Ethnic Conflicts in Myanmar

Mutual distrust, power struggles and tension over the hoarding of resources, including
gold, gems and timber, have characterized the long history between the rulers of Myanmar -
primarily of Burman background - and the many other smaller ethnic groups that comprise this
Southeast Asian nation of more than 50 million.

According to the last official census in 1983, the Burman accounted for 69 percent of the
country’s population.Each ethnic group regards the protection of their individual languages,
customs, culture and natural resources important to their national identity. At the same time, the
government has steadfastly believed that a “crisis of the minorities” - internal conflict among
Myanmar's sizable minority communities, which make up one-third of the population - could
undermine the country's stability.

Now, a shift in government discourse and a recent string of cautious ceasefires have
prompted people to wonder whether peace will last this time and what it will bring to participants
in the longstanding civil conflicts, how it will affect the regional refugee crisis, and what it will
mean for the recent relaxation of restrictions and a more open Myanmar.

Until the 2010 presidential election, the military government had shown few concrete
signs of addressing ethnic grievances, resorting instead to brutal crackdowns, which earned
international rebuke and sanctions from potential donors. IRIN offers a brief overview of the
complex ethnic mix that Myanmar hopes to meld into a flourishing modern state.

Main ethnic groups

 

Ethnic Proportion of
Location
group population
Kayin State in eastern
Karen     7 percent Myanmar bordering
Thailand
Kachin State in the north,
Kachin     1.5 percent
bordering China
Kayah State, on the border
Karenni 0.75 percent
with Thailand
Chin State in western
Chin 2.5 percent
Myanmar, bordering India
Mon State in southern
Mon 2 percent
Myanmar
Rakhine State in western
Rhakine 3.5 percent 
Myanmar
Shan State, bordering
Shan  9 percent
Thailand
Wa Special Region, on the
Wa 0.16 percent
border with China

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Northern townships of
Rohingya 0.15 percent Rakhine State, bordering
Bangladesh

Main armed groups

 
Karen – The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) took up arms in 1949, almost
immediately after the British left Myanmar, making it one of the oldest rebel armies in the world.
The KNLA is the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU).
 
Kachin – In 1961, after a coup led by General Ne Win - variously prime minister, head of state
and chairman of the ruling party from 1958 until 1988 - the Kachin rebels formed the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA), the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
 
Karenni – The Karenni Army (KA) was created after the Burmese government incorporated
Kayah State into the Union of Burma in 1951. Karenni leaders argued they had not agreed to
incorporation. The KA is the military wing for the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP).
 

Read more Chin – The Chin National Front (CNF) was founded in
March 1988 as a coalition of several Chin opposition groups
 What next for Myanmar? to push for greater autonomy.
 
Reassessing international Mon – The New State Mon Party (NSMP) established an
access in Myanmar armed wing that has fought the government since 1949, when
military forces entered Mon territory.
 What next for the
 
Rohingyas?
Rhakine – The Arakan Liberation Army (ALA) was first set
 Hundreds of political up with the help of the KNU in the 1950s but it became
prisoners still behind bars defunct after most of its leaders were arrested. In the 1970s it
reassembled, but is still one of the smallest ethnic armies.
 Refugees and dissidents react  
to reforms Shan – The Shan State Army (SSA) was formed in 1964 as
Burmese military began to move into Shan State. The SSA
Myanmar’s ethnic problems  later split into two factions, creating the Shan State Army-
Timeline post-independence North, which signed a ceasefire with the government in 1964,
and the Shan State Army-South, which continued to fight the
SLIDESHOW: Myanmar state until an initial ceasefire in December 2011.
2012  
Wa – The United Wa State Army (USWA), created after the
fall of the Community Party Burma in 1989, is one of the country’s most powerful ethnic armies
and receives military resources, infrastructure and support from neighbouring China.
 
Splinter groups – As various leaders have left major armies and created new militias, some have
signed ceasefires with the Burmese government and enjoyed freedom to trade with neighbouring

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countries, including the Karen (Democratic Buddhist Army, Karen
Peace Council Kokang, Myanmar National Democracy Alliance
Army) and Kachin (New Democratic Army and Kachin Defence
Army).
 
Why have they taken up arms?
  Before British forces pulled out in 1947, they attempted to
unite Myanmar’s various “nations”. With British officers as
witnesses, many ethnic groups signed the Panglong Agreement,
intended to be binding on the post-colonial administration, which
would guarantee ethnic rights and self-determination, and the
inclusion of minorities in the democratic process.
Aung San, a
leader of the Burman ethnic group, who had led the country to
independence (and was the father of current opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi), and leaders of the Shan, Kachin and Chin negotiated
the agreement. However, Aung San was assassinated soon after and
the Burmese military began its slow advance into the ethnic states
to rule by force.
 

Many ethnic groups took up arms to protect their states

from Burman rule, demanding autonomy, ethnic rights and an
inclusive democracy.

Their demands have remained unchanged. According to

Lama Gum Hpan, a KIO “Central Committee” member, the Kachin
fighters have always stood by the Panglong Agreement. “To this
day we wish for the Burmese government to honour the agreements
made in 1947,” he told IRIN.

