HISTORY OF KACHIN

The Kachin people are an ethnic affinity of several tribal groups, known for their fierce independence, disciplined fighting skills, complex clan inter-relations, embrace of Christianity, craftsmanship, herbal healing and jungle survival skills. Other residents of Kachin State include Shans (Thai/Lao related), Nagas, and Burmans, who form the largest ethnic group in Burma, also called “Burmese” or “Myanmas”. During the British colonial period, many of the Kachin tribes were barely subdued. However, loyal Christian Kachin fighters were of crucial assistance to British and American guerrilla units fighting the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

Following the end of World War II and Burma’s independence from Britain, long standing ethnic conflicts between frontier peoples such as the Kachins and the Burman-dominated central government resurfaced. Nevertheless Kachin soldiers formed a core part of the Burmese armed forces and stayed loyal to the central government when the anti-Rangoon Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) with its armed force, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), was formed in 1961. However, after Burma’s elected largest of Burma’s many ethnic non-communist rebel groups. Much of Kachin State outside of the cities and larger towns was for many years KIO administered.

The KIO formed alliances with other ethnic groups resisting the Burmese occupation, and later despite its non-communist stance along with China informally supported the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), which held strategically sensitive parts of the country vis a vis the Kachin positions. The KIO continued to fight when Ne Win’s dictatorship was succeeded by another incarnation of the military junta in 1988 called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). However, with a gradual withdrawal of Chinese support, in 1989 the Communist Party of Burma soon disintegrated into warlord led groups that negotiated ceasefire deals with the junta. This led to the KIO being surrounded by organizations effectively aligned with the SPDC. It was squeezed by redeployed battalions of the rearmed and ever growing Burma Army, and constantly urged to make peace by a civilian population suffering from years of warfare. In 1994 the KIO chose to enter into a ceasefire with the junta.

The ceasefire delivered neither security nor prosperity to the Kachin. With the end of hostilities the Burma Army presence has—instead of falling—increased considerably. Burmese military commanders treat the local population as if the state were a war zone. Consequently civilians suffer wartime brutality including forced labor and rape. The suffering of the Kachin people continue....