PEACE Info (August 28, 2020) − CSOs Attend Peace Roundtable in Myitkyina − In Myanmar's Karen State, Ex-Insurgents Create a Haven for Chinese Casino Bosses − Heavy weapon fire kills one farmer and injures three in Rakhine − PMF Beats Kachin Youth at Checkpoint in Hukawng Valley − COVID-19 Spread Adds to Woes of War Refugees in Myanmar’s Rakhine State − အ�ကမ��ဖက�မ�မ���က�� ဆက�လက�တ��က�ဖ�က�သ���မည�ဟ� �မန�မ����င�ငံ�ခ���ရ�ဌ�န��ကည� − မ�ဆယ��ဒသခံသ�ံ�ဦ� အသတ�ခံရမ� စ�ံစမ��ဖ��� တပ�န�� ရ��လ��က���တ� �တ�� − �က��က�မ��မ ���နယ� တပ�မ� က���လ�န�သည�� အမ� ပ�င��လင���မင�သ� ရ���စလ�� − က��ဗစ�က�လအတ�င�� က�ည�ထ�မ�န�၍ �က��က��တ���ဒသခံ ၂ ဦ� �သဆ�ံ� − KIA ထ�န��ခ��ပ�နယ���မက စစ��ဘ�ဒ�က�သည�စခန�� ရ�က��အခက�အခ�ရ���န − ကပ��ဘ�က�လမ�� အင�တ�နက� (4G) �ပန�ဖ�င���ပ�ဖ��� ရခ��င��ဒသခံ လ�ငယ��တ� �တ�င��ဆ�� − "ရခ��င��ပည�နယ�မ�� ရ�က��မ�ပတ��စရပ�ဘ��" - �ဒ��အ�င�ဆန��စ��ကည� − က���င���တ�င���ရအ��လ�ပ�စစ� ၀န�ထမ�� အ�မ�ရ��ဆ�က�ရန� ယ���မ ဧက ၂၀၀ က�မ�ဏ�သ�မ��ယ�မည��က�စ� �ဒသခံ သ�ဘ�မတ� − အပစ�ရပ�နယ���မ�တ�မ�� �ရ���က�က�ပ��လ�ပ�ငန��စ�� မ�ရမရ��ဖစ��န − က�န�ဟ�န���မ ���နယ�တ�င� က�ပ� ၃၂ ဘ�လ�ယံခန�� တန�ဖ���ရ�� မ��ယစ��ဆ�မ���ဖမ��မ� ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 1 of 28 CSOs Attend Peace Roundtable in Myitkyina By Network Media Group | Friday, August 28, 2020 The Myanmar Peace Monitor organized a roundtable in Myitkyina town to facilitate better cooperation among the many civil society organizations (CSOs) in Kachin State working on peace-related issues. Kyaw Htet Aung, coordinator for Myanmar Peace Monitor, told NMG the roundtable was organized to bridge the “communication gap” that exists between CSOs, Kachin IDPs (internally displaced persons) and the community. “We assumed that the exchange of information and communication is important between them,” he said, explaining how the roundtable provided different CSOs an opportunity to share their opinions on peace and related issues Myanmar Peace Monitor, which was started by Burma News International (BNI), which NMG is a member of, reports on the country’s long and convoluted peace process. Research on peace talks and hostilities between armed combatants is compiled on its website for journalists, researchers and non-governmental organizations. During the round table, in the capital of Kachin State, participants discussed the conflicts, peace negotiations and returning internally displaced persons (IDPs). Other topics included, extraction of natural resources, foreign investment, social issues, socioeconomics in Kachin State and the 2020 general election. Kyaw Htet Aung told NMG “When we talk about the peace process, people think about NCA (nationwide ceasefire agreement). When there is a deadlock in the peace process, the community starts to question where is peace.” The community must make its voice strong with matters of peace, he said. But not everyone is taking part during peace negotiations. Last week, part-III of the Union Accord was signed during the Union Peace Conference while several ethnic armed organizations weren’t present, he explained. BNI was formed by Mizzima News, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press Network and Khonumthung News in Kolkata, India on February 11, 2003. Subsequently, many ethnic media outlets based on Thai-Burma border joined the ethnic media network. http://www.nmg-news.com/2020/08/28/11930 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 2 of 28 In Myanmar's Karen State, Ex-Insurgents Create a Haven for Chinese Casino Bosses By Aung Zaw | 28 August 2020 Col. Saw Chit Thu, the commander of the local Border Guard Force, attends a celebration of the group’s ninth anniversary at Shwe Kokko, Karen State, on Aug. 20, 2019. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy MAE SOT, Thailand—Along Karen State’s border with Thailand, I have witnessed first-hand the development of the conflict between Karen insurgents and Myanmar soldiers over the past three decades. Countless journalists, aid workers, researchers and diplomats have traveled to the border area to see for themselves the war zone and those who inhabit it—the refugees and prisoners of war, the injured rebels and soldiers, the landmine victims and captured spies, and the wounded souls. In the past, villagers who strayed too close to the combat zone could suddenly find themselves, along with hundreds of others, suddenly hauled to the frontline and forced to work as porters. A seemingly endless stream of horrifying tales emerged from the region; stories of terrible maltreatment, of people dying of hunger and malaria, and of porters being used as human shields on the battlefield. The Irrawaddy’s founding editor-in-chief Aung Zaw (left) interviews the late KNU leader General Saw