By Thu Thu Aung / Myanmar Times | December 21, 2016

Thousands of people in Kachin State have been newly displaced in the aftermath of a military offensive that saw Tatmadaw troops overrun the Kachin Independence Army’s Gidon mountaintop outpost.

U Gum Sha Aung, secretary of the Joint Strategy Team, which has been assisting IDPs and monitoring the conflict in Kachin and northern Shan states, told The Myanmar Times that many had fled to nearby Laiza, the KIA headquarters.

“About 5000 IDPs from Gidon’s

[surrounding] area have moved to Laiza. The situation is at its worst, causing great anxiety,” he said. “Yesterday, clashes occurred around the Laiza area. Twenty-thousand IDPs from Laiza were rattled by the clashes. There is no safety, protection or security for the IDPs or host civilians.”

A group of civil society and faith-based organisations released a statement yesterday.

“During the past days, the fighting has seriously escalated, with the national armed forces launching repeated attacks, including airstrikes and heavy artillery. The offensive is targeting civilian areas, with shells landing near IDPs and traumatising those in the Mung Lai Hkyet [Woi Chyai] camp,” said the statement.

“They have nowhere justify to flee except to Laiza, with only China beyond, where more IDPs and civilians recently sought sanctuary,” it added.

The groups called for the protection of both displaced and permanently resident civilians in the affected area and an immediate end to military offensives.

“As a matter of national priority”, the statement urged “State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to visit Kachin State and IDP communities to see for herself the grave conditions under which they live. It is the duty of the government to protect the lives and rights of all peoples.”

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM), meanwhile, on December 17 urged the nation’s citizens to pray for an end to the country’s long-running civil war.

While the conflict near Laiza escalated over the weekend, recent days have brought relative calm in northern Shan State, where a November 20 offensiveby troops from the KIA and three other ethnic armed groups plunged Muse and Kutkai townships into conflict. Citing local humanitarian organisations, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs this week said up to 15,000 people had fled to China since November 20, with an additional 2400 internally displaced.

The civil society and faith-based organisations’ statement said that given the ongoing hostilities in Kachin and Shan states, “The humanitarian crisis is now urgent, and hopes for the achievement of nationwide peace under the present government are diminishing.”

The statement also called for urgent international attention and relief. During the past five years, international peace and conflict actors have concentrated on the high-level peace process driven by Nay Pyi Taw while neglecting the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in northeast Myanmar, it said.

This article originally appeared on Myanmar Times on December 21, 2016.

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