A Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) statement has condemned the Burma Army’s random shooting, kidnapping and beating of civilians in the Kokang conflict and urged the government to investigate the fighting in the area.
The SHRF statement of 4 March was issued in response to fighting between Burma Army forces and those of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kongyan District in the Kokang area of Northern Shan State.
Sai Hon Seng a spokesperson for the SHRF said: “We sent a statement to the government in which we urged the government to carry out an investigation and take action on the issues of people being targeted and attacked and human rights abuses. We also sent a statement to Ms Yanghee Lee, a member of the National Human Rights Commission and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar.”
According to the statement at least 100 local residents were shot dead during fighting in the Kokang area. The Burma Army arrested local people and held them as hostages to lure in MNDAA forces. Also hundreds of thousands of people have become war refugees and have fled to Lashio Township and China.
Sai Hon Seng continued: “Political conflict has been solved by using the military [rather than politically] for 60 years. There has been no peace in the country. People face poverty because of wars that is why we want the political crisis to be solved peacefully. Now the people who left their homes cannot get any assistance from any organisations.”
Over 100 residents who were suspected of being rebel supporters have been shot and killed since fighting started between the government and MNDAA forces on 9 February. At least 40,000 people have fled their homes and taken refuge in China and over 10,000 migrant workers from central Burma who had come to work in Laukkai Town in the Kokang area have had to flee to Lashio to avoid the fighting.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
