Burma's quasi-civilian government has erased two sons of Aung
San Suu Kyi from a blacklist that a long time ago banned them from coming into
the nation, President's official website said Thursday. A list of 2,082 Burmese
(Myanmar) nationals and foreigners, including Suu Kyi's sons Alexander
and Kim Aris, and her late husband Michael Aris, was declared on President
Thein Seins official website.
Moreover, distinguished Swedish journalist/writer Bertil
Lintner, Australian journalist Phil Thornton, American Freelance Journalist
Steve Hirsch, AP's Bangkok Bureau Chief Denis Gray and many more Burma-related
journalists were also on the current non-black list.
However, the news on cancellation of black-listed people
by Burmese government may not overwhelm the reports about rampant civil war in
Kachin State.
Since May 14 Heavy battles continued rampant across
Kachin land between Kachin Independent Army and Burmese government's armed
forces. KIA's 10th Battalion under 1st Brigade has fought against Burmese
Army's 382nd LIR between Hpare village and Wa Chyawn village KIA sources say 10
Burmese soldiers were killed in action during this encounter, according to
Kachinland News.
The civil war between Kachin Independence Army and
government armed forces has become more ruthless since daily warfare spreads
out even in former peaceful areas. Behind the scene of reforms, government's soldiers
have systematically stepped up its offensive war to a new level, quoting a
local Kachin political observer, Kachin News Group (KNG) said.
Fighting has heaped on in jade-land Hpakant Township and as
a result over 10,000 civilians have been added up to existing 80,000 internally
displaced persons. Local villagers fleeing from battle zones have flooded
Church compounds and monasteries in Hpakant and Seng Tawng city.
There are about 30,000 IDPs in Burmese government
controlled areas and about 60,000 IDPs are currently taking refuge in KIO
controlled areas. Several hundreds of civilians continue escaping their native
places because of scared of bullets, bombs, forced labors, rape, tortures and violence.
In a recent Burma Army offensive against the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA) in Hpakant Jade Land, at least 30 government soldiers
were killed. Heavy combating proceeded for over five hours in the area between
Seng-Ja-Bum Mountain and the Gwi-Hka jade mine, said a KNG reporter in the jade
mining region. There were no KIA casualties in the fighting, according to
KIA's 6th Battalion source.
As reported by KNG reporter on 29 August, skirmishing
between the government troops and the KIA has been going on in two mining
villages of Maw-Mau-Bum and Myauk-Hpyu in Hpakant. Some civilian homes
were burnt by shelling from the Burmese soldiers, said eyewitnesses.
Fighting had occurred in the area since 27 August.
On 29 August, government troops ordered the evacuation of
11 jade mining villages in Hpakant, said people in the jade mines. Government
troops instructed residents and miners to gather all belongings and leave
immediately.
The announcement was broadcasted over loudspeakers in
jade mining villages, such as Maw Mau Layang, Maw Mau Bum, Nba La Hka, Tawng
Phyu, Myawk Pyu, Sharaw Hka, Seng Ja Bum, Mana Maw, Kalaw Maw, Pyi Chawng, and
Maw Wan Kalay, according to miners. Since this morning, hundreds of miners and
native Kachin residents have begun returning home from the evacuation.
According to the local eyewitnesses, the
Burmese army has cruelly attacked Kachin villages, destroyed homes, looted
properties, and forced the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
Soldiers have threatened and tortured civilians during interrogations and raped
women. The army has also used anti-personnel mines. It continues recruiting
forced laborers, including immature children on the front lines.
Recently, HRW called China to stop its forced returns of
thousands of ethnic Kachin refugees to northern Burma, where they are at risk
of Burmese army abuses, and lack of aid.
"China is flouting its international legal obligations by
forcibly returning Kachin refugees to an active conflict zone rife with Burmese
army abuses," said Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director. "China should
urgently change course and provide temporary protection for the refugees in
Yunnan Province."
There are over 85 camps of internally displaced people in
Kachin State, housing an estimated 75,000 people, who lack adequate
humanitarian aid. Approximately 16 of the camps, in KIO-controlled areas, are
already home to at least 55,000 Kachin, and there are food shortages at some of
those sites.
In June, Human Rights Watch released a 68-page report,
"Isolated in Yunnan: Kachin Refugees from Burma in China's Yunnan Province,"
estimating that 7,000 to 10,000 Kachin refugees and asylum seekers were in
squalid, improvised camps in Yunnan that were largely isolated from
international humanitarian aid due to restrictions imposed by the Chinese
authorities. Most of the refugees had fled wartime abuses in Burma such as
forced labor, killings, rape, and torture by the Burmese army, or the threat of
abuses.
Source : http://www.opednews.com
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