Myanmar's Shan state parliament approves urgent proposal to stop armed clashes

2016-07-15

A resident of Minenaung subtownship who fled fighting between Myanmar government troops and Shan ethnic army groups holds her baby inside a temporary evacuation center at a Buddhist monastery in Laihka, northern Myanmar's Shan state, Nov. 17, 2015. AFP

Myanmar's Shan state parliament on Friday approved an emergency proposal calling on the central government to find a solution to stop the armed clashes that have been on an upswing during the past several months, a local lawmaker said

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the predominant political party in the conflict-ridden northern Myanmar state, submitted the proposal on Thursday, SNLD lawmaker San San Aye told RFA's Myanmar Service.

"Because of the fighting, people are fleeing from their homes," she said. "They can't work at their jobs, and their children can't go to school. Their houses have been destroyed, and some villagers were taken by force to be used as porters."

"That's why we have called on the Shan state government and Union government to do something to stop the fighting and prevent further tensions between ethnic armed groups and the national army," she said.

Some lawmakers who discussed the proposal called for an investigation of the recent murder of seven civilians by a Myanmar army battalion in late June in Mong Yaw subtownship, and for action to be taken against the perpetrators, San San Aye said.

Resumption of hostilities

Hostilities resumed between the government military and the Shan State Army-North last October, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in the central part of Shan state.

And clashes between the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar military, and Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) flared up last November and again this year.

Both conflicts displaced thousands of civilians.

The fighting began after the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), the political organization that oversees the SSA, signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement with the central government and other armed ethnic groups.

The TNLA, which was excluded from the pact because it was engaged in fighting against the Myanmar army, accused the government army of supporting the RCSS/SSA in the recent clashes, though the Shan rebels denied the claim.

At the time of the flare-ups, local civil society groups urged the international community to "break its silence on the war crimes" being committed by Myanmar government troops in Shan state with their repeated air and ground missile attacks on densely populated civilian areas, along with the shootings and rapes of villagers.

Attack in Mong Yaw

On June 25, about 100 Myanmar army soldiers from a local light infantry battalion arrived in Mong Yaw and opened fire. They detained and questioned farmers who ran for cover from a cornfield and drivers traveling into the area to find out if they had seen any armed ethnic Shan soldiers.

The soldiers detained 11 villagers or passersby from the cornfield near Lashio township, and shot dead two young men on motorbikes when they failed to stop at a checkpoint.

They later released six of the 11 who were detained, but the other five turned up in shallow graves with the corpses of the two young men a few days later.

On July 3, a Myanmar army deputy regional commander visited the families of five of the victims in Mong Yaw and gave each a "donation" of 300,000 kyats (U.S. $257), according to local media reports.

Rights groups have accused both government troops and ethnic rebel soldiers of human rights violations in Shan state, including kidnapping, torturing, and killing civilians, and forcing them to work as laborers.

The Ta'ang Women's Organization (TWO) issued a report in June, detailing human rights violations against civilians committed by the government army in Shan state.

The report entitled "Trained to Kill" is based on interviews with more than 100 local ethnic Palaung residents where clashes occurred between March 2011 and March 2016 and chronicles the torture by the Myanmar military that they endured.

After authorities in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon on Monday twice prevented TWO from holding an a press conference on the report, the ethnic women's organization said it would submit the report to President Htin Kyaw and members of the National Assembly.

Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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