SAM PAI, Kachin State – Born and raised during one civil war, 50-year old Dee Rum doesn't want to see another. He still has vivid memories of how he and his family ran for their lives when Burmese troops attacked Kachin soldiers in their village.
“I don’t want to see one more civil war,” said Dee Rum (not his real name) in his village, Sam Pai in Winemaw Township. “I’m worried so much, thinking what if another war breaks out again in our area.”
Sam Pai—a two hour journey by motorbike from Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital—is situated in an area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
It's a small community of about 100 homes, a tranquil, green village with a mountain backdrop. Like everywhere in Kachin State, people are afraid war between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) could break out any time and disrupt their lives.
The KIA and its political base, the KIO, are holding out against regime pressure to disband their army and join the planned Border Guard Force (BGF).
The regime is warning the KIO that unless it agrees to the BGF life could return to the time of the civil war that plagued the region until a ceasefire was signed in 1994.
The Kachin were among the ethnic groups who signed the 1947 Panglong agreement leading to Burma's independence.
The agreement promised the Kachin they could secede from the new federation of Burma after 10 years, but when they tested that right they met only opposition from the government. In 1961, a guerrilla war broke out that continued for the next 33 years.
Though the brutal war has been on pause for the past 16 years, the recent threats by the junta have provoked alarm among the Kachin and led to preparations for a possible renewal of hostilities.
The KIA has been stiffening its forces with new recruits, while the KIO has been handing out arms for villagers to defend themselves in case of attack.
The villagers still remember raids by Burmese soldiers who looted their homes and set them on fire.
“At night we couldn’t sleep soundly,” said one resident of Tanphre village. “When Burmese soldiers came into our village, we had to run into the forest or climb the mountain barefoot. It's a very painful memory”
A former KIO official warned that war now would be “much worse” than 33 years ago. “Both sides should solve the problem in a peaceful way,” he said.
Kachin State borders China and local politicians say the Chinese government should urge the Burmese regime not to act recklessly. Kachin traders fear that if war breaks out their businesses will suffer badly.
Dee Rum, said it now depended on the regime whether or not war would break out. He served eight years with the KIA and, like most (if not all) Kachin, he wants peace.
“We can only pray now,” said the former KIA soldier.
irrawaddy
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