Burmese troops battle militias in northeast of country

Government troops in Burma have attacked militia members in the northern state of Kachin. The fighting has killed at least four people and displaced 2,000 others since Thursday.

“This has been in the pipeline for some time,” explained Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Burma’s new constitution stipulates there can be only one armed group in Burma, the Burmese Army…Burma was afflicted by conflicts since independence, and 20 years ago a whole series of ceasefire agreements with almost 20 armed ethnic groups were agreed. And now Burma has this new constitution that says these armed groups must effectively surrender and become part of the Burmese Army.”

Farmaner told Vatican Radio the militias do not think the regime has fulfilled its promises to protect ethnic minorities, and the Burmese army has been trying to disarm them by force. Last week, they broke the ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Army, one of the larger groups in northeast Burma, called Myanmar by its military-backed government.

The area is home to two hydropower projects funded by China, which will receive the vast majority of the power generated.

“These dams are meant to be providing electricity to Yunnan Province in China,” said Farmaner. “So you have the dictatorship once again exploiting the natural recourses…while local people are being displaced in their tens of thousands.”

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Mark Farmaner: