January 21, 2013 - Catholic and Protestant leaders in Myanmar last week issued a
rare statement calling for an end to the conflict in northern Kachin state where casualties
among civilians continues to grow. Bishop John Hsane Hgyi of Pathei , president of
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, and Yin Yin Maw, president of the Myanmar
Council of Churches (MCC), on Thursday urged an end to recent aerial bombing and artillery
fire by government forces and called for international monitors to be permitted access.
“All parties’ concerned [should] return to the negotiating table with the help of
neutral facilitators, if required. Peace is possible,” the joint statement read.
Church leaders in Myanmar, formerly Burma, rarely speak out on the country’s many
insurgency conflicts for fear of retribution from a regime which, until recently,
demonstrated a low tolerance for dissent of any kind. “We should have made our voice
heard earlier by issuing a number of appeal letters,” said Bishop Sumlut Gam from
Banmaw diocese in Kachin State. “Quite frankly, it’s a late response now.” However,
MCC general secretary Shwe Lin said the timing of the statement by Christian groups
was to make sure that the right message was delivered after careful consideration.
The onslaught by government troops against ethnic rebel positions in Kachin has been
particularly intense in recent weeks. Even as the United Nations commended President
Thein Sein issuing a ceasefire order on Friday, government troops were reported attacking
rebel positions. The twenty months of fighting has displaced tens of thousands of
people and, for some analysts, raised doubts about the sincerity of all the political
and economic reforms pursued by the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma. The
government this month admitted for the first time that it was carrying out air strikes.
New York-based Human Rights Watch last week accused the army of indiscriminately shelling
the region.