Peace process 'unravelling over jade mines'

 

Control of the lucrative jade mines in area – specifically the taxes collected from them – is the cause of the mounting tension, and a major push from the Tatmadaw is imminent, local residents say.

“If the government troops step up efforts to control the mines that the Kachin Independence Organisation [KIO] depends on, there definitely will be a clash,” Zaw Latt, a resident of the area, said. The KIA is the armed wing of the KIO.

“Peace is out of question,” another resident said.

The peace process needs independent monitoring, said Tin Hlaing, a local member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). “The peace talks only occur between former KIA officers and the government military. There should be a neutral civilian party involved. I have not seen any sign of this,” Tin Hlaing said. 

The Tatmadaw began moving into the area on October 14, near Kansee village, a former stronghold of KIA Battalion 6. Local residents say the two sides gathered forces on opposite sides of a stream near the village. So far, however, there have been no major clashes, though the Kachin News Agency reports that 10 battalions from the Tatmadaw have moved into the area.

This troop movement followed the September 1 reversal of a May 2012 ban on large-scale mining in the area by the Union government. That ban followed an end of a ceasefire between the KIA and the Tatmadaw in July 2011, and had been described by some analysts as an effort to cut off funding to the KIO/KIA. 

Since the Tatmadaw ended the ceasefire by attacking the KIA more than 100,000 civilians have been displaced by armed conflict and are residing in camps for internally displaced persons.

Residents of Aung Bar Lay and Kansee villages say they are trying to prevent the outbreak of conflict by appealing to officers on both sides. Members of the NLD, village elders and priests are working together to prevent civilian casualties, local residents say.

“There have been no attacks yet,” said Sein Min, an NLD member in the township. “A major from the Tatmadaw assured us that there would be no civilian casualties should a conflict erupt.”

Thirty-six private companies are trying to resume jade mining at 15,638 sites, according to the state’s ministry of mines.

“Myanmar Tagaung [Company] is operating a massive mine in Kayin Chaung now. Joint venture businesses with the government are backed mainly by Chinese tycoons. Sites run by local entrepreneurs are few in number. No company has yet withdrawn due to the escalating tension” local resident Zaw Latt said.

“Although the companies have re-entered worksites are heavily damaged due to previous battles. KIA-controlled Aung Bar Lay Village is the epicentre of the current conflict,” said a jade merchant from Mandalay.

Both the government and KIA have levied taxes on jade mines. 

La Seng, an NLD member in the district had a simple explanation for the escalating tension: “The Tatmadaw wants control of the area.”

 

 

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