieves with their small arms. A civilian, Zar Ni Htun (male, 37) suffered a gunshot wound to the left thigh. On July 23 at 2100 hrs, Kyaw La (male, 43) was buried in a landslide while mining jade at Gwihka Maw in Hpakant Township. He was from Gwihka Maw Tawng..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
2019-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Mid to late August saw almost daily fighting in Kutkai and Theinni townships in northern Shan State. Burma Army reinforcements were flown into Lashio on Aug. 17, soon deploying to numerous areas and engaging with Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Arakan Army (AA) forces. The civilian cost of the fighting remains high local areas like Mawhit Village, where a mortar killed five civilians and wounded three more. In Kutkai, there’s been an influx of roughly 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kutkai. Ongoing reports show civilians getting killed or wounded due to the proximity of operating forces on both sides of the war. Additionally, markets in Lashio and Kutkai are closing down because of the recent violence, driving up food prices on the market..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Gunmen stopped the vehicle on a highway outside the town of Mrauk U and seized 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said.
Description: "Gunmen dressed in soccer uniforms halted an express bus on a main highway in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State and kidnapped 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said on Sunday. The abduction happened Friday morning, and began when a man stepped onto the highway in the bus’s path outside the ancient town of Mrauk U and forced it to stop, according to a military spokesman, Col. Win Zaw Oo. More than 10 armed men in soccer uniforms, identified as members of a rebel group called the Arakan Army, then emerged from the jungle and boarded the bus, he said. They ordered the passengers to take their belongings and marched them away...."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
2019-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) fought in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township on Wednesday, leading to casualties on both sides, according to locals and the TNLA. A military column made up of troops from the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Battalion 15 and Light Infantry Division 99 clashed with TNLA forces between Mang Sap and Nawng Peik villages in at around 6:00 a.m. on October 16. According to a TNLA field report, three Burma army soldiers were killed and one injured, while one TNLA soldier was killed and one injured. NMG tried to call the Burma Army’s True News Information Team to confirm the casualties but received no response. “We heard the sound of shells landing around the clash location. Both sides shot at each other. The clash location is not far from the town… They exchanged gunfire for at least one hour,” a Kutkai local told NMG. Villagers around the area of fighting fled and sought refuge in Ward 2 of Kutkai town. A resident of Mang Sap village said he thought the fighting lasted until 7:30 a.m. and that at the time of reporting it had stopped..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Thailand)
2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On the edge of a mountainside in Northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, several hundred young army recruits kick up the dust as they jog down a trail during early morning military drills. New recruits are joining groups such as the Arakan Army which has set up training camps in Kachin state, home to fellow Northern Alliance member, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The Arakan Army (AA) formed in 2009 and is currently fighting in Rakhine State against government forces in ongoing skirmishes that have escalated in recent months, amid faltering cease-fire talks. The AA is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan, headquartered in Laiza. Laiza is the capital of KIA - controlled Kachin State, bordering China. The Arakan Army say that they have a current force of 7,000 troops. Like most of the ethnic armed groups within the country who haven’t signed peace agreements, the Arakan army say they are fighting for more self-autonomy and control over their territory..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Voice of America (VOA)
2019-10-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Tatmadaw (defence service) clashed with Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) in a place in Kutkai, northern Shan State on October 16, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, Secretary of Tatmadaw True News Information Team. “It was learnt that the clash broke out at a distance of 5000 km in the east of Kutkai. It is near the east of Marnkyit village. The strength of the TNLA is about 20 members. The clash occurred because they went into the side above mentioned. It started at about 6.45 am and ended after 7 am. It lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes, but no casualties were reported,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. However, the information dept of the TNLA issued an announcement at about 12.30 pm on the same day, saying both sides suffered casualties..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Three monks were injured when the motorcycle they are riding is believed to have hit a landmine in Namhsan Township in Palaung Self-Administrated Zone in northern Shan state, one of the victims said on Tuesday.
Description: "The monks were on their way to attend a worship ceremony in Lwe Kha Lay village when their motorcycle hit a landmine, triggering an explosion, said Sayadaw Khay Maida, a native of Namhsan. He said they are teachers at monastic schools in Mandalay. “Namhsan is my hometown. I came from Mandalay. It was past 7pm when we arrived in Kyaukme and went to Lwal Kalay village by motorcycle,” he told The Myanmar Times. “There was an explosion and all of us fell to the ground.” He added one of his colleagues suffered serious injuries in the explosion that occurred on Saturday. The sayadaw said since they were injured in a remote area and there was no way to get to a hospital, medics from the ethnic armed group Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) provided them with first aid treatment. One of the monks suffered injuries to his eyes and chest, while another suffered injuries to his ear, thigh and hand. Sayadaw Khay Maida said he suffered injuries in his thigh and leg..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-10-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: BRI, China, Conflict, EAOs, mediation, mediator, Military, Negotiations, Northern Alliance, Peace Process, Peace talks, pipeline, Resources, Tatmadaw, Weapons
Topic: BRI, China, Conflict, EAOs, mediation, mediator, Military, Negotiations, Northern Alliance, Peace Process, Peace talks, pipeline, Resources, Tatmadaw, Weapons
Description: "China has been vying to lead the region, if not the world, economically and politically since President Xi Jinping took power. As Xi’s power has grown, China has sought to expand its leadership role across the region and beyond through economic expansion, political influence and military modernization. On the economic front, China has initiated the far-flung and ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which will be instrumental in expanding its investment and power projection in many countries. Myanmar occupies a strategically important geographical position for the BRI projects, through which China seeks to build links to the Indian Ocean, then to the Middle East and Africa. Myanmar’s political instability and civil war, however, are major barriers to the BRI. Particularly, fighting in northern Shan State, where many of the BRI projects are to be implemented, is disrupting the scheme’s implementation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-09-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Armed conflicts are likely to intensify in Kokang self-administered division, Ta,ang self-administered division and Rakhine State as clashes between Tatmadaw (defence services) and Ta,ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) are going on in some parts of northern Shan State amid the announcements of ceasefire, according to the Brotherhood Alliance. The Brotherhood Alliance issued a statement, stating that they would halt fighting with the Tatmadaw from September 9 to October 8 and implement peace measures more practically. Before the ceasefire announcement of the Brotherhood Alliance, Tatmadaw announced on August 31 that it would extend the ceasefire statement to September 21 and stop military activities in five military commands. During the ceasefire announcement, Tatmadaw’s air forces were launching offensive on the Brotherhood Alliance with the use of heavy weapons and that resulted in the clashes going on, according to the statement of the Brotherhood Alliance. The deployments of the Tatmadaw as required caused armed conflicts to be more likely to rise in Kokang self-administered division, Ta,ang self-administered division and Rakhine State, the statement of the Brotherhood Alliance said. The Tatmadaw failed to follow the ceasefire announcement, launching offensive on the Brotherhood Alliance at a time when steps were being taken to hold the second-time informal meeting between the government and the four armed groups of Northern Alliance in Kengtung on September 17, with the intervention of China, according to the statement of the Brotherhood Alliance..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The TNLA said that clashes were still common, despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Burma Army late last year. The Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have clashed repeatedly since Sunday in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township, in the latest sign that a unilateral ceasefire first declared by the Burma Army at the end of last year is doing little to end hostilities there. According to Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw of the TNLA, the two sides started fighting early Sunday afternoon as the Burma Army brought reinforcement troops into the area from Lashio. They exchanged fire three times that day and twice on Monday, he said. “Their reinforcement troops entered into this area yesterday [August 4]. This has continued until this morning. What I can say is that there will be more clashes in this area in the coming days,” he told NMG on Monday. The clashes on Monday occurred near the villages of Nam Hyon and Tarmohnye in Kutkai Township. According to local sources, fighting between TNLA forces and troops from the Burma Army’s Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 based in Tarmohnye closed the Kutkai-Tarmohnye road for most of the day. “They have clashed since early this morning [August 5]. The road was closed around 7am, trapping many cars and people. It reopened around 3 or 4pm. Many people heard the sound of guns shooting and the firing of heavy weapons,” one Kutkai resident told NMG..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Canada) via BNI Multimedia Group (Myanmar)
2019-08-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Suspected ethnic Rakhine rebels disguised as a sports team stormed a bus in rural Myanmar and took 31 hostages - mostly off-duty firefighters and construction workers - authorities said Sunday (Oct 13). The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar said the bus - travelling to the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe - was flagged down by a man dressed in civilian attire before 18 rebels in sportswear emerged from the forest and ordered the passengers off at gunpoint. "We are still following them," Colonel Win Zaw Oo told AFP, adding the insurgents may have mistaken the firemen for members of the armed forces. The Arakan Army, which is fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, could not immediately be reached for comment. Myanmar's army has deployed thousands of troops to the state to try to crush the rebels. Rights groups say Myanmar's military has abducted civilians and tortured detainees, but the army points to targeted shootings, roadside bombings and kidnapping by insurgents. Rakhine state was also the site of a deadly crackdown that in August 2017 drove some 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: "The Straits Times" (Singapore)
2019-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Forces belonging to the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) fought in northern Shan State’s Kyaukme Township on Monday, locals confirmed. The clash began at 2:30 p.m. and lasted up to two hours, RCSS spokesperson Lt-Col Sai Oo told SHAN. It occurred between Hurng Wol and Kham Kao village in Mong Ngaw sub-township. “The TNLA forces began by attacking our forces,” he said. The TNLA reported that the RCSS attacked them while the Ta’ang soldiers were carrying out regional security measures. A local in Mong Ngaw said that the fighting had “intensified” with the most recent clash. “They fought each other for hours. Nobody was hurt. No houses were damaged,” the local said. RCSS and TNLA forces have frequently clashed in Kyaukme, and throughout northern Shan State since 2015. That same year, the RCSS signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the Burmese government and military; the TNLA is among the groups that are not signatory to the accord. Lt-Col Sai Oo said that problems between the ethnic armed groups should be solved in a meeting of the organizations’ leaders. The clash came as the TNLA and the Burma Army have been engaged in intensified fighting in Namhsan Township, also in northern Shan State, since September 13..."
