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Monday, August 27, 2012

Laiza trip ‘eye-opener’ for civil society

www.mmtimes.com

By Nan Tin Htwe
Volume 33, No. 641
August 27 - September 2, 2012

Kachin Independence Army deputy chief of staff U Gun Maw speaks to leaders of civil society organisations and journalists in Laiza on July 7. Pic: Kaung Htet

CIVIL society leaders say a trip to Kachin Independence Organisation-controlled areas of northern Myanmar last month has changed their perceptions of the conflict and the group.

A one-hour meeting on July 7 with leaders of the KIO and its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, was particularly eye-opening, said Ko Nay Myo Zin, a former prisoner of conscience.

“I was surprised,” Ko Nay Myo Zin said. “Particularly by how transparent they were. The government should take them as an example. They told us openly why they are fighting with the Tatmadaw – what they want and what they are asking for from the government.”

Ko Nay Myo Zin established Myanmar Social Development Network immediately after being released from Insein Prison in January under a presidential amnesty. A former lieutenant in the Tatmadaw, where he served from 1994 to 2005, Ko Nay Myo Zin was arrested in 2010 under the Unlawful Association Act for his involvement with the National League for Democracy.

“If the Tatmadaw invites us to the frontline and explains the reasons it is fighting against the KIA, what the KIA has demanded and other things like this, then I think people will be able to better understand,” he said.

“For a long time, what I was forced to believe while I was in Tatmadaw was the KIA is cruel,” he said. “But what they ask for is fair – to have a more inclusive union … they want to change laws to be more inclusive in the Tatmadaw, like accepting ethnic minorities in the [Defense Services Academy]. Why hasn’t the government responded yet?”

The trip to Laiza, the KIO headquarters, was organised by Kachin Peace Network with the intention of giving civil society groups and journalists the chance to see the situation on the ground. Among those who took part in the July 4-12 trip were representatives from One More, Untied Network, Children Lovers, Myanmar Social Development Network, Yangon School of Political Science and The Myanmar Times.

U Pyi Thway Naing, the head of One More, which donated K7 million to camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) during the trip, said the chance to see conditions in the Laiza and Maijayang regions first-hand had been invaluable.

“It’s different from what I saw in the media,” he said. “I saw orphans whose parents were KIA soldiers and had died during the fighting. I saw an old woman who had been injured by landmine.”

One More, which was established in August 2011 and now has 14,000 supporters who donate K1000 a month to fund its activities, focuses on education and U Pyi Thway Naing said the schooling needs in the relief camps were “indescribable”.

“Even in normal situation, it’s not easy for them to go to school. Now they are living in these camps,” he said.

“Psychologically, I can feel that they are not okay either, because they are not in their own homes. And often parents can’t take care of their children. I want to do more for them having seen the situation with my own eyes,” said U Pyi Thway Naing, who is also editor of monthly magazine Ya Nant Thit (New Fragrance).

Dr Aung Nyein Chan, who like most participants was travelling to KIO-controlled areas for the first time, said it was much different from what he experienced volunteering in IDP camps in Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships for six months.

“I thought Myikyina and Waingmaw had many IDPs. But it’s only around 20,000, while there are more than 50,000” in KIO areas, he said.

“In the Myikyina-Waingmaw areas, the largest population in a single camp is at most 3000. In Laiza, it’s almost 7000.

“I found the IDPs are suffering from malnutrition as they haven’t been able to eat properly … as they are weak, it’s easy for the IDPs here to catch from other diseases,” he said, adding that the crowded conditions meant diseases like tuberculosis could spread easily.

Doctors are in short supply and Dr Aung Nyein Chan warned that people living in the camps also need psychological support as they are in a state of “helplessness”.

Ko Nay Myo Zin said he was concerned that the conflict will lead to “racial hatred” because of the suffering inflicted, particularly on children.

He said he plans to submit his concerns to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and press representatives to take a stronger role in resolving the conflict.

“I think the international community should pressure the government more to focus on peace talks and negotiations,” he said.

“If the government doesn’t solve this problem now, the worries and fears of the people affected could exist for generations.”

http://www.mmtimes.com/2012/news/641/news14.html

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