Jinghpaw Wunpawng Amyu Sha Hpung Kachin National Organization

Urgent Press Release by Kachin National Organization (KNO) | September 13, 2016

KNO demands Burma Army to withdraw immediately from Kachinland

The Kachin National Organisation has learnt that local people and internally displaced people who live in the makeshift camps along the China-Burma border were extremely worried for their safety due to recent indiscriminate shelling and massive military enforcement activities of the Burma Army near Kachin Independence Army positions.

The Burmese Army’s artillery unit under 97th and 98th Light Infantry Battalions based at Dumbau Bum fired several 81 mm mortar rounds on the KIA’s security forces’ position near Laiza, and more than 10 mortar shells fell near the IDP’s camp causing panic to residents already troubled by ongoing war, according to Kachinland News. Such unprovoked attacks were carried out before and during the so-called 21st Century Panglong Conference held in Nay Pyi Taw. A local witness and reliable source from Myitkyina informed the KNO that more than three thousand soldiers recently arrived at Myitkyina and were thought to be deployed to attack KIA positions.

Duwa Bawmwang La Raw, President of Kachin National Council (KNC), Kachin National Organisation said, “We cannot find mutual trust with the NLD or any Burmese Government if the Burmese Army is attacking our positions. They must withdraw completely from our Kachinland before any political negotiations take place. I can assure you that we can achieve peace as soon as the army withdraws from our ethnic areas. War is not the solution and who knows this better than our Kachin people, who have been oppressed and brutalized by an occupying Burmese military regime for more than half a century, but, life as a second class citizen is not a life worth living either. I have learnt that State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is visiting the UK, the US and attending a UN summit for Refugees. I don’t know what kind of speech she would be able to give at the summit regarding the Kachin and other ethnic refugees since she has not been to any of the Kachin refugee camps. I would rather like her to come and visit Kachin IDP camps to see our desperate situation and make sure all refugees return home safely soon. I hope the so-called 21st Century Panglong Conference was not just a showcase to support the US to lift sanctions. There must not be any delay to building a genuine Federal Union when she is in power.”.

Media contact:
Hkanhpa Sadan, General Secretary, Kachin National Council, Kachin National Organisation (++44 7944240774)