Clashes in Shan between KIO and government forces

KIA, one of two non-ceasefire ethnic armed groups in the country, says fighting is often happened whenever the government troops take a military operation in KIA controlled areas in Kachin state and Northern Shan state.

Government troops and forces from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) clashed for much of the day on Wednesday in northern Shan state, the Kachin news group has learned. Heavy fighting took place near Nam Tau in Pangsai township. Fighting also broke out in Hka Hpawk and Kawng Yaw which are located near Pangsai. Details remain scarce however as most if not all of the phone connections with the area appear to have been cut off.

KIO's Gun Maw arrives in Washington as clashes displace 3,000

Brig-Gin Gun Maw took a media interview at Chiang Mai before departing to United States.

Brig-Gen Gun Maw, vice chief of stuff of the Kachin Independence Organization's (KIO) armed wing arrived in Washington DC this week for meetings. On Monday Gun Maw who also serves as the KIO's foreign minister met with senior state department officials including Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations Rick Barton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski. During a brief interview Gun Maw told the US funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) that he had traveled to the US to discuss developments in Burma.

Burma commander-in-chief warns of war

Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Photo: Irrawaddy

President Thein Sein recent visit to Kachin state with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the country, in mid-March was trumpeted as a peace mission. The President said a “ray of peace” was shining in the state that has been riddled by conflict since June 2011. After there was more talking with other ethnic leaders in Rangoon he said that would build trust and bring the country closer to the signing of a nationwide ceasefire.

Heavy fighting on last day of census in Burma’s northern Kachin state

Villagers from war zone in Manwin area preparing to transport their family belongings to the Nam Hkam by motorcycles.

On the last day, of the first census in Burma in decades, heavy fighting broke out between the government and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in southern Kachin state near China border.

Kachin state's NDA-K region to get park for rare monkey

A photo a snub-norsed monkey in northern Kachin state, Myanmar. Photo: AFP

Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a British environmental organization, has announced that it is moving forward with plans to establish a nature reserve in northern Kachin state to protect the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey which was discovered by FFI researchers in 2010.

Sexual violence by Burma army still a major concern

Ethnic Kachin woman Samlut Roi Ja wa abducted at Mu Bum near Mai Ja Yang in Bahmo district in Kachin state in October 2011, believed to be raped and killed by the Burma army, Her case was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Rape as a weapon of war remains a tactic used by the new nominally civilian government of Burma. The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) documented over 100 rape cases by the military in ethnic areas since 2010 that is “just the tip of the iceberg”, states the report.