Bo Mya near the Thai-Myanmar border in 1998. We journalists covering the conflict met and interviewed political prisoners and politicians fleeing repression in Myanmar for refuge in the “liberated zone”—the Karen insurgents’ headquarters in Manerplaw. From there they continued to what was then the sleepy Thai town of Mae Sot, across the border from Myawaddy. In the late 1980s, the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) launched several military offensives and took over Kawmoora, which had been a stronghold of the Karen National Union (KNU). Nerdah Mya (third from left in an army sweater), the son of the late KNU leader General Saw Bo Mya, with Karen rebels in the jungle in Karen State in the early 2000s. In those days, taking over a mountain or mopping up a strategic hill would take months, if not years, and many lives would be lost on both sides. Today, veteran Karen Page 3 of 28 fighters say, the Myanmar army no longer dispatches infantry units in such situations; instead, it sends in Russian-made helicopter gunships armed with missiles to take down insurgent outposts. The last major battle between the two sides was fought in 1995 along the Thai-Myanmar border. After the fall of Manerplaw, which served as a base for an umbrella group of forces opposed to the military regime, the famous Kawmoora base also fell to the army’s onslaught. In the decades since then, the Karen armed movement has gradually transformed into something altogether different. The DKBA & Saw Chit Thu As the leaders of the KNU fled their Manerplaw headquarters, the Karen armed movement splintered into several groups. One of these, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) led by Saw Chit Thu, decided to throw in its lot with the Myanmar military; in return he was given control of Kawmoora. In 2009 this process was completed as Saw Chit Thu’s forces were transformed into a Border Guard Force (BGF) under the ultimate command of the Myanmar armed forces. KNU troops during the 70th annual Karen Revolution Day at the Karen National Union’s headquarters in Paan District, Karen State in 2019. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy Saw Chit Thu’s aim in joining the BGF was to stabilize his group’s relations with the military regime, then known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). He and his officers calculated that it would be good for business. Indeed, this was the subject of the cover story of the August 2010 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine, which asserted that Saw Chit Thu and his group were by that time interested solely in business, and gave an account of the personal business empire the Karen commander was then building. The Border Guard Force celebrates its ninth anniversary at Shwe Kokko on Aug. 20, 2019. / Htet Wai / Irrawaddy Such a transformation suited the Myanmar military just fine; a similar process had already occurred on the northern border with China, where notorious insurgent groups including the Wa and Kokang, having reached ceasefires with the junta in 1989, were granted total freedom and “autonomy” to open casinos and engage in drug trafficking and other illicit trades. This is all fine too. When these groups launched their illicit activities, they did so with the blessing of the military junta, which at that time was known as the SLORC (the State Law and Order Restoration Council—the predecessor of the SPDC). Page 4 of 28 Among his many commercial interests, Saw Chit Thu, as commander of BGF Special Battalion No. 999, is heavily involved in cross-border trade. It was with the aim of advancing these commercial interests that in June 2009 he launched an attack on Brigade 7 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU. The campaign displaced over 4,000 Karen villagers and created confusion and chaos in the region. Saw Chit Thu’s aim: to open up new territory in which he could build an economic zone. Shwe Kokko Over the past few years, Saw Chit Thu’s longstanding dream of presiding over a business empire has been realized. Today, he is a millionaire warlord (and a gambler), ensconced in a large mansion he has built for himself in Shwe Kokko in Myawaddy Township, the site of a huge megaproject in which he has a key stake. He travels in bulletproof vehicles with armed bodyguards. And recently he has found some well-heeled new friends: Chinese “investors”. An artist’s rendition of a new city project planned by the KNU and Huanya. These shadowy Chinese investors arrived in the BGF- controlled area adjacent to the Thai border in 2017 and 2018, lured by plans for a gigantic economic development project.