Cadet killings a cowardly act, says ethnic bloc

Co
ffins of the 23 cadets killed in an artillery strike on Wednesday are laid out
at the KIO headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State. (PHOTO: Lachid Kachin)

By DVB-21 November 2014

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) has condemned Wednesdays killing
of 23 cadets at a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) training camp near Laiza as a
cowardly act, as has the US-based Kachin Alliance. The Burmese military has,
however, declared that the direct strike was a mistake and that the artillery shell which
hit the camp was meant as a warning shot.

The 23 were members of other armed groups who were conducting training exercises
at the KIA base. The Palaung State Liberation Front (11), the Arakan Army (8), the
Chin National Front (2) and the All Burma Students Democratic Front (2) have each
issued statements confirming they lost young men in the attack.
In addition to 23 cadets killed, another 20 were injured when, just after midday on 19
November, the Burmese armys 389th Light Infantry Battalion shelled a KIA training
camp with 105mm artillery.
The Tatmadaw [Burmese military] carrying out sneak attacks and applying military
pressure on ethnic armed groups while at the same time trust-building efforts are
ongoing to bring about internal peace have made questionable whether the Tatmadaw
really has a genuine will for peace. This incident could gravely hinder such trustbuilding, the UNFC said in a statement.
The ethnic bloc also questioned the coincidence that the attack came so shortly after
Union Parliament House Speaker Shwe Mann had announced that the
Constitution could only be amended after next years general elections. The
UNFC said the move can be assumed to be an orchestrated political and military
conspiracy.
The UNFC is made up of 11 ethnic armed groups, including the Kachin Independence
Organisation (KIO), Karen National Union, New Mon State Party, Karenni National
Progressive Party and the Chin National Front (CNF).
Burmas military on Thursday rejected blame for the incident, saying that the artillery
shell fired was a warning shot, which was taken shortly after KIA troops attacked a
Tatmadaw column providing security at roadworks along the Sama Junction-Gagun
route.
In a report published by Burmas military-run newspaper Myawaddy, the Tatmadaw
claims it requested the KIA to desist from firing at the unit on Wednesday morning and
had issued repeated warnings in recent weeks on several occasions after the Kachin
rebels launched unprovoked attacks on Burmese military positions.
The Tatmadaw column that was building a road for food supplies also warned the KIA
troops not to launch attacks on the Tatmadaw column and [said that] the Tatmadaw
column would respond if attacked, Myawaddy reported on Thursday evening.
However, KIA troops attacked the Tatmadaw personnel and the bulldozer that were
building Sama Junction-Gagun road section for food supplies at about 11am on 19
November. The Tatmadaw column on security duty had to respond to the attack.
As the KIA failed to control its troops and increased its military activities despite the
repeated warnings by the Tatmadaw not to attack Tatmadaw personnel who were

discharging national defence [duties] such as providing security for the safe travel of
the local people, changing personnel at security posts, and repairs of roads, the
Tatmadaw camp fired a warning shot of a large-calibre weapon which fell and
exploded at a KIA camp, causing causalities, the report said.
It listed similar incidents in Momauk Township on 1 June, 13 and 26 September, and
27 and 28 October. It said Kachin soldiers ambushed one of its columns in Mansi on
16 November, and near Magiguam Village on 17 November, leaving one Burmese
personnel injured.
The report said the Tatmadaw contacted the KIA to object to these assaults, and that it
had also complained to the groups peace-negotiating team as recently as 18
November.
Myawaddy further reported that the Tatmadaw is cooperating with both the
governments Union Peace-Building Work Committee and their ethnic counterparts,
the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team, in order to reduce military activities
without starting an attack and to forge political agreements for sustainable peace.
The Kachin Alliance, a network of Kachin communities and organisations in the US,
has issued a statement calling Wednesdays attack unprovoked and deliberate and
in blatant violation of the agreement reached between the government and the KIO
on May 13, 2014, to de-escalate military tensions.
It accused the Burmese army of engaging in military maneuvers, encroaching upon
KIO territory, taking control of frontline positions and fortifying them with heavy artillery,
even in the midst of nationwide ceasefire talks.
For the sake of the safety of innocent civilians, the Kachin Alliance said, it demanded
an immediate and complete withdrawal of Burmese government forces from the
positions in question.
We demand that President Thein Sein, if he is to claim credibility for the peace
process his government is currently engaged in, take full responsibility for the Nov. 19
killings, and take steps to prevent any such violations that would derail the peace
talks, the group said in its statement on Thursday.
It also called on the US, the UN and others in the international community to pressure
the Burmese government to keep to its reform promises and to find solutions to the
decades-old ethnic conflict through political negotiations rather than military means.
Meanwhile, the Palaung State Liberation Front Central Committee on Thursday issued
a statement promising its 11 fallen cadets that it will continue fighting until a Palaung

State is established.
The 11 Palaung trainees were all aged between 18 and 25.
The Arakan Army and CNF announced that they had each lost eight and two cadets
respectively.
The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) announced that two of the groups
members Hein Htet and Thet Zaw were among the cadets killed in the shelling.
Than Khe, chairman of the ABSDF, said the attack could cause negative impacts on
the peace-building and national reconciliation processes, and that it indicates an
ignorance of the efforts being put in by all parties to implement these goals.
Posted by Thavam