Armed conflict in Myanmar

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Map of the states and divisions of Myanmar

Armed conflicts in Myanmar have existed since the independence of Myanmar (Burma or Burma) in 1948 until today. Here, rebel groups from ethnic minorities fought and are still fighting in various parts of the country for more autonomy or independence against the central government and its army.

Today, organizations from the Karen and Shan ethnic groups in the east of the country continue to fight against the government, while other organizations have signed ceasefire agreements. There are sporadic fights in other regions as well. As a result of the conflict, around 160,000 Myanmar refugees are living in neighboring Thailand and others in other countries in the region; there are hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people within Myanmar .

background

Ethnic groups of the country

About 68% of the inhabitants of today's Myanmar belong to the Burmese ( Bamar ) ethnic group . The remaining 32% are made up of minorities such as the Shan (9%), Karen (incl. Kayah / Karenni; 7%), Arakanese / Rakhaing (4%), Mon (2%) and others such as the Chin , Kachin and Rohingya . The Buddhist Burmese are everywhere in the country, but mainly in the center of the Irrawaddy Valley , while the minorities - some of them Christian, animist or Muslim - make up the majority of the population in the peripheral areas in the north, east and west.

History and politics

In the pre-colonial period, present-day Myanmar was not viewed as a unit, either geographically or politically. There were repeated conflicts between the Burmese and the surrounding peoples as well as between the non-Burmese peoples, especially the relations between the Burmese and the Karen people were tense. In the course of the 19th century, Great Britain conquered the area that became part of British India in 1886 as Burma and an independent crown colony in 1937. The colonial power consolidated itself in the Burmese territories and systematically smashed the kingdoms of the Burmese, while the non-Burmese minorities enjoyed a special protection relationship and extensive autonomy. The colonial rulers left the traditional principalities such as the Shan and the Karenni in place and limited themselves to indirect rule in order to avoid the expense of direct control over the remote minority areas. Thus the minorities benefited in some respects from the colonial rule, while the Burmese felt humiliated by the conquest and destruction of their monarchy and treated as "third class citizens" in their own country towards the British and non-Burmese.

In the first half of the 20th century, nationalism and independence movements emerged, especially among the Burmese. Aung San became the spokesman for the independence movement . During World War II , which lasted from 1942 to 1945 in Myanmar, Aung San and his Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), like the majority of Burmese, sided with the Japanese army who fought against the British. In contrast, the Christian Karen and Kachin in particular supported the British and Americans.

After the Second World War, Myanmar's independence advanced rapidly. In 1947 Aung San reached the Panglong Agreement with representatives of the Shan, Chin and Kachin, according to which they would cooperate with the government of the Union of Burma and not seek secession for at least ten years . Other minorities were not represented in Panglong and were also integrated into the Union state of Myanmar. Aung San was assassinated in 1947, and Myanmar gained independence from Great Britain in 1948 under his successor U Nu . Since then, there have been efforts by various ethnic minorities, including by force of arms, to achieve greater self-determination vis-à-vis the Burmese majority and the central state dominated by them.

In 1962 the military took power in Myanmar. Since then, there has been a military government widely known as a dictatorship and criticized by the EU and the US , but with good economic relations with Thailand , China and India .

Natural resources

The conflict region in the east of the country is rich in various natural treasures such as teak , gold and precious stones . The construction of four dams is planned on the Saluen River, the energy yield of which is mainly to be exported to Thailand.

Off the coast of the Bay of Bengal are natural gas deposits that are mainly used for export to Thailand ( see Yadana project ); further deposits off the coast of the Arakan state are to be developed within the framework of the Shwe project with a pipeline to Calcutta .

course

Flag of the KNU

Immediately after Myanmar gained independence from Great Britain in 1948, communist rebels began an uprising against the government. By 1949, uprisings and ethnic conflicts broke out in various parts of the country. The Karen National Union (KNU), led mainly by Christian Karen, began its armed struggle for an independent Karen state, Kawthoolei , in the east of the country . The situation worsened when U Nu declared Buddhism the state religion and thus snubbed the Karen, Chin and Kachin, some of whom were Christian . Questions of federalism and the position of minorities were largely ignored.

Due to the split in the ruling AFPFL party, a military transitional government under General Ne Win was installed between 1958 and 1960 . This went u. a. stepped up against separatist tendencies in the Shan area, where some ten years after independence in accordance with the Panglong Agreement sought a secession.

In 1962 a military junta under Ne Win took power. The putsch was justified not least with the threat of internal “disintegration” of the state, which made the intervention of the military necessary. The military dictatorship that has been established since then meant repression and restrictions on their rights for the Burmese as well as for the minorities.

In the following decades, fighting continued at a low intensity (low-intensity conflict) . Over time, a total of dozen armed groups have been active against the central government, which is believed to have controlled an estimated 20–30% of Burmese territory in the 1970s. In the 1970s and 1980s, the KNU de facto ran its own state with Manerplaw as its main town; in the areas under her control she took on tasks such as justice, health care, education, administration and infrastructure. She fought against both the government army and, from the 1950s onwards, against Karen communists, whom she defeated in 1976.

