Blood Amber Military Resource Grab Clears out Indigenous Peoples in Kachin State’S Hugawng Valley Contents

Blood Amber Military resource grab clears out indigenous peoples in Kachin State’s Hugawng Valley Contents Summary............................................................................4 Introduction........................................................................7 Map: New displacement in Kachin April 2018 Background........................................................................8 The amber region: A home to indigenous inhabitants...........10 Amber mining in the Hugawng Valley....................................12 History of small-scale mining Amber boom 2010-2017 Export to China..................................................................16 Military expansion and amber income..................................17 Maps: Burma Army battalions in Kachin State 1994-2006 Hugawng Valley off ensive.....................................................21 A warning from the sky Attacks begin Timeline Government moves to control the mines International actors silent Fighting drags on and escalates Civilians prevented from escaping or receiving aid Government denies existence of IDPs Maps: Burma military presence in Hugawng Valley Control cemented Intimidation by government and military Mining resumes Local response to the off ensive..............................................31 Humanitarian support—only from locals Request to return home Analysis............................................................................33 Repeated pattern: Burma Army seizure of Kachin resources False premise #1: Protecting the environment False premise #2: Legalizing mining protects resources and benefits people Conclusion and solutions.....................................................36 Appendices........................................................................38 Warning dropped from the sky on June 5, 2017 Statement from Kachin political parties on the offensive Open Letter from Hugawng Valley IDPs to the President Reply to villagers from President’s Office Letter from Kachin State Parliament Office to Chief Minister of Kachin State Letter from Members of Parliament on civilians displaced by the amber mine offensive Proposal to the President by Members of Parliament Interviews conducted for this report Summary In 2018, Burmese government mining area, but the Burma Army troops stepped up their war in collected taxes on all amber trans- Kachin State, further driving out port routes as the precious resource indigenous populations and ex- was exported across Kachin State panding control over the area’s into China, where the annual value rich natural resources and strategic of the trade is estimated at 1 billion trading routes. The fiercest offensive USD a year. was fought in northwest Kachin State’s Hugawng Valley, to secure In June 2017, the Burma Army the historic Ledo Road linking India moved to take over the amber trade and China, which is part of China’s at the source. They used aircraft Belt and Road Initiative, and to seize to drop thousands of leaflets over hugely lucrative amber mines. the mining area, ordering all local residents to evacuate within ten days Kachin State amber is a global – or be branded as KIA insurgents. treasure: it is the only type in the This included not only the mine world formed during the age of the workers but also nearly 5,000 indig- dinosaurs. “Blood amber” is the enous villagers who had lived and Chinese name of the extremely rare, farmed there for generations. deep red variety of the gem found only in the Hugawng Valley – a The offensive lasted nearly one year, name which resonates grimly with during which civilians suffered not local residents who have been driven only the seizure of their lands and out by the recent offensive. property, but also military harass- ment and violence. On January 26, The amber mining boom began 2018, three civilians were killed by in 2010, due to demand from the an aerial attack, including the young Chinese market, causing tens of mother of a 3 year-old child. thousands of migrant miners from across Burma to flock to the region. In January 2018, nearly 3,000 In 2015, discovery of a 99-million- civilians were trapped in the con- year-old feathered dinosaur tail in flict area by the Burma Army, who Hugawng Valley amber further refused to allow them to pass to fuelled the trade. safety, holding them for eleven days without proper food or healthcare The Kachin Independence Army and blocking delivery of humanitar- (KIA) controlled the remote amber ian aid. To this day, the thousands 4 of indigenous inhabitants of the since government security forces amber mining area are living in seized control of the mines, generat- makeshift shelters in urban church ing huge profits for government and compounds, unrecognized as IDPs military elites, while driving local and unable to return home. people off their lands and destroying their livelihoods. Despite using the premise of “protecting the environment” to justify The central government must recog- the offensive, unregulated amber nize the rights of indigenous peoples mining resumed in the region just to live on their land and manage one year after the offensive began, their own resources, and must im- exposing the Burma military’s real mediately take steps to allow people motives in seizing the mines. displaced from the amber region to return home. The offensive follows a repeated pattern of military expansion and Constitutional change is critical to violence against ethnic peoples in resolve conflict in Burma. Local Kachin State in order to consolidate people in Kachin State must own, extractive businesses to profit the manage, and receive revenues from military and central government the natural resources of the land at the expense of local indigenous where they live and work. populations. International pressure is urgently Past documentation by KDNG needed to help protect civilians in has already shown that, far from conflict zones in Kachin State and protecting the environment, the elsewhere in Burma. Foreign eco- government and military has been nomic investment and peace process responsible for large-scale environ- funding should be frozen until the mental destruction in the Hugawng Burma military stops its offensives Valley over the last 20 years. It has against Kachin and other ethnic authorized destructive gold mining peoples. In the meantime, interna- throughout the valley, and given per- tional humanitarian aid should be mission for Yuzana Company to de- sent to help communities displaced stroy hundreds of acres of forest and from their homes and livelihoods by farmlands to carry out monocrop central government aggression. agriculture for the Chinese market. Similarly in nearby Hpakant, jade mining has expanded exponentially 5 Amber region Ledo Mining areas, Ledo Road, and proposed dams added by KDNG 6 Introduction In 2018, the Burma Army stepped This report is written to help better up offensives across Kachin State to understand the background history expand central government control of Hugawng Valley’s people, land, over the area’s rich natural resourc- and amber mines. It analyzes the es and strategic trading routes. An source of problems around natural offensive in Injangyang township resources and proposes solutions to cleared out thousands of Kachin address them. The report is a call to villagers from north of the planned allow the native Hugawng people to Myitsone dam project. An offensive get involved and make decisions in in Hpakant further cleared out how resources are distributed and villagers from the hills around the used, and to begin a new course of jade mines. development that is better able to be sustained for the next generation. But the fiercest offensive took place in the Hugawng Valley. It was aimed to secure control of the historic Ledo Road—which links India and China and is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative—and to seize Tsa Ji the area’s lucrative amber mines. General Secretary, KDNG Hugawng Valley amber shot to international fame in 2015 when a Chinese paleontologist discovered a feathered dinosaur tail embedded in hunk of amber in Myitkyina’s market. This report details the history of the amber mining trade in Hugawng Valley, how the offensive was carried out, and the dispossession of the area’s indigenous inhabitants. It is based on in-depth interviews with twenty-one people from the area. 7 Background When the British arrived, taxing began. One kyat was collected Kachin State is a land of long moun- from each household; 50 pyas tain ranges enclosing lush flat valleys. went to the British government Rivers loop through like unraveled and another 50 pyas to the local yarn, and the Irrawaddy flows south chief (Mung Du). The Chief from the Himalayas on its way to Yan- in turn gave 25 pyas out of his gon and the Andaman Sea. Wedged share to the village head. Thus between India and China, Kachin they administered the land and State is home to Kachin, Naga, and population. (Interview No. 6) other ethnic peoples who have lived here for centuries. The state is rich in The fertile alluvial soils on the banks mineral resources, including gold, the of the Danai River, the main head- highest quality jade in the world, and water of the Chindwin, provide amber deposits dating from the age of the valley with vast areas of arable the dinosaurs. land. Local people grow wet paddy in lowland areas, practice rotational The Hugawng Valley lies mainly in agriculture in upland areas, and raise the township of Danai, northwest domestic animals. They also subsist by of Myitkyina,

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