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar) via "BNI Multimedia Group" (Myanmar)
2019-09-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) clashed in northern Shan State for two consecutive days as the TNLA forces intruded in the area occupied by the army in Namtu Township, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, Secretary of Tatmadaw True News Information Team. An army column encountered with TNLA forces in a place between Nanthwe and Mawhan villages in Kutkai Township on July 13 and the army clashed with TNLA forces on Lwehan Mountain in Namtu Township in the same day, announced News and Information Department from the TNLA on July 13. “Our troops encountered with the TNLA forces yesterday as their forces intruded in our area,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. Moreover fighting between army and TNLA occurred on Lwehan Mountain and near Nanthwe Village on July 12, announced the TNLA. The army and TNLA encountered for 59 times from December 21 to July 13 after the army announced unilateral ceasefire and 11 times of clashes occurred from July 1 to 13 in this year, it said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
2019-07-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Tatmadaw (military) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) clashed five times on Sunday and Monday in Kutkai township, Shan State, according to the information department of TNLA.
Description: "TNLA Major Mai Aik Kyaw said the clashes started at 2pm on Sunday and ended at 10am Monday. “The Myanmar army attacked us. We had no losses, but I am not sure about the Tatmadaw,” he said. Phone calls to Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the military’s True News agency, went unanswered. The military and TNLA fought in Nawngcho village, where TNLA Regiment 5 is based, near Mawhan village in Kutkai on Sunday afternoon. Another clash happened on the road near Tar Moe Nyel township. Three more clashes occurred at those places on Sunday evening and Monday morning. Three members of NeT Organisation and The HALO Trust who were visiting the area to educate villagers about landmine risks, and about 100 villagers were trapped by the clashes near Mawhan, according to the organisation. The organisations and armed groups in northern Shan have demanded that the trapped people be moved to safe zones..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-08-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Armed groups have continued to attack Lashio, the biggest city in Myanmar's northern Shan state, with heavy arms firing on the government forces and police stations, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services said. The attacks launched Friday night by the Arakan Army (AA), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), destroyed bridges on Hsenwi-Kunlong road and burned a petrol station on Lashio-Hsenwi road, the military said in a statement released late Saturday. During the night, the combined armed groups also fired three rocket propelled grenades on a battalion headquarters in Kyaukme, Shan state and retreated to the west after being fired back by the armed forces. The groups also mined two reinforced concrete bridges of Byone Taung on Namt Slup-Kunlong road and Mantonsun on Hsenwi-Namt Slup road before dawn on Saturday. The military columns conducting security operations around Kutkai-Namtpatkha-Muse region also encountered with the armed groups until Saturday morning. In the armed groups' heavy arms attacks, a vehicle from a local philanthropic association from Lashio was hit with one being killed..."
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-08-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The organizations concerned with the peace dialogue between the government and the Northern Alliance will likely hold a meeting in the last week of October. After the last Kengtung peace talks held on September 17, both sides agreed to resume their talks in October. They issued a seven-point joint statement after that last talks. Spokesman of Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) Maj. Ta Aik Kyaw said to Mizzima, “It is still under negotiation, they have not yet replied to us. I think they will reply to us after this Thadingyut (light) festival long holiday.” In an attack on government troops on October 9 by the TNLA, some government troops were killed and seven civilians were wounded. Regarding this attack, the TNLA issued a press statement which says, “The government troops travelled from Hseni in a convoy of seven military trucks to launch offensive against our TNLA and then our TNLA troops attacked them in preemptive self-defence.” Maj. Ta Aik Kyaw said, “We will have solutions only from talks and dialogues. The peace talks and dialogues will not be affected by these attacks but it will be more convenient and easier unless there is fighting during the peace talks. The fighting will hamper and affect the talks a little bit.” In the agreement reached between the two sides, they agreed to control and restrain from further fighting and opening liaison offices for continuation of negotiations and keeping communication channels open..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-10-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has said that four Myanmar police officers detained by the ethnic armed group in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State, will be released soon. Four police officers from Mong Si Village were detained by the TNLA on Sept. 29 while traveling to Namhsan Town, according to Mong Si Village head administrator Daw Htu San. The village head told The Irrawaddy Tuesday that local authorities were trying to negotiate with the TNLA for the four officers’ release. TNLA Brigadier General Tar Phone Kyaw told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the four officers were detained after they demanded taxes from local people in Kutkai Township. He said the four police officers would stand on a bridge and “ask for taxes” from people who were traveling. “We are working to release the police officers. We will release them soon,” Brig-Gen Tar Phone Kyaw said. The four police officers used the TNLA’s name when asking local people for taxes, according to TNLA spokesperson Major Tar Aike Kyaw, so the TNLA arrested them...
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-10-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) clashed near Hochaung Village about seven miles away from Nansang in northern Shan State on September 13, sources said. “The fighting occurred around 6 am and has yet to cease. We heard loud heavy gun fires and we cannot go to the town as security forces didn’t allow us to enter. Today is a full moon day and a pagoda festival is held on Lwesai Mountain. However, no one dares come out to the festival as fighting is happening,” said Ko Moe from Nyaungpinthar Village. Many locals from Hochaung Village are running away to safer areas due to fighting and transactions in Nansang are stopped. “The fighting occurred as the army clashed with the TNLA forces near Hochaung Village. We heard heavy gun fires and the explosion shook homes in our town,” said a local from Nansang. The army and ethnic armed groups from northern alliance clashed in northern Shan State from August 15 and although business transactions are back to normal on Mandalay-Lashio-Muse Union Road and Lashio-Hsewi-Kunlong-Chinshwehaw-Laukkaing Road, fighting re-occurred near Nansang on September 13..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
2019-09-14
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On Sept. 1 at 0630 hrs, a Burma Army platoon (approximately 60 soldiers) Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 exchanged fire with a combined Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) force in the area between Namhpakka and Mungyu. On Sept. 1 at 0700 hrs, a combined Burma Army force exchanged fire with TNLA elements at Ngaw Sa Wut Road Junction. The Burma Army force was composed of a platoon (approximately 60 soldiers) arriving from Manping and a company (approximately 80 soldiers) from LID 101 arriving from Htingchyi. Both elements joined forces around 0800 hrs the previous day (Aug. 31). On Sept. 1 at 1340 hrs, TNLA elements detonated a landmine at the road junction of Humawng Village, directed at Burma Army elements from LID 101, enroute from Panghai. On Sept. 1 at 1800 hrs, elements of Burma Army LID 99 and the TNLA 666th Unit exchanged small arms fire in the area between Ngaw Sa Wet Village (where the Burma Army column was en route from) and Voihpri Village. On Sept. 1 at 1930 hrs, a Burma Army squad (approximately 12 soldiers) from LID 99 were holding a position in Namhpakka Loigung when they came under fire from TNLA soldiers. On Sept. 2 at 0700 hrs, Burma Army and TNLA elements had an exchange of fire in the vicinity of Mungleng Village..."
