Conflict
between ethnic-minority militias and government forces has flared up again in
northern Myanmar close to the Chinese border, endangering the peace process
promoted by Myanmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and causing instability on China’s
border.
Who
are fighting?
The three armed ethnic groups behind the surprise attacks in the border
area of northern Myanmar’s Shan State since early Sunday are the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and
Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), according to
Xinhua.
The three groups did not sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement between
the Myanmese government and eight ethnic groups last year. The accord was one
of the key political outcomes of Myanmar’s transition period under former
president Thein Sein.
The KIA is the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation, a
political group comprising ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar. It has clashed
regularly with Myanmar’s military since 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between
the two broke down. The Kachins are a coalition of at least six tribes whose
homeland encircles territory in Yunnan in China and Northeast India, in
addition to Kachin State in Myanmar.
The TNLA is the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front and
promotes self-determination for the Ta’ang people, a Mon-Khmer ethnic minority
living in Shan State, Yunnan and Northern Thailand. The TNLA is well known for
its opposition to opium poppy cultivation, which is a major contributor to
Myanmar’s economy and concentrated in the Shan and Kachin states.
The MNDAA, also known as the Kokang Army, is led by ethnic-Chinese
commander Peng Jiasheng and is an active insurgent group in the
Chinese-speaking Kokang region, an area in the northern part of Shan State on
the border with Yunnan. The MNDAA emerged from the remnants of the Communist
Party of Burma, a powerful Chinese-backed guerrilla force that battled the
Myanmese government before splintering in 1989, according to Reuters. The MNDAA
was involved in what was called the biggest outbreak of fighting between ethnic
groups and government troops in Myanmar in August, 2009 when government troops
took over their Kokang region in a conflict that pushed tens of thousands of
refugees into China.
Why are they
fighting?
The conflict between government and ethnic minority forces dates back to
the end of the second world war and the end of British colonial rule in 1948.
Fighting in past decades was largely fueled by feuds, competition over
natural resources, and demands for more autonomy.
The conflicts have resulted in a central part of the country dominated
by the majority Burmese, surrounded by various ethnic minority populations who
form the majority in their own areas. Most of Myanmar’s ethnic groups are now
concentrated within particular regions corresponding more or less to the states
named after the seven ethnic nationalities: Karen, Kachin, Mon, Arakanese,
Karenni, Chin and Shan, according to reports.
Suu Kyi is trying to forge a nationwide peace agreement between all
ethnic groups after years of war in Myanmar’s many border regions, but ethnic
minorities have a deep-rooted mistrust of the central government.
What is
China’s involvement?
China has publicly distanced itself from Myanmar’s internal conflicts
and sought to position itself as a mediator over the years, despite accusations
that its projects in Myanmar have been one of the major triggers for the
fighting.
China has been accused of tolerating or aiding rebels along its 2,200km
border with Myanmar as its neighbour leans towards the West, but there is
little evidence to support those claims.
On the surface, China provides humanitarian support to people fleeing
across the border to escape the fighting.
The Chinese government offered food and medical supplies to an estimated
50,000 Kokang civilians who poured into southwest China last year after
fighting erupted between the Myanmese Army and Kokang rebels.
Jane
Li
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