Burma Humanitarian Mission: Update on the Conflict Zones of Burma

The Burma Humanitarian Mission supports community based health-care and education projects that improve the lives of the people of Burma. This article is an update on the general news concerning Burma.  

There are many headlines out of Burma that grab one’s attention. Aung San Suu Kyi recently traveled to Thailand and Norway (to accept her Nobel Peace Prize!), but there is also less encouraging news, with reports of ethnic violence in western Burma. Less noticable, though, are reports on life in Karen State.

The report card here is a mixed bag. The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) offers regular updates on what transpires in the area of the longest running civil war of our time (60 years).

On the positive side, KHRG reports people receiving ID cards (which permit travel), of the Burma army building a school, and some opportunities for expressing Karen culture without repression. Promising, but not enough.

The rest of reality is stark and disturbing. Consider events that occured in April 2012 in BuTho township of Karen State. The Burma army is using the cease fire to reinforce troops with more men and supplies, Landmines are routinely being placed throughout the area, denying villagers access to farm land, and powerful groups/enterprises supported by the Regime are confiscating land for building projects. Many villagers are forced to work for the Burma army without any compensation. The work often includes planting and tending rice fields to feed the army — activities that consume time needed for these villagers to plant their own rice fields for their families.

Even more concerning is that random killings continue. In March, four men crossed an army road and were shot by Burma soldiers. One died on the spot and another was gravely wounded. When villagers came to retrieve the dead man’s body, soldiers waited for them, so the villagers left. They returned a week later and the soldiers had abandoned the body. Sadly, the soldiers had cut off the dead man’s legs for some inhumane and disgusting reason.

Arbitrary detentions of men and women continue. In the Kawkareik Township, 10 men were detained and 4 were beaten during the night due to their suspected support to the KNLA.

Meanwhile, to the north in Kachin State, the regime continues its weekly assault on villages in order to sieze land and resources.

For those companies and government officials here in our country — do these activities reflect a humane and responsible government or a barbaric regime? Do you wish to be associated with them?