Source/publisher: "Free Burma Rangers" (Myanmar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On August 7th, Lahpai Hting Nan (37, male) from Pyinlung Village, Kutkai Township, was arrested, shot, and killed by elements of Burma Army Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 while the Burma Army troops were maintaining a security presence in his village. Sources say that he entered the area not knowing the Burma Army troops were operating there. Ungsau La Sam (41, male) from Block 2 of La War Village was found dead with two gunshot wounds to the chest on Aug. 2. His family said he had left his house the previous day to gather vegetables in the jungle. During the morning of Aug. 6, two Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Health Department medics were arrested by Burma Army Infantry Battalion (IB) 238 at a dock in which they were in the process of traveling to Danai Village in Danai Township. On Aug. 8, Captain Hkin Zaw from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 13 coerced community leaders from Sabaw Maw Village to submit a monthly fee to Burma Army command in Hpakant Township. LIB 13 is currently attached to LID 33. In early August, Burma Army infantrymen from LID 99, MOC 10, and IB 290 engaged with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) Second Battalion in a number of locations on an almost daily basis. Fighting occurred in or within close proximity to the villages of Mawhan, Shaije Pa, Nawng Hpyu, Shaije Pa, Jinghpaw Nayi, and Man Yan Bum. The majority of these engagements were harassing attacks on either mounted or dismounted Burma Army elements on the move by either the TNLA or the MNDAA. In one instance during the evening hours of Aug. 8, TNLA soldiers attacked Burma Army troops from the IB 290 outside of their forward operating base between Tamoeyne and Daknai..."
Source/publisher: "Free Burma Rangers" (Myanmar)
2019-09-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "More than 400 people have fled their homes due to clashes near Kon Hser village in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State. Forces belonging to the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) engaged in fighting near the community on September 24, leading to the displacement of locals. Tin Win, who works for the Garuna Social Volunteer Team in Kutkai town, said that over 130 Kon Hser villagers have sought refuge in Mangton village, and villagers from the communities of Law Moong, Mang Aie, and Per Ju are staying in monasteries and churches in Kutkai Township. The total number of people, he added, exceeded 400. “Clashes intensified yesterday. I heard the sound of heavy weapons firing this morning. Now it’s stable,” Tin Win told SHAN on Wednesday. The internally displaced people are in need of food aid and drinking water. Maj Tar Aik Kyaw, who is in charge of the TNLA’s information department, told SHAN that there were no battles in Kutkai Township as of Wednesday, but that the Burma Army was continuing to fire on the TNLA..."
Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar) via "BNI Multimedia Group" (Myanmar)
2019-09-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar Police Force Shan State Chief, Pol. Brig. Gen. Zaw Khin Aung, told Mizzima that four policemen released by Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) were subject to a departmental inquiry. “It is in accordance with procedures. Why did they go there, what and how happened to them etc. in this incident is being investigated by a departmental enquiry team to seek the truth on this incident,” he said. TNLA arrested four policemen from Tar Moe Nye Township, Mone Si police station, Pol. Inspector Kyaw Zin Htike, Sub Inspector Tin Soe, Pol. Sgt. Saw Thet Naing and Pol. 2nd Lance Cpl. Kyaw Min Htike on September 29 between Nam Sar and Nam Maw villages. TNLA told media said the policemen were found in mufti and cash receipts and hand grenades were also found when they were arrested. Four days from the date of arrest, the TNLA released them on October 2..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "More than 2,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Myanmar's northern Shan state, as the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic Palaung armed group and the Myanmar army staged tit-for-tat attacks. That's despite unilateral ceasefire announcements by both sides in the past two months. And civilians caught in the middle of that fighting are bearing the brunt..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Seven civilians were injured Wednesday in fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State, a state legislator said.
Description: "Nan Khin Htar Ye, MP for Theinni township, said the victims included five women and two men. “One of the victims was hit in the knee by flying shrapnel,” she said. “We transferred them to Lashio Hospital from Theinni. The others suffered minor injuries.” A TNLA spokesperson said its fighters attacked a Tatmadaw convoy passing near Theinni town. Three vehicles were damaged and at least five residential houses were destroyed in the attack, residents said. U Myint Oo, administrator of the township, thanked the military for showing restraint in its response to the attackers. “The Tatmadaw had plenty of forces, but it fought back in a controlled way to ensure minimal harm to civilians,” he said. Despite recurring fighting in nearby Lashio, Laukkai, Namtu and Kutkai townships in northern Shan, there had been no fighting in Theinni for 30 years before Wednesday. Daw Nan Khin Htar Yi, MP for Theinni’s constituency 1, said that fighting in the town last happened in 1985..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Some Tatmadawmen were dead and some locals wounded in TNLA’s attack in Hsenwi on Lashio-Muse Union Highway. Ta’ ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), launched an attack on Tatmadaw’s motorcade in the downtown Hsenwi, killing two Tatmadawmen and injuring some residents, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, Secretary of Tatmadaw True News Information Team, adding that the TNLA committed war crimes on October 9. “Under the cover of wards and houses in the downtown area, the TNLA launched an attack on Tatmadaw motorcade and it is an offense against war crime. The people and the citizens can witness the TNLA’s attitude toward peace by reviewing the TNLA’s attack on Tatmadaw motorcade in the downtown of Hsenwi,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. The attack that the TNLA launched in Hsenwi on Lashio-Muse Union Highway in northern Shan State broke out at about 6.30 am on October 9. Shrapnel coming from the heavy weapons flew on the roofs of some houses in Hsenwi. “At about 6.30 am this morning, the TNLA went down to Hsenwi from Kaunghmuphat and fired at Tatmadaw motorcade. Both sides exchanged fires. There were some casualties after the attack. The schoolchildren don’t come to schools in the downtown. The traffic came to a stop in the morning. Now the traffic returns to normal,” said an official of Hsenwi General Administration Department..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eleven Media Group" (Myanmar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has clashed with Burmese government forces more than 130 times since the start of this year, according to the head of the group’s information department. “There were over 130 clashes between January and September of this year,” Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw told NMG, adding that the largest number of clashes was in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township. “We have had clashes with the Burma Army in Kutkai, Kyaukme, Namhsan, Mangton, Namtu, Lashio, Namkham and Muse townships. The highest number occurred in Kutkai,” he said. Last month, the TNLA, along with two other members of the Northern Alliance—the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—declared a unilateral ceasefire from September 9 to December 31 to support efforts to reach a bilateral agreement with the government and reduce clashes with the Burma Army. Although no clashes are currently being reported in northern Shan State, the unilateral ceasefire by the ethnic armed groups—and one extended by the Burma Army until mid-September—did not bring an immediate end to the fighting. “The number of clashes has declined dramatically in northern Shan State, but we had five or six clashes after we declared a unilateral ceasefire. They were caused by attacks on our forces by military columns of the Burma Army. But they’re not attacking us now, so there are no clashes at the moment,” said Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw..."
