The Irrawaddy’s regular northern Burma reporter, Khun Sam, has posted some concerning news about recent developments in the Kachin State. It is worth reading in full. One part reads:
According to local residents, government officials, together with the police, immigration staff and the army, recently blocked all routes to KIO-controlled areas, particularly Laiza, where KIO headquarters are based. Imported Chinese goods, unlicensed vehicles and motorcycles are being confiscated, they say.
In recent years, border settlements, such as Laiza, in far eastern Kachin State, have provided invaluable links for businesses and ordinary people throughout the region. They are something of a lifeline. A blockade in the Kachin State could be very bad for business.
1 response so far ↓
1 aiontay // Oct 5, 2006 at 9:48 am
Apparently the blockade has been going on for awhile. A friend was up on the China/Burma border about a month or so ago, and heard that this was going on from Kachin friends. It also includes areas of the Shan State in addition to the Kachin State.
I would also point out that though this is clearly a recent intensification, it is really part of an ongoing process. Before they signed ceasefires the regime tried to undercut the economic base of the various ethnic insurgencies, and even after they signed ceasefires and were supposedly granted the freedom to pursue just about any economic activities they wanted (including drug trafficking), the regime has never hesitated to impose economic sanctions on the ethnic groups. In addition, the ethnic groups have been pitted against each other in competition, with the military regime being the ultimate arbitrator, and thereby not accidentally profiting from the competition. As David Arnott once brilliantly observed, in Burma von Clauwitz’s dictum is stood on its head, and politics is a continuation of war by other means. You can simply replace politics with economics, culture, language etc.
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