Kayin rebels demand jobs to end fresh clashes
Kayin rebels demand jobs to end fresh clashes
Myanmar Times, 07 Jul 2015
URL: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/15377-kayin-rebels-demand-jobs-to-end-fresh-clashes.html
Officials from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army are set to meet state government representatives in the Kayin State capital Hpa-an today to negotiate an end to recent skirmishes along the Asian Highway.
Fighting broke out between the DKBA and government troops on July 2 after the rebel group rejected the government’s demand to move soldiers collecting illegal tolls on a section of the highway between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand. DKBA officials described “intense” fighting in the area yesterday.
Colonel Saw Maung Lay of the DKBA said the informal tax levied on travellers “is what we have got to do” in order to fund the group’s activities.
He suggested that to resolve the fighting, the DKBA would ask the government to improve economic opportunities for members of the armed group in order to give them an alternative means of income.
“There should be a compromise so that our troops have nothing to worry about for earning a living,” he said.
“If we had other ways of making a living, we would not do it,” he added about collecting money from travellers. “The government should manage such things.”
According to Col Saw Maung Lay, clashes took place in two separate locations yesterday: along the Asian Highway, also called the New Way, and also along an older route between Kawkareik and Myawaddy.
“The fighting began at 9am. We have observed that the government side used military artillery during the fighting,” he said.
When fighting erupted on July 2, a staff member from the Myawaddy liaison office who helped injured DKBA fighters get to the hospital was arrested by local police that day. The staff member has not yet been released, according to Col Saw Maung Lay.
Shortly after the DKBA split from the Karen National Liberation Army in 1994, it signed a ceasefire deal with the government. However, the ceasefire agreement was broken when intense fighting occurred between government and DKBA troops in 2010 after the general election.
DKBA officials signed a new ceasefire agreement with the government on November 3, 2011. Despite the second agreement, fighting has continued to occasionally erupt between the DKBA rebels and government forces in Kayin State.
Fighting broke out between the DKBA and government troops on July 2 after the rebel group rejected the government’s demand to move soldiers collecting illegal tolls on a section of the highway between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, on the border with Thailand. DKBA officials described “intense” fighting in the area yesterday.
Colonel Saw Maung Lay of the DKBA said the informal tax levied on travellers “is what we have got to do” in order to fund the group’s activities.
He suggested that to resolve the fighting, the DKBA would ask the government to improve economic opportunities for members of the armed group in order to give them an alternative means of income.
“There should be a compromise so that our troops have nothing to worry about for earning a living,” he said.
“If we had other ways of making a living, we would not do it,” he added about collecting money from travellers. “The government should manage such things.”
According to Col Saw Maung Lay, clashes took place in two separate locations yesterday: along the Asian Highway, also called the New Way, and also along an older route between Kawkareik and Myawaddy.
“The fighting began at 9am. We have observed that the government side used military artillery during the fighting,” he said.
When fighting erupted on July 2, a staff member from the Myawaddy liaison office who helped injured DKBA fighters get to the hospital was arrested by local police that day. The staff member has not yet been released, according to Col Saw Maung Lay.
Shortly after the DKBA split from the Karen National Liberation Army in 1994, it signed a ceasefire deal with the government. However, the ceasefire agreement was broken when intense fighting occurred between government and DKBA troops in 2010 after the general election.
DKBA officials signed a new ceasefire agreement with the government on November 3, 2011. Despite the second agreement, fighting has continued to occasionally erupt between the DKBA rebels and government forces in Kayin State.