Source/publisher: "Network Media Group" (Canada) via "BNI Multimedia Group" (Myanmar)
2019-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Three Myanmar government soldiers were killed and at least seven civilians and three other troops were injured Wednesday morning during a rebel army ambush on a military convoy in war-torn northern Shan state, local and military officials and area residents said. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic Palaung armed group, attacked Myanmar soldiers in a market in Hsenwi township, also known as Hsenni, in Lashio district. “This morning, around 6 a.m. we heard several gunshots from town,” township administrator Myint Oo told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “I was stunned because I wasn’t familiar with these sounds. “Afterwards, I learned that a military convoy had been attacked,” he said. “When the soldiers from the convoy countered the attack, the other side had retreated.” Area residents said TNLA soldiers ambushed the convoy near the bazaar at the entrance of Hsenwi town, killing about three soldiers and wounding three others..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-10-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Two civilians were shot dead Tuesday in a village in Rathedaung township during a fierce clash between Myanmar forces and the Arakan Army (AA), RFA reported quoting local residents and military officials. A 17-year-old mentally disabled man and a 70-year-old woman died during the armed conflict, they said, and their bodies were left with caretakers who remained behind after most others fled to safety. The arrival of a Myanmar military unit in Hteeswe village, close to Kyauktan village, earlier this week prompted most of the residents from both communities to flee their homes, residents said..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: ambulance, Shan State, conflict, civil society, Northern Alliance, Tatmadaw, volunteers
Sub-title: Volunteers with community service ambulances in northern Shan State are taking big risks to help others in conflict zones – and sometimes pay with their lives.
Topic: ambulance, Shan State, conflict, civil society, Northern Alliance, Tatmadaw, volunteers
Description: "THE SMELL of the bodies permeates through the minivan as we make the 32-kilometre journey back to Lashio. In the back of the ambulance – a Toyota Super Custom minivan – are two yellow bags containing the bodies of U Win Maung, 61, and his wife, Daw Aye Mya, from Man Kaung village. The smell doesn’t seem to bother the volunteers from the Giving Hand aid group. As we pull out of Man Kaung, Ko Kaung Zaw, 22, slips down the surgical mask on his face and takes a long drink of Sprite from a bottle that had been resting beside the body bags. For most of the journey back to Lashio, Kaung Zaw, who has been volunteering with Giving Hand for about three years, scrolls through Facebook on his phone, paying little attention as the bodies slide around due to the winding road. But this was no ordinary emergency. Win Maung, a former member of the Tatmadaw, was the leader of the Mong Yan militia. The couple were killed when their home was bombarded with grenades and M79 grenade-launcher fire in an apparently targeted attack on the evening of August 20..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2019-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Belt and Road
Sub-title: Ethnic strife and national pride halt Beijing-championed infrastructure projects
Topic: Belt and Road
Description: "A recent decision by the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, not to extend a cease-fire aimed at ethnic armed organizations excluded from a nationwide peace agreement puts the country's Belt and Road projects in further limbo. Multiple projects have already been halted, including the key Myitsone dam hydropower project in in Myanmar's northernmost state of Kachin. But ethnic strife is not to blame. Rather, the dam has run up against nationwide opposition and an International Finance Corp. report strongly advising against damming the upper reaches of Myanmar's major rivers. Meanwhile, work on a feasibility study for another project has been suspended as a result of the renewed hostilities. Tatmadaw forces in late September assaulted a Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army base in Kutkai, squarely in the middle of the proposed route for the China-led Muse-Lashio-Mandalay rail project in northern Shan state. One day after fighting recommenced, a Myanma Railways spokesman announced the suspension, blaming the instability. The attacks signal the failure of Chinese attempts to broker peace between Myanmar's vigorously independent military and a group of armed organizations known as The Northern Alliance..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Nikkei Review" (Japan)
2019-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Armed clashes between Myanmar security forces (Tatmadaw) and ArakanArmy (AA) members broke out in two northern townships of Arakan on 29 September, where three civilians received injuries. Residents of Miwa village under Kyauk Taw township namely U Tha Tun Oo (63), Maung Naing Lin Soe (22) and Thaung Htay sustained injuries as the encounter took place near to their village adjacent to Kaladan river. Father of Maung Naing Lin Soe informed that they were working in their farmland for seasonal crops at 8 am on Sunday and suddenly heard the sound of firings from the riverside. “We all tried to hide under a big mango tree and then a bullet hit my son. But fortunately, the injury is not much serious,” added the local farmer. However, another villager named U Tha Tun Oo received serious injuries and he was sent to Sittwe general hospital for necessary treatments. “The bullet hit on his back and the shell was already taken out by the operation. His condition is improving now, but may have to continue treatments for some days,” he revealed. According to the local sources, AA members attacked a ferry ship operated by the security forces on the Kaladan river near to Miwa village in the morning hours. The soldiers retaliated with several gunshots towards the mountain range. Those artillery shells are suspected to wound those three locals..."
Source/publisher: "Narinjara" via "BNI Multimedia Group" (Myanmar)
2019-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: IDPs, Northern Alliance, Northern Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw, TNLA
Topic: IDPs, Northern Alliance, Northern Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw, TNLA
Description: "Over 100 people from Kong Sa Village who were displaced by clashes in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State say they are short of food and lack proper accommodation. They fled to Mengtung Village after the Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) clashed with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) near their village on Sept. 24. “They are 40 households and 141 people in total. They are staying at the monastery. And it is not suitable for them all to sleep together. They also need food,” said Mai Ai Kham, manager of the Mengtung camp for internally displaced people (IDPs). The IDPs are short of food. They do not dare go outside the village because they fear landmines, said Sai Bu from Kutkai who is assisting IDPs in Mengtung. “They are very short of food. They need basics like rice, oil, salt and onions. There are landmines around the village and it is not even safe to collect firewood. Provision of groceries will help them,” she told The Irrawaddy. Over 500 people from three villages are also taking shelter at churches in the areas, she added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-09-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A trio of ethnic armed groups have escalated their fight with the military in Myanmar’s Shan State. This alliance has long been outside the country’s peace process. With China’s help, the government should pursue bilateral ceasefires – and longer-term rapprochement – with the three organisations. What’s new? On 15 August, an alliance of ethnic armed groups staged coordinated attacks against strategic targets in northern Myanmar. The offensive left up to fifteen people dead, and clashes reportedly continue in the northern part of Shan State, creating concerns for civilians’ safety. Why did it happen? The three ethnic armed groups behind the attacks have been largely excluded from the peace process for the past five years. In recent months, the government has proposed bilateral ceasefires to the groups but has set unrealistic demands and accompanied the offers with military pressure. Why does it matter? The attacks mark a serious escalation in Shan State’s conflict. They represent a rejection of bilateral ceasefire terms that the Myanmar government has proposed to the armed groups. While the Myanmar military has not yet responded with significant force, the brunt of mounting violence will inevitably fall on civilians. Myanmar’s military has not retaliated in the heavy-handed way many observers expected, given the attacks’ provocative nature. Instead, it has focused on securing key infrastructure and reopening the highway to the border with China. Contrary to most expectations, the military has also extended its unilateral ceasefire from 31 August to 21 September. The government negotiating team has moved quickly to resume talks with the groups, with meetings held on 31 August and 17 September. On 9 September, the Brotherhood Alliance announced a one-month ceasefire but also warned that it would retaliate if attacked. China, which wields strong influence in the border areas and over some of the groups, has also been encouraging dialogue and de-escalation. The Myanmar military could still decide to strike back, however. A counteroffensive would have dire consequences for the area’s civilian population, particularly ethnic Ta’ang (also referred to as Palaung), whom government forces suspect of providing support to the TNLA. Myanmar’s military and, to a lesser extent, the three ethnic armed groups have a history of human rights violations. Already, there are reports of indiscriminate shelling and mortar fire, as well as attacks on local aid groups’ vehicles and civilian cars and trucks on the highway. Thousands of residents have fled their homes, some pre-emptively out of fear of being targeted by forces on either side. Humanitarian access, which is already constrained, is likely to become more difficult..."
Source/publisher: "International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium) via Reliefweb
2019-09-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Three ethnic armed groups fighting with Myanmar's military in northern Rakhine state and northern Shan state have unilaterally extended a cease-fire until end of this year, according to a statement released by the alliance on Friday. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA), originally declared the ceasefire Sept. 9, and it was to end on Oct. 8. In the announcement, the alliance said it was ready to strike a bilateral cease-fire agreement if the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar's national army is called, was also willing. "On our sides, we will not launch any offensive against the Burmese military. We will cease all offensives," AA spokesman Khine Thukha told RFA's Myanmar Service. "Because this is the time we are holding peace talks, we think it's best to stop all the fighting. That's why we are doing what we can. We expect it is helpful to build trust between the two sides," he added. While Khine Thukha spoke of peace negotiations, he blamed the army for a recent eruption in fighting..."
