Largest Kachin Church group condemns army conduct

Rev. Dr. Hkalam Sam Sun joined to the KBC youth's one year anniversary service of war in Kachin State on June 11 of last year.

In a strongly worded statement released this week the influential Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) called on Burma's government to immediately stop its ongoing military offensive in Kachin and north eastern Shan state.

Burma's largest Kachin church organization issued the call in a statement released on January 30 following the completion of a special KBC conference involving more than 150 pastors from across Burma. Focused on the Kachin conflict the conference was held near Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital.

“Peace cannot be made by force” the statement said instead urging the government to hold a political dialogue with the Kachin people, a key demand of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). The statement called on government forces “to stop arbitrary arrests of innocent civilians, stop firing indiscriminately on refugee camps, stop harassing and raping women and respect international human rights laws”.

The church also called on the government to allow the UN and other aid groups access to all internally displaced persons camps including those in non-government controlled areas.

Reached for comment Rev. Dr. Hkalam Sam Sun, General Secretary of the KBC criticized the way in which Burma's nominally civilian government has handled the conflict. “The government has not listened to our demonstrations so we are praying to god to intervene,” he said.

The KBC's statement condemned the government's use of warplanes, attack helicopters and huge numbers of troop reinforcements to carry out its offensive which has left more than 100,000 people displaced from their homes. KBC's statement also criticized the government's use of unknown chemical agents during the conflict.

KBC says fighting destroys 66 churches

Since the fighting began in June 2011 66 Baptist churches affiliated with KBC located throughout Kachin and northern Shan state have been damaged or destroyed the statement said. Government forces also conducted “unsuitable acts” in many Kachin churches, the statement said.  An apparent reference to frequent reports from Kachin state that Burma army troops had ripped open bibles and defecated in churches.

More than 200 Kachin villages have also been seriously damaged and in some cases completely leveled by the fighting according to KBC.

KBC was founded in 1910 and has over 400,000 followers throughout Burma. In 1993 and 1994 senior figures from KBC including the groups then general secretary, Rev. Dr. Saboi Jum, played a key role in brokering negotiations between the KIO and Burma's government which led to a 17-year cease-fire.

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