The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), part of which operated in Shan State and Kachin State and was supported by the People's Republic of China until the 1980s, collapsed in 1989 and has been meaningless since then. From her went u. a. the United Wa State Army (UWSA). In the same year, the government started negotiating ceasefire agreements. For example, the UWSA received autonomy for Special Region 2 of Shan State (also called Wa State ) against a ceasefire signed in 1989 .

In the 1990s, the position of the KNU in particular deteriorated. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that Thailand had previously supported them as a “buffer” against the communists, which were seen as a threat, but no longer did so and instead, under Thaksin Shinawatra, deepened economic relations with the Myanmar government. On the other hand, the leadership of the KNU consisted primarily of Christians, while Buddhist and animist Karen were largely excluded. That is why Buddhist Karen founded the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in 1994 , concluded a ceasefire in the same year and have since been fighting on the side of the government against the KNU. The support of the DKBA enabled the army to capture Manerplaw in January 1995, which meant a great defeat for the insurgents.

Situation from 2007

Some of the rebel organizations have signed ceasefire agreements with the government and stopped fighting, for which they have been granted a certain degree of autonomy in their areas. But there are splinter groups from these organizations who do not feel bound by the agreements. The Shan State Army-North held to a ceasefire, while the Shan State Army-South remained militarily active in Shan State.

The largest active rebel group is the Karen National Union with its armed arm Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which according to its own information has around 12,000 fighters. From 2006 onwards the Myanmar army - a total of around 400,000 strong - started an offensive against the KNU in Karen state, in the course of which hundreds of villages were destroyed and tens of thousands of civilians were displaced. A few hundred KNU members signed a peace agreement with the government in early 2007, the rest of the KNU refused.

After the violent suppression of the demonstrations in Myanmar in 2007 , during which tens of thousands of Buddhist monks , nuns and tens of thousands of other civilians protested against the military government in various Burmese cities, the Shan State Army called on other rebel groups to cooperate more closely.

BGF program

In April 2009 the Myanmar Union Government set up a new program, the BGF, Border Guard Force Program. Armistice groups are to provide staff for a new armed organization that will be under the Union government. The plan provides for the formation of 326-strong battalions made up of members of ethnic minorities. The Union government provides payment, armament and command. The battalions should only be deployed in the area of ​​influence of an armistice group. The commanding officers of the battalions are said to be members of the armistice group and members of the army. The command of the BGF troops lies with the Army of Myanmar, which is also to provide 30 members of a battalion. The ceasefire groups were asked by the Union government to set up battalions. The reaction of the minority groups was different. Small groups joined the program, but the 5000-strong DKBA also made staff available for the new military organization. The most important ceasefire groups, however, still refuse to join the program, namely the UWSA and the KIA . The Union government threatened with an ultimatum, which was extended several times. The last ultimatum expired on April 28, 2010 without the Union government having received any approval from various groups. The Union government threatens armed action. And the military set an example by invading Special Region No. 1 Kokang in 2009. In August 2009 there was armed clashes between Myanmar government troops and the MNDAA armistice army, which had refused to join the program. as a result, government troops took control of the area. Up to 37,000 people from the area fled across the border into China. Most of the armed men fled to China after the attack by SPDC troops. A small group joined the Myanmar government's BGF program on December 4, 2009.

Human rights violations

The Myanmar Army is accused of committing human rights violations on a large scale while fighting rebels. Villages would be declared free-fire zones - where anyone can be shot - and forcibly evacuated, residents driven out, forcibly relocated or used for forced labor for the military. According to Amnesty International , the army evacuated 1,400 villages with around 300,000 inhabitants in Shan State between 1996 and 1998 in order to withdraw civilian support from Shan State Army-South . There are also torture and rape, anti-personnel mines are being laid, and the Myanmar army is using tens of thousands of child soldiers . Some observers speak of "ethnic cleansing" especially against the Karen.

Rebel groups are also said to have committed civilians to forced labor in the areas they control and are using child soldiers. Some are involved in drug production and trafficking in the Golden Triangle .

Armed groups

The table below provides an (incomplete) overview of armed groups in Myanmar.

Surname area since Armistice Agreement
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army Rakhine State 2016 -
Chin National Army Chin state 1988 -
Kachin Independent Army Kachin State 1961 1994
Karen National Union Karen state 1948 2012
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army Karen state 1994 (spin-off from KNU)
 1994 (since then on the government side)
God's Army (Myanmar) Karen state 1997 (spin-off from KNU)
 Smashed in 2001
Karenni Army Kayah state 1955 1995 (short lived)
Communist Party of Burma (CPB) Shan and Kachin states 1939/1948 1989 disintegrated and since then meaningless
Mon National Liberation Army Mon state 1958 1995
Monland Restoration Army Mon state 2001 (split from MNLA)
 -
Muang Tai Army Shan state 1985 1995 (surrender)
Shan State National Army Shan state 1995 (split from MTA)
Shan State Army-North Shan state Yes
Shan State Army-South Shan state -
National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State Shan state (Spin-off from CPB)
 1989
United Wa State Army Wa area / Shan state 1988 (split from CPB)
 1989

consequences

Part of the Mae La refugee camp, Tak, Thailand

In August 2007, around 160,000 Myanmar refugees were living in camps in the Thai border provinces of Chiang Mai , Mae Hong Son , Tak , Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi . The refugee camps are mostly right on the border with Myanmar; the largest single camp is Mae La in Tak with around 50,000 residents. About 62% of the refugees are Karen. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium , formed by international humanitarian organizations, takes care of supplies to the camps.