Source/publisher: RFA (USA) via "SingaporeNews.Net" (Singapore)
2019-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Intense fighting along major route halts fortune in cross-border trade
Description: "Cross-border trade between Myanmar and China has ground to a halt since rebels launched coordinated attacks on several targets along a major trade route on Aug. 15. The Northern Alliance -- a rebel collation of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army -- attacked a major military training academy near Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, and several positions in northeastern Shan state bordering China. The Myanmar government said the attacks left at least 15 dead, including three civilians, and caused around $200,000 worth of damage to properties and buildings..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASIA - PACIFIC"
2019-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Three ethnic armed groups fighting with Myanmar’s military in northern Rakhine State and northern Shan State have unilaterally extended a ceasefire until end of this year, according to a statement released by the alliance on Friday. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA), originally declared the ceasefire September 9, and it was to end on October 8. In the announcement, the alliance said it was ready to strike a bilateral ceasefire agreement if the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s national army is called, was also willing. “On our sides, we will not launch any offensive against the Burmese military. We will cease all offensives,” said Khine Thukha, spokesperson for the AA in an interview with RFA’s Myanmar Service. “Because this is the time we are holding peace talks, we think it's best to stop all the fighting. That’s why we are doing what we can. We expect it is helpful to build trust between the two sides,” he added. While the spokesperson spoke of peace negotiations, he blamed the army for a recent eruption in fighting..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-09-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: MYANMAR, WAR CRIMES, JUSTIC, EGENOCIDE, SHAN STATE, RAKHINE STATE, OHCHR, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, RIGHTS, KAREN STATE, UN FACT-FINDING MISSION, MYANMAR MILITARY, 'FLYING TOMATO', UNHRC
Topic: MYANMAR, WAR CRIMES, JUSTIC, EGENOCIDE, SHAN STATE, RAKHINE STATE, OHCHR, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, RIGHTS, KAREN STATE, UN FACT-FINDING MISSION, MYANMAR MILITARY, 'FLYING TOMATO', UNHRC
Description: "The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (aka Forum-Asia), Progressive Voice and the Karen Human Rights Group are calling on member and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council to take concrete action to ensure justice and accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes perpetrated against ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar. We are deeply concerned regarding the escalation in conflict, particularly in Rakhine and Shan states, and are urging the UNHRC to broaden the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar regularly to document and report violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law in that country. Shan state has observed an escalation in conflict since the factions of the Northern Alliance’s Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) carried out attacks against the Myanmar military’s Defense Service Technological Academy at Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region, as well as a toll gate, customs house and police security outpost on August 15. The military was quick to retaliate, with some of the worst fighting observed in Lashio and Kutkai. In Lashio, the military used Buddhist temples to fire shells into villages, resulting in the death of a 52-year-old farmer. In Kutkai, parents and family grieved the death of three Kachin children due to heavy shelling between the Northern Alliance and the military..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times"
2019-09-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar government peace negotiators and the Northern Alliance group of ethnic armies on Tuesday did not reach an agreement on a bilateral cease-fire to end hostilities between the rebel forces and national military in northeast and western Myanmar, though they decided to meet again for further discussions, spokesmen for the parties said. Myanmar military representatives also participated in the meeting with representatives from the four Northern Alliance groups — the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Arakan Army (AA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — in the eastern Shan state town of Kengtung. Armed conflict has raged for most of this year between three of the rebel armies and government army in Myanmar’s northern Shan state and between the AA and national soldiers in Rakhine state, leaving scores of civilians and soldiers dead and displacing thousands of local residents. Zaw Htay, director general of the President’s Office, told a news conference that government negotiators and the Northern Alliance agreed to seven points of a draft bilateral cease-fire, including the holding of further talks, the establishment of liaison offices to prevent further fighting, and the return of displaced civilians. He called the talks with the rebel armies positive because they aimed to build trust between the parties, though they yielded no cease-fire agreement. “We had expected to sign [a deal], but they didn’t have a mandate to sign it,” Zaw Htay said. The Northern Alliance has a month-long temporary truce in effect through Oct. 8, while a unilateral cease-fire by the Myanmar military expires on Sept. 21..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Reliefweb" via Radio Free Asia (USA)
2019-09-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: Army, civilians, IDPs, Namhsan, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw
Topic: Army, civilians, IDPs, Namhsan, Northern Alliance, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Tatmadaw
Description: "Namhsan Township in northern Shan State has seen more than 1,000 villagers flee their homes amid ongoing fighting between the Myanmar army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Namhsan’s Lway Plang Gar Houre of the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO), which helps displaced people, told The Irrawaddy that community leaders had opened a fourth camp to cope with the growing numbers arriving. “One more house was destroyed by artillery [Sunday]. The other villagers were afraid and they fled,” said Lway Plang Gar Houre. About 200 Kayar Lan villagers fled yesterday. The fighting broke out on Sept. 13 after an army assault on the TNLA position at Taung Yoe (Mountain) Pagoda. The TNLA outpost overlooks Namhsan, reportedly leading the army to fear it could be used to target the town..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Myanmar, Thailand)
2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "One civilian was killed and six others were injured in a clash between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the Arakan Army (AA) in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State at around 1.00 a.m. on Sunday. U Ni Tun, 70, was struck in the leg by shrapnel when an artillery shell hit his house in the village of Kan Thone Sint, north of Kan Sauk hill in Kyauktaw. He died of blood loss while he was being taken to a hospital. “An artillery shell fell on U Ni Tun’s house at around 1 a.m. [on Sunday]. He died en route as we were taking him to the hospital in a motorboat,” Kan Thone Sint village administrator U Hla Maung told The Irrawaddy. The artillery shell was fired from east of the village, and villagers kept the shrapnel, he said. In another incident, six civilians were injured when artillery shells struck their houses in Thingana and Sabel Hla villages on the Kalandan River, local residents said. “The fighting took place at around 1 a.m. [Sunday]. Tatmadaw Navy [ships] heading to Paletwa [in Chin State] along the Kaladan River were fired upon from the forest. The Navy returned fire, and [an artillery shell] hit our village,” Ko Kyaw Thaung, a resident of Sabel Hla Village, told The Irrawaddy..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Fighting between the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) intensified in northern Shan State on Friday, near the town of Namhsan, according to locals. The fighting broke out despite a recently announce one-month ceasefire between the groups. The fighting broke out around 7 a.m. when the Tatmadaw attacked a TNLA base at mountain pagoda locals called Taung Yoe Pagoda, according to TNLA spokesperson Major Tar Aike Kyaw. It halted a bit after 9 a.m. but resumed at 1 p.m. and was ongoing for the rest of the day, he said. “Our troops are based on that mountain. Fighting broke out because they came and attacked our troops,” Major Tar Aike Kyaw, TNLA spokesperson, said. Locals told The Irrawaddy that the Tatmadaw brought in two army helicopters to reinforce ground attacks at around 2:30 p.m., which were firing long-range artillery. Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun confirmed to The Irrawaddy intermittent fighting had occurred in the area Friday, and that the Tatmadaw employed helicopters..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Myanmar government on Friday stressed the importance of an upcoming meeting between its peace negotiators and the Northern Alliance group of ethnic armies to try to end escalated hostilities in northern Shan state, and warned of possible negative consequences should the talks fail. Tun Tun Oo, vice chairman of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC), will lead the team of negotiators meeting with leaders of four Northern Alliance groups — the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Arakan Army (AA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—the eastern Shan state town of Kengtung on Sept. 17, said government spokesman Zaw Htay. Hostilities intensified after the Northern Alliance, except for the KIA, attacked various locations in war-torn northern Shan state and neighboring Mandalay region in mid-August in retaliation for what they said were offensives by Myanmar soldiers in areas the groups’ control. They carried out further armed assaults on bridges and border passages to disrupt trade routes in the border region..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: Agriculture, Arakan Army, China, Economics, Ethnic Armed Groups, Finance, Muse, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Trade
