Three Civilians Injured, Some 2000 Trapped in Kachin State Conflict

By Lun Min Mang / Myanmar Times | June 7, 2017

Three people were injured in the ongoing clashes between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army armed group in Kachin state, said a spokesman for a civil society rescue committee.

The three victims, who were Kawng Ra villagers were hurt after a shell of unknown origin hit their house on Monday, according to U Naw Tawng, a spokesperson for the rescue committee formed by churches in Tanai township.

They were then sent to the Tanai hospital for an operation, but the hospital does not have the facility to conduct an operation to remove splinters from their bodies, he added.

The victims are now in the military-run hospital in the town.

“Splinters of the shell remained in their bodies,” he said.

Some 2000 civilians working in gold mines, about 12 miles in northwestern areas of Tanai township in Kachin state, are also trapped amid the fighting between Tatmadaw and Kachin Independence Army as government tried to rescue them.

Twelve boats were sent to the areas yesterday to rescue the trapped civilians in the mines who work in search of gold, amber and other precious stones.

Military tension has been increasing since last month between the regional control command of government’s armed forces based in Tanai township and KIA’s Brigade (2) camping in the surrounding areas, which on June 3 led to fighting. The fighting is reported as continuing.

A short note suggesting civilians in the areas to flee to safer locations were spread this week.

Sources said Tatmadaw distributed the letter to the local residents. It said local residents should resettle to safer locations. Otherwise, they would be arrested and charged with assisting the KIA.

Ten mines in Tanai township where civilians work in search of gold and amber are “not officially granted worksites by the government” and are “hurting the environment and ecosystem of the Tanai region”, said the letter.

“Tatmadaw would soon conduct clearing operations in the areas,” said the letter.

It also said Tatmadaw was providing the information ahead of the military raids to avoid civilian casualties and injuries.

U Naw Tawng, said the distance between the mines that are close to the fighting areas ranged from 3 to 5 miles.

“I think N’gaga village would be so close to the fighting areas,” he said.

Most of the villagers in N’gaga are farmers, who might also be among those trapped in the fighting between Tatmadaw and KIA, he said.

The areas were battleground last year between government’s armed forces and the ethnic Kachin armed groups.

Sources yesterday said the boats carrying the mine workers arrived late in Tanai harbor because they were being interrogated by local authority on the way.

Meanwhile, local residents in Tanai town said they are “safe, but concerned for their friends or relatives” that are working in the mines.

“We had asked government to do something. This afternoon, 12 boats were sent to the areas to rescue the trapped workers in the mines,” he said.

Since the land route connecting the mines and Tanai town fall in the fighting areas, water transportation was used, he added.

Fighting between Tatmadaw and KIA intensified in mid-2016 and has continued into 2017. After a heavy military offensive earlier this year, Tatmadaw captured strategic outposts of KIA including Gidon hill that is close to China-Myanmar border. In one account of civil society groups, fighting occurred about 500 times just between August and December of 2016.

Skirmishes of Tatmadaw and KIA began in 2011.

In Yangon, civil society groups held an anniversary to mark the 6th year since the resumption of war in Kachin state. Although government and KIA signed bilateral truce that dated back to 1994, the armistice was broken when fighting broke out on June 9, 2011.

The widespread fighting between the government’s armed forces and the ethnic Kachin rebels have displaced over 120,000, said civil society groups.

Currently, the IDP camps in the controlled areas of KIA in Kachin state are in dire situation as access to deliveries of humanitarian assistance are blocked by government, said the civil society groups.

“We call for the removal of blockade to the humanitarian assistance to the IDPs,” a representative read out the statement of the civil society groups.

The groups called on the government and its armed forces to respect international laws, refrain from acts that violate human rights and release the wrongly charged and detained civilians in Kachin and northern Shan states.

The groups also called for the dignified return and resettlement of the IDPs to their original villages, education for children in the IDP camps and to allow the IDPs and those affected by the impact of war to speak out at national-level dialogues as well as 21st Century Panglong Conference.

The groups further called on the government not to pressure KIA to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) by attacking them.