About 100,000 out of an estimated 2 million Chin have fled northwest Myanmar into neighboring India. Their exodus is said to have increased after the 2007 demonstrations when Chin was forced to take part in rallies for the government through bribes, fines and threats.

Of the Muslim Rohingya in the Rakhine state , who are regarded by the government as Bengali immigrants and not recognized as citizens, around 250,000 fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 1992 . After over 230,000 of them returned to Myanmar, in many cases under duress, 20,000 are still living in two refugee camps at Cox's Bazar . In addition, up to 100,000 Rohingya are said to live illegally in Bangladesh.

The exact number of internally displaced people in Myanmar is unknown, with estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to two million.

literature

  • Desmond Ball, Nicholas Farrelly: Eastern Burma. Long wars without exhaustion. In: Diminishing Conflict in Asia and the Pacific. Why some subside and others don't. Routledge, Abingdon / New York 2013, pp. 153–168.
  • Kai Chen: Comparative Study of Child Soldiering on Myanmar-China Border: Evolutions, Challenges and Countermeasures. Springer, Singapore 2014.
  • Kevin Heppner, David Mathieson: Sold to be Soldiers. The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma. Human Rights Watch Volume 19, Item 15 (C), Oct. 2007.
  • Sina Kowalewski: "In Our Hearts, We Do Not Have Trust". Peace and Armed Groups in Myanmar. In: ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies , Volume 7, No. 1, 2014, pp. 41–60. ( https://aseas.univie.ac.at/?page=article&op=view&path=%5B%5D203&path%5B%5D=93 )
  • Bibhu Prasad Routray: Myanmar in 2011. Beginning of Change? In: Armed Conflicts in South Asia 2012. Uneasy Stasis and Fragile Peace. Routledge, New Delhi 2013, pp. 101-132.
  • Ashley South: Ethnic Politics in Burma. States of conflict. Routledge, Abingdon / New York 2008.

swell

credentials

  1. ↑ Figures from CIA World Factbook: Myanmar (English)
  2. ^ Dying Alive, 7.1: Pre-colonial experience
  3. ^ Dying Alive, 7.2: Colonial experience
  4. ↑ a b Karen Human Rights Group: Background on Burma ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.khrg.org
  5. ↑ Natural gas in Burma - a raw material and its consequences on asienhaus.de (PDF; 331 kB)
  6. ^ Reise Know-How-Verlag: Myanmar / Burma - Travel in the Land of the Pagodas: History and Politics in Myanmar / The Post-War Period in Burma (reisebuch.de)
  7. ^ A b Dying Alive, 8.5: The Karen
  8. ↑ Burma Campaign UK: Crisis in Karen State ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.burmacampaign.org.uk
  9. ↑ BBC News: Rebel faction in Burma peace deal
  10. ↑ BBC News: Resistance in the Burmese jungle
  11. ↑ http://www.atimes.com/ Under the BGF program, ethnic armies will be placed under a department of the Myanmar army. The program will be overseen by an administrative committee and under operational control of another committee, both staffed by Myanmar army officers. The new 326-man border battalions will be largely made up of ethnic soldiers and officers, although with Myanmar army officers in key positions
  12. ↑ http://www.atimes.com/ The DKBA represents the largest ceasefire group to accede to the junta's proposal to transform its militia into a border guard force. Other major ceasefire groups, including in the Shan State, Kachin State and Mon State, have all rejected the junta's proposal
  13. ↑ Myanmar - Domestic Policy. Ethnic minorities and the insurgent problem. Federal Foreign Office, accessed March 30, 2011 .
  14. ↑ Maxmilian Wechsler: No united army for us, rebels vow ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; In the end, the SPDC achieved its objective as the MNDAA, which struck a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government in 1989, is no more. Most of their estimated 2,500 fighters fled to China and a small group joined the BGF on Dec 4 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / english.panglong.org
  15. ↑ Amnesty International: Myanmar: Atrocities in Shan State (1998)
  16. ↑ UNICEF report on child soldiers worldwide, 2004 (PDF; 24 kB)
  17. ↑ globalsecurity.org: Burma Insurgency
  18. ↑ globalsecurity.org: Chin National Front / Chin National Army
  19. ↑ Statistics of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, August 2007 ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tbbc.org
  20. ↑ BBC News: Burma minority 'fleeing to India'
  21. ^ Amnesty International: Myanmar: The Rohingya Minority: Fundamental Rights Denied
  22. ↑ Human Rights Watch: Rohingya Refugees from Burma Mistreated in Bangladesh

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