Topic: Agriculture, Arakan Army, China, Economics, Ethnic Armed Groups, Finance, Muse, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Trade
Description: "Although the security situation in northern Shan State has stabilized, businesses say they are still on the alert about their safety and transport costs, which are rising due to a shortage of trucks. The attacks by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army on military and civilian targets on Aug. 15 destroyed the Goke Twin bridge on the Muse-Mandalay highway, a major trade route with China. “It took about five days to repair the bridge and it was reopened on Aug. 20. But there were roadblocks [due to several other bridges being destroyed] between Kutkai and Muse, so we could only fully use the road again after Sept. 5. The bridge can only carry trucks weighing up to 48 tons, so everyone wants to hire those trucks to transport their goods. Therefore, the price went up,” said U Win Aung Khant, the chairman of the Muse Highway Freight Forwarders Association..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "With recent intense fighting in Myanmar’s northern Shan state and ongoing armed conflict in northern Rakhine state, China’s influence in the Southeast Asian country’s peace process has grown with the country’s government pushing for ethnic armed groups to meet with peace negotiators. But not everyone in Myanmar trusts Beijing or sees its role as beneficial. China jumped in last month after three members of the Northern Alliance group — the Arakan Army (AA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — launched coordinated attacks on various locations in war-torn northern Shan state and neighboring Mandalay region, killing 15 Myanmar troops, policemen, and civilians. The combined forces carried out further armed assaults on various bridges and border passages to disrupt overland trade with China in retaliation for what they said were offensives by Myanmar soldiers in areas the ethnic armies control. As fighting intensified last month, Sun Guoxiang, special envoy for Asian affairs from China’s foreign ministry, met with the armies to express Beijing’s displeasure with the armed conflict, which has increased instability in the border region, and pressured them to stop fighting..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)"
2019-09-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A four-year-long curfew in Laukkai and Konkyan townships of Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) in northern Shan State was extended on Monday. States of emergency and martial law have been in place in Kokang SAZ since Feb. 17, 2015, after armed clashes broke out between the Myanmar army and armed groups including the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). The deputy director of the General Administration Office of the Kokang SAZ, U Tun Kyaw Kyaw, signed the curfew extension on Monday under Section 144 of the Criminal Code. The curfew states that no one shall go outside their homes in Laukkai and Konkyan between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., that gatherings of five or more people are strictly prohibited and that anyone who breaks the curfew will face legal action. “The curfew has been extended every two months since February 2015, after the armed conflict, but now the time limitation has been reduced,” said U Kyaw Ni Naing, a member of the Upper House of the Union Parliament for Laukkai constituency. Under the previous curfew, locals were restricted from leaving their homes between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. “We had requested through the [Union] parliament that the government terminate the curfew because stability and peace in our region have been restored,” said U Kyaw Ni Naing. Kokang SAZ has largely been spared from the ongoing armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Brotherhood Alliance—the TNLA, the MNDAA and the Arakan Army (AA). U Kyaw Ni Naing said the government is concerned about stability in the region..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The alliance of three ethnic armed groups that has been fighting the Myanmar military in northern Shan State on Monday announced a unilateral one-month ceasefire as a trust-building gesture amid peace negotiations aimed at producing bilateral ceasefire agreements between the government and the armed groups, local sources said. The Myanmar military has already imposed its own ceasefire in the region The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), who refer to themselves as the Brotherhood Alliance, said in a statement that the ceasefire would be in effect from Monday through Oct. 8. “In order to facilitate the peace negotiations, we have declared a one-month ceasefire,” Brigadier General Tar Phone Kyaw of the TNLA told The Irrawaddy on Monday. “We will try to build trust with them for one month as a trial period,” he said.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Understanding the behaviour and motivation of the three groups that launched attacks in Shan State on August 15 is key to charting a course forward for the peace process.
Description: "WITH FIGHTING in Rakhine State since January and escalating bloodshed in northern Shan State, Myanmar is enduring a level of conflict unprecedented in recent years. This state of affairs has further diminished the already gloomy prospect for any progress in the peace process before the 2020 elections. The peace process, with all its weaknesses and incapacity, may not be completely to blame for the recent fighting. However, the timing, location and specific patterns of the conflicts taking place in recent years require more analysis if a resolution is to be achieved in future. With perhaps some minor exceptions, the most significant armed conflicts in Myanmar since 2011 have taken place between Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, and the four organisations under the Northern Alliance banner: the Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army. Most of the fighting has taken place in Kachin and Shan states, where there is often an overlap in territory among and between the ethnic armed groups and the Tatmadaw. The military alliance among the four groups is categorically distinct from the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, which is a political organisation and does not automatically and directly carry military commitment to mutual defence – a point that was made clear at the second Panghsang Summit in 2017. The KIA, as the leader of the Northern Alliance, has been engaged in active conflict with the Tatmadaw since June 2011. Its support of the three other organisations is easily understood – to distract and mitigate the military pressure it faces from the Tatmadaw..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-09-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Improve Civilian Protection, Access to Aid
Description: "Myanmar’s armed forces and the three ethnic armed groups fighting in northern Shan State should safeguard civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Renewed fighting since August 15, 2019 has resulted in the deaths of at least 17 civilians and injured 27, many of them women and children, according to the United Nations. Approximately 7,500 people were displaced by the fighting in August, and 3,500 remain in temporary shelters. Nongovernmental groups have told Human Rights Watch that armed forces on both sides have stopped humanitarian aid convoys from traveling to affected populations, resulting in shortages of food and medicine. Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups should recognize that protecting civilians is a core obligation of the laws of war,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “All sides to the conflict should cease unlawful attacks against civilians and ensure that aid reaches people in need.” Since independence in 1948, the Myanmar government has been engaged in numerous armed conflicts with ethnic armed groups across the country. Four of those armed groups, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Arakan Army, and Kachin Independence Army, have allied into a coalition called the Northern Alliance..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch"
2019-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "One of the factors that caused clashes, I think, is ethnic armed groups’ declining trust in the peace process. The process started in 2011 and the NCA [Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement] was signed in 2015. Despite the peace process having been going for so long, no tangible results have been seen in terms of equality, self-determination or self-administration, which ethnic people demand. With their trust declining in the peace process, they might be feeling more stronger that they must take up arms for their rights. This is one of the factors. Secondly, although those three groups of the Northern Alliance participated in the peace process after 2011, they were rejected from taking part in the signing of the NCA on Oct. 15, 2015. They were asked to give up their arms [in order to take part in the peace process, and they didn’t], so they were not recognized. They started to be recognized only around the end of 2018. [The government] said bilateral [ceasefire] agreements will be signed. But then, they are in the very first stage of building understanding. Under the circumstances, they have started to fight for their political recognition. This is the political reason. And as to the military reason, though the Tatmadaw has declared ceasefires in areas of two of the groups, it has not declared a ceasefire in Rakhine State, the area of the AA [Arakan Army]. Fierce clashes are ongoing there. At the same time, in northern Shan State, [there are operations that] the military will call regional security measures, but ethnic armed groups will call [those operations] offensives into their territories. These led to between 30 and 50 skirmishes during the ceasefire period. Militarily, they [the rebel groups] launched those attacks to assist the AA and draw the Tatmadaw’s attention away from Rakhine State..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: China, Myanmar, Rohingya
Sub-title: Renewed violence between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military in Shan State has thrown joint China-Myanmar development plans into question. Relying on China to broker peace seems an increasingly risky gamble.