In the run-up to the 2010 elections of the nominally civilian

government in power, a proposal for a border guard force was

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drafted, which aimed to include ethnic groups in the state army – and called for their
disarmament. Nearly all the ethnic armies refused and several ceasefires faltered. 

Why have ceasefires failed?

  Burmese dissident media have compiled a list of ceasefires dating back more than two
decades between the government and major rebel groups as well as splinter movements.
  Recent peace deals – still in their early stages – have been inked: the Shan State Army-
South (SSA-S) signed in December 2011, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and
New Mon State Party (NMSP) in February 2012.

This has not stopped clashes. The Burmese government has blamed persisting army
incursions on communication problems between the seat of government in Nay Pyi Daw and
frontline troops at least 500km away. The central government ordered its troops to halt fighting
on 12 December 2011 but a number are still firing.

“This is war. They [Karen rebels] will continue to fight until they can see that the
Burmese government is actually trying to achieve peace,” said David Tackapaw, “foreign
minister" for the KNU. He maintains that historically there has been “a lack of genuine will by
the Burmese government to listen to the KNU's demands for ethnic rights and self determination
for the Karen people”, and said they are dealing with a military that sees the ethnic problem as a
military issue, not a political issue.

Lama Gum Hpan, of the Kachin Independence Organization, said although the
government has recently made overtures, the rulers are not interested in finding a political
solution to the problem. “We are not interested in ceasefires; we want to find long-lasting and
durable solutions to the ethnic oppression in this country.”
 
In June 2011, a 17-year ceasefire between the two sides collapsed following efforts by the
government to incorporate numerous armed ethnic groups into a single border guard force.
 
Will current talks succeed?

Despite faltering peace on the frontlines, rebel leaders from the Myanmar’s ethnic armies
have noted change in the government's willingness to engage.

In a recent speech to parliament reported in local media, Myanmar President Thein Sein
said long-time enemies have the same goal: “The expectation of ethnic groups is to get equal
rights for all. Equal standards are also the wish of our government.”

Discussing the ongoing conflict with the Kachin, Thein Sein said: “Fighting will not stop
by pointing the finger of blame at each other. Ceasefires are first needed on both sides for
political dialogue… We all have to work so our ethnic youths who held guns stand tall holding
laptops.”

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Analysts note most ceasefires are in nascent stages and have a long way to go, but if the
government can control its military, a thus-far elusive peace with ethnic rebels is within reach.
Tackapaw, of the Karen National Union, said ceasefires have been negotiated too quickly and
with too few conditions to guarantee long-term change. 
 

What about the region’s refugees?

  According to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), due to conflict more than
400,000 people are believed to be living in internal displacement in the southeast, while some
150,000 refugees, asylum seekers and others fleeing violence in Myanmar are in camps in
Thailand.  If the
ceasefires hold, many may return to Myanmar, Sally Thompson, the TBBC's executive director,
said. “If the current momentum of political reforms continues, then it is unlikely that the camps
will still be open in five years.” Many refugees across nine camps along the
1800km-long border Thai-Burmese border told IRIN it is still too early to tell if recent respites in
the conflict will last long enough for them to return home. Saw Plu, a Karen elder, said he
believed the Myanmar government was “playing a trick”, and fighting will inevitably erupt
again. Yet despite their concerns, the vast majority of refugees voiced their desire to go home
and are waiting for signs of a “genuine” peace.
“Ceasefires are only the beginning of a process of peace building and national
reconciliation - there must be political dialogue,” said Thompson. “It is a long road… to build
trust after 60 years of conflict. The government will have to deliver significant improvements in
the daily lives of people in former conflict areas to demonstrate their sincerity.”
If the ceasefires do
not last and fighting erupts again, more refugees will flood into Thailand, she warned. In Kachin
State, where conflict has continued in some regions since June 2010, and peace efforts have
failed, Burmese refugees are flooding to neighbouring China. UN estimates put the number of
people now in Kachin after being displaced by conflict at more than 50,000, with several
thousand more in China.
Julia Marip, from the Thailand-based Kachin Women’s Organization, said tens of
thousands have been displaced by violence. “The situation is really bad here. The Burmese
government has not allowed INGO [international NGO] access to the Kachin refugees in our
areas. If a ceasefire agreement is not made soon, the refugee situation will become a major
crisis.”
 
What will happen if the country is more open?
 
Most foreign investors - with the notable exception of China - have long been reticent to do
business in Myanmar because of internal conflicts and sanctions imposed by a number of
Western countries. If the government holds free and fair elections in April 2012, and can achieve
lasting ceasefires with rebel armies, donors have held out the possibility of easing sanctions,
which may open resource-rich areas inhabited by ethnic minorities for investment.
  Ethnic leaders have voiced fears such development may rush ahead without taking their
wishes into account.“We know that one of the biggest incentives to find peace with ethnics is to
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get more foreign investment in,” said Tackapaw. “We have to make sure that proper consultation
is done with the civilians, and everything is done in a sustainable manner which benefits the
ethnic civilians, not just the government and foreign investors.”

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