Topic: China, Myanmar, Rohingya
Description: "Since mid-August, violent clashes between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military have increased in Myanmar’s Shan State. On August 15, members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups attacked the Myanmar military’s Defence Services Technological Academy in the northern Shan State town of Pyin Oo Lwin, as well as a police outpost, a narcotics checkpoint and a key bridge on the highway to China. “We haven’t seen anything like this in decades of civil war in Myanmar,” said David Mathieson, an independent analyst in Yangon. At least 15 people were killed in the violence and over 7,000 people have fled their homes as fighting continues. “We have to flee quite frequently, but this time has been the worst,” said Maung Kyan, a local resident of a village near the town of Kutkai. Northern Alliance groups have targeted trade routes linking China’s Yunnan province to Mandalay and the rest of Myanmar, prompting the closure of two key border points at Muse and Chinshwehaw. Chinese officials have met with both sides in an attempt to stop the fighting. Northern Alliance leaders met with government representatives for peace talks in Keng Tung on August 31 but there’s been no news of progress towards a resolution. The conflict area in Northern Shan is central to the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Both the Chinese and Myanmese governments have pushed forward with development plans for the area without securing lasting peace with the ethnic armed groups in Shan State..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today"
2019-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "A group of 20 armed men in plain clothes blocked the highway near Kutkai in northern Shan State on September 3 and set fire to seven southbound vehicles, after ordering their drivers and passengers to hand over their money and mobile phones. No casualties were reported in the incident, which took place at about 6pm near Namkut village, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of Kutkai, on the main trade route between Myanmar and China. Three of the drivers told Frontier that armed men ordered about 30 people to leave the vehicles, before splashing them with petrol, setting them on fire and fleeing. Most of the vehicles were trucks transporting textiles and other goods loaded at Muse, on the border with China. They were en route to Lashio and the Mandalay Region capital, Mandalay, their drivers said. Frontier asked the drivers who was responsible, but they were unable to identify the assailants..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Six villagers, including a little girl, were injured by artillery fire on Monday in the village of Thayet Ta Pin, in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township. Villagers say the shots came from the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw), though the Tatmadaw has denied responsibility, saying counterfire from the Arakan Army (AA) could just as well have caused the injuries. The AA said they were not there. Villagers told The Irrawaddy that, after an unidentified blast was heard near a passing Tatmadaw column Monday afternoon, soldiers began shooting at homes. “Yesterday afternoon, after 1 p.m., we heard an explosion outside the village, when the soldiers were near our village, coming from Kyauktaw toward Maha Muni pagoda. I do not know how it happened,” Villager U Maung Win told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “After the explosion, the soldiers who had arrived in the village shot into the houses.” Villagers said those shots injured U Maung Than Mya, 53; U Maung San Thein, 41; Daw Ma Nyunt, 41; U Maung Than Wai, 32; Ko Maung Maung Soe, 16 and Ma Khine Thazin Nyein, 3. Additionally, four female students of the nearby Maha Nwe Boarding School lost consciousness from fright when the explosion went off. They are now being treated at Kyauktaw Hospital..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Northern Alliance (NA) and the government peace negotiators were unable to reach an agreement to end the fighting in northern Shan State at Saturday’s meeting in Keng Tung, according to a leader from the group of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). Leaders of the four NA members—the Kachin Independence Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—met with officials from the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) in Keng Tung, eastern Shan, on Saturday amid an escalation in the fighting in northern Shan State and Rakhine State. Brigadier-General Tar Phone Kyaw of the TNLA, who spoke on behalf of three of the NA members—the TNLA, AA and MNDAA, who are known as the Brotherhood Alliance—told The Irrawaddy on Monday that during the meeting, the NA proposed ways of ending the fighting. “We asked them to halt their military offensives in ethnic areas including [those of the] Arakan, Ta’ang and Kokang. This is the first point. Secondly, we asked them to stop shelling civilian targets, and to stop murdering and torturing civilians. Thirdly, we asked them to start real peace talks,” he said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Differences between the Tatmadaw and the three Northern Alliance allies behind recent brazen attacks in the north must be overcome for peace to have a chance.
Description: "THE BOLD attacks by three members of the Northern Alliance on Tatmadaw, infrastructure and other targets in northern Shan State and neighbouring Mandalay Region since August 15 have shocked the nation. They included an audacious attack on the Defence Services Technological Academy in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin Township, one of the nation’s most heavily fortified towns. The academy was one of five targets hit in a coordinated dawn operation on August 15 that included a police post on the Goktwin bridge in northern Shan’s Nawngkhio Township, a toll gate, narcotics checkpoint, and a bridge on the road linking Mandalay, Lashio and Muse, disrupting border trade with China. The three groups, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Arakan Army, have since struck at other targets in northern Shan and the fighting has displaced thousands of villagers. The fighting involving the three groups, all non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, has again focused attention on their differences with the Tatmadaw and the challenges facing the peace process. The National League for Democracy government and the Tatmadaw are dealing with three categories of ethnic armed groups, depending on what agreements they have signed, or in some cases, not signed. The first are the ten ethnic armed groups that have signed the NCA. They include the Karen National Union, which has suspended its involvement in the peace process, a situation that needs to be resolved before peace talks can move forward..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "CHIANG MAI, Thailand—Five civilians including three children were killed when mortar shells struck their homes in Kutkai Township’s Mawhit village in Shan State on Saturday. The fighting erupted in Kutkai between the Myanmar military and the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armed groups while the groups’ leaders were holding peace talks with the government in Keng Tung, eastern Shan State, on Saturday. An 18-year-old woman and her 5-month-old daughter; and a 34-year-old woman and her son, 9, and daughter, 14, from Mawhit village, Kutkai Township in northern Shan State were killed by mortar shells and their homes were destroyed, according to Kutkai residents. “Three of them died immediately from the shelling and two others died after arriving at a hospital in Kutkai,” said Daw Lum Nyoi, a Kutkai resident. Three others were injured, of whom two were taken to Lashio Hospital. “The sound of gunfire was heard since 7 a.m. in Kutkai Town, starting when we were about to take the children to school,” said Mai Mai, a Kutkai resident who is also a relief worker..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Myanmar military announced to extend the suspension period of its operations against armed groups for 21 more days on Saturday, the last day of the previous suspension period. According to a statement issued by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Office, the military's non-operation period is set to extend until Sept. 21 this year. The statement said that the extension aims to express hope for the development of peace process for local ethnic people, help all stakeholders continue engaging in peace process as well as conducting dialogues with the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC). The Myanmar military had extended the non-operation period for three times before, from Dec. 21, 2018 to April 30, 2019, from May 1 to June 30 this year and from July 1 to Aug. 31 this year, respectively..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua"
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Representatives of Myanmar government's National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and four ethnic armed groups issued a joint communique late on Saturday following their meeting in Kengtung, Shan state, earlier on the day. The four armed groups are Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF) or Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Truth and Justice Party (MNTJP) or Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the United League of Arakan(ULA) or Arakan Army (AA). Matters relating to stopping the ongoing armed engagements were discussed in order to sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement and then a nationwide ceasefire agreement, the communique said, adding that matters related to deployment of forces and rules and procedures to prevent outbreak of fighting were also agreed to be discussed with the military representatives. Both sides pledged in the communique to make efforts with full political will towards stopping the ongoing armed engagements for national reconciliation and union peace..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua"
2019-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "NAYPYITAW—The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has blown up a bridge on the Hseinwi-Kunlong-Chin Shwe Haw Road in northern Shan State and attacked a Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) battalion headquarters on the outskirts of Lashio, according to Tatmadaw True News Information Team spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. The TNLA blew up the 31st Mile Bridge for the second time this month at around 11 p.m. Tuesday and attacked Battalion No. 291—stationed near the village of Nam Pao, some 25 miles outside of Lashio—at around 6 a.m. the following day. “The TNLA blew up a bridge near Nar Tee Village on Hseinwi-Kunlong-Chin Shwe Haw Road and carried out the artillery attack on a battalion in Nam Pao from a distance. The artillery shells did not hit the battalion, and no one was injured,” Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Five civilians, including two children, were killed in northeastern Myanmar Saturday when artillery hit a village amid talks between rebel groups and the government to end the conflict. Heavy fighting broke out for more than six hours between Myanmar’s military and the Northern Alliance rebel coalition near the town of Kutkai in the northern Shan state early on Saturday, according to local media reports and activists. The Radio Free Asia Burmese service reported artillery shells landed in the village of Mawhit, killing three women and two children. It added that three others were injured and taken to hospital in Lashio, the capital of northern Shan. Lwan Nyel, vice-chair of the Kachin Literature and Culture Association in Shan state, told Anadolu Agency that three shells hit Mawhit..."
Source/publisher: "ASIA - PACIFIC"
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Welcome to Dateline Irrawaddy! As everyone knows, three members of the Northern Alliance launched attacks on five places and the Defense Services Technological Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin on Aug. 15. Fighting ensued and the Muse-Lashio Road was blocked. Some experts viewed it as a security breach. I will discuss with Dr. Min Zaw Oo to what extent the military and the government are lacking cooperation, and to what extent the ongoing clashes are worrying to the people of Myanmar. It is nearly 70 years that civil war has been ongoing in Myanmar. There are nearly 20 ethnic armed groups in Myanmar. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, Myanmar has experienced a serious armed conflict with a large number of armed groups fighting over territorial disputes, and the latest attack carried out by three members of the Northern Alliance on the military academy has shocked many people. How worrying do you think the situation is? It is not that difficult to launch an attack on the Defense Services Technological Academy with rockets. It is not that the rebels came into the town and launched attacks. Though the attack in Goke Twin can be called a security breach, the place is not a stronghold, but a soft target. What is worrying is the attack that has blocked for ten days the Mandalay-Muse Road, the lifeline of Myanmar’s trade. They launched the attack with the intention of cutting off the economic lifeline. The ambition is not just a military one, it is intended to cut off a strategic route for trade and commodity flows, and therefore this will impact various strata of society. The road is a strategic route and the impact is strategic, so this led to a question—how much our leaders had thought about this and prepared in advance? Rather than responding only after attacks on strategic places, we should have—there is no national security policy that identifies places critical to the interests of the whole country and the people, that outlines how to protect those interests and how to solve problems and how to connect peace and security. Because of the lack of such a policy, certain things that should be done based on such a policy can’t be carried out. I think the political rivalries and political problems resulting from the 2008 Constitution have impacted national security..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Border stability between China and Myanmar depends on progress toward a peace deal between the allied ethnic armed groups currently fighting the Myanmar (or Tatmadaw) in northern Shan State, according to a statement issued Thursday by the rebels. It is the third statement the alliance of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) has issued this week. Fighting between them and the Tatmadaw broke out 14 days ago. The EAOs—an alliance among the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) going my the moniker the Brotherhood Alliance—have been working with China, who is trying to help as a peace negotiator. The first statement was issued on Aug. 25 and the second on Aug. 28, both requesting that all drivers avoid conflict areas to avoid being trapped in fighting and for their general safety..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "A tactical frontline base of the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) was raided and no less than 30 soldiers were killed by Arakan Army (AA) rebels in rural Mrauk-U Township, in northern Rakhine State, at dawn on Wednesday, Arakan Army spokesperson U Khine Thukha told The Irrawaddy. He said fighting was ongoing between the two sides as of Wednesday evening. U Khine Thukha said the AA staged the attacks on a military station at Lin Mway Taung Hill—a 30-minute drive north of downtown Mrauk-U—and occupied the base within a few hours; his troops then retreated from the hill in the morning after confiscating Tatmadaw mortars, firearms, ammunitions and some prisoners of war. U Khine Thukha said he is still waiting for updates from AA headquarters so could not provide a detailed battle report. He said that although he could not give a precise number of Tatmadaw causalities, the Myanmar military retrieved the dead bodies of its soldiers using three dump trucks and took them to Mrauk-U later on. He said two AA soldiers were killed and five were injured in the raid..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: Terrified civilians are bearing the brunt of the upsurge in fighting in northern Shan State, as death and displacement rise due to attacks for which no armed force is claiming responsibility.
Description: "WHEN MORE than 70 troops from the Tatmadaw’s Infantry Battalion 68 deployed in Kone Sar village, about 13 kilometres northeast of Lashio town in northern Shan State on August 17, the residents were fearful. Their nerves had been on edge since the previous day, when Tatmadaw helicopter gunships had launched attacks on suspected targets in nearby farmland and jungle-clad hills. The villagers had sought refuge in a small monastery at one end of Kone Sar. When the newly arriving troops moved into the monastery compound, set up two mortars and fired two rounds into the village, residents knew they needed to take cover further away. They made the decision to flee, leaving behind just one person from each household. Starting from the morning of August 18, scores of Kone Sar villagers fled on foot to the monastery at Mong Tin village, a few kilometres away. Among the departing villagers later that night were Sai Lon Aye, 42, and Sai Thein Kyi, 56. They were discussing what to carry and how long they might be away when they heard mortar fire and began running for cover. Thein Kyi was the faster runner. When he looked back, he saw Lon Aye’s body sprawled on the road; shrapnel from a mortar had struck the back of his head, killing him instantly..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2019-08-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "THEINNI, SHAN STATE—Sporadic clashes are ongoing between the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, and joint forces of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in northern Shan State, with casualties and injuries reported in clashes in Theinni and Kutkai townships. Rebel fighters attacked Yay Pu gate, a checkpoint for inspecting smuggled goods between Theinni and Lashio townships, with a rocket-propelled grenade around 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning from a nearby hill, killing a militiaman and injuring another, according to Tatmadaw soldiers and police providing security at the gate. “One was hit in the head and another was slightly injured in his right foot,” a military officer at the gate told The Irrawaddy on Saturday..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "In Myanmar's Rakhine state, another ethnic group besides the Rohingya has been fighting for its rights and recognition. The ethnic Arakan people have been battling the Myanmar government for decades, and in 2009 founded their own armed group, the Arakan Army, in 2009. Thousands have fled the violence into neighbouring Chin State and are now living in camps because of the recent spike in violence. Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler reports..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera English"
2019-08-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Myanmar military conducted air strikes using two attack helicopters, as well as artillery shelling, against Arakan Army (AA) rebels in northern Rakhine State’s rural Minbya and Mrauk-U townships on Thursday and Friday. U Hla Thein Aung, an Arakan National Party lawmaker in the Rakhine State Parliament from Minbya, said the fighting between the two sides lasted nearly all day on Thursday. He said two or three attack helicopters launched hellfire missiles and bombarded the Kalama mountain range, where AA guerrilla forces are believed to be stationed. The lawmaker said the battle zone is situated 3 miles northeast of Pan Myaung model village in Minbya. He said the frontline is just 1 or 2 miles from Shwe Kyin village, which is home to more than 1,800 people. Rakhine Ethnic Congress secretary Ko Zaw Zaw Tun said the air strikes caused some residents of neighboring villages like Shwe Kyin, Dai Tha and Kyaung Taung to flee their homes for safer locations on Thursday and Friday. He said his group was informed by locals that Thursday’s fighting was heavy and lasted almost the whole day..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "The Myanmar military accused an ethnic armed group operating in Myanmar’s northeastern Shan state of terrorism and drug trafficking, and warned of all-out war, according to a report by RFA on 23 August. The message was conveyed by Major General Tun Tun Nyi at a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw in response to the August 15 attacks on military and civilian targets close to Mandalay. According to the RFA report, the army spokesman said most of the attacks on August 15 were not in military-related places and were “terrorism acts”. “They were more than terrorist attacks. They were an act of brutality and could be described as a war crime,” he said, adding they tarnished the government and country’s image. The surprising August 15 attacks by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic Palaung group, and two other ethnic armies, the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), left 15 people dead, including nine soldiers, and an equal number injured..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Mizzima"
2019-08-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Senior leaders from ethnic armed organizations (EAO) pleaded for an end to the current fighting in Myanmar’s northeast, calling on both the government and the three EAOs involved in the fighting to negotiate an end as soon as possible. It has been a week since an alliance of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) launched attacks on police outposts and a Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, training facility in townships in Mandalay Region and Shan State. Those attacks killed 15 people, including civilians, soldiers and police, and the resultant fighting has displaced thousands. On Aug. 15, rebels targeted the military’s Defense Service Technological Academy, in Pyin Oo Lwin Township, Mandalay Region, as well as security outposts, anti-narcotics checkpoints, toll gates and bridges in Naung Cho Township, in Shan State. The government denounced the attacks as “terrorist acts” last Friday but said it remains open to dialogue. “The country has been sunk in conflict,” said Mahn Nyein Maung, the Karen National Union’s (KNU) senior Central Executive Committee member..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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