The ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine State, the ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya Muslim population by government forces, and the resultant refugee crisis has made headlines around the globe.

However, the news media and the community of nations are paying scant attention to another civil conflict in Myanmar that pits the regime against a Christian minority group in the Buddhist-majority country. And in recent months, the long-running civil conflict between Kachin Christian forces and the military has been escalating in recent months, as churches are targeted and Christian civilians are persecuted and attacked.

Who are the Kachin, and why is the Myanmar’s military persecuting them? “The Kachin are one of Myanmar’s more than 100 recognized minorities,” replied Monic Ratra of Open Doors Canada. “There is a decades-old insurgency, originally striving for independence, but now for autonomy,” she said in an email.

According to Open Doors Canada, approximately 90 per cent of the Kachin are Christian. Of the Christian Kachin, 80% are Baptists, “but there are some 200,000 Catholics as well,” reports Open Doors Canada.

There are an estimated four million Christians in the closed society, making up approximately eight per cent of Myanmar’s total population. Kachin State is a Christian stronghold, where 85 per cent of the residents are Christian.

History of violence

Since 1961, a civil conflict between the Kachin and government forces has caused death and misery in Kachin State. The minority group seeks autonomy. Although the violence has been interrupted by extended ceasefires, a lasting peace always seems out of reach.

The most recent ceasefire between Kachin forces and Myanmar’s military ended in 2011 after 17 years of relative peace, according to Open Doors Canada. Since the resumption of hostilities, many Christians have been displaced by the violence. And in recent months, the Christian nongovernmental organization reports that an additional 5,000 have been displaced.

Peace talks between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) were scheduled to begin in May, but were postponed as the regime seeks to make gains on the battlefield before it attempts to negotiate a ceasefire.

“Another reason for fighting is money,” reports Open Doors Canada’s Ratra. “Kachin, Shan and Karen States are famous for high value timber, jade and – illicit – opium trade, being part of the Golden Triangle,” she said. Both the Myanmar military and the rebel KIA supposedly benefit from the illicit trade.

“And there are even rumors that they tacitly cooperate in order not to stop the money flow,” the Open Doors Canada representative said.

Since the death of the ceasefire in June of 2011, approximately 120,000 people in Kachin State have been displaced by the violence, Open Doors Canada reports.

Open Doors Canada reports that the conflict has been intensifying in recent months. For example, in the northern Tanai region of Kachin State, the violence has been escalating since April. “The government began shelling and airstrikes in response to threat by rebel Kachin Independence army,” noted the nongovernmental organization. “Hundreds of Kachin have had to flee the fighting,” which has reportedly killed over a hundred people.

According to a public statement by Thomas Muller, an Asia analyst for Open Doors International, the plight of the Kachin probably won’t grab international attention “since Myanmar is increasingly coming under economic and political influence from China, its big neighbour.”

China is likely to veto any attempts by the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the conflict in Myanmar.

Attacks on churches

According to Open Doors Canada, “the army targets any church if it suspects that insurgents are hiding in them.” And the Christian NGO alleges that the military often shells churches sheltering civilians and then claims that they were insurgents.

“There are several reports that Christians were killed indiscriminately, not by shelling, but by soldiers,” Open Doors Canada alleges.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that on May 12th, “Burmese military jetfighters bombed the Kachin Baptist Mission School in Bawmwang village, northern Kachin State.” Miraculously, there were no casualties in the attack, which probably constitutes a war crime under international law.

“A two-storey wooden building which used to be the mission office and clinic of the American Baptist missionaries and was later used as the main office of the Kachin Baptist Mission School was hit in the attack,” states a report by CSW, a human rights group that advocates for and defends religious freedom around the globe.

The attack took place in northern Kachin State, territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA’s) First Brigade. According to CSW, the military has escalated attacks in Kachin areas, targeting not only KIA military outposts, “but also civilian areas including religious centres.”

In addition to striking churches, the regime is persecuting individual Christian civilians. In April of 2017, two Kachin Christians were sent to prison for helping journalists investigate the bombing of a Catholic Church by Myanmar’s army. According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 67, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, and Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, was sentenced to two years and three months.

According to CSW, “the men, who are members of the Kachin Baptist Convention, were both convicted under the Unlawful Associations Act for their alleged support of the Kachin Independence Army and under the Import Export Act for operating motorcycles without a licence.”

However, CSW maintains that the imprisoned Christians were political prisoners and that they never should have been arrested.

“In 2016, they had guided journalists around a Catholic church which had reportedly been bombed by the Burmese military,” notes a CSW report. “It is believed that this is the real reason for their arrest and subsequent imprisonment.”

After news stories about the bombing of the Catholic Church were published, the Kachin men were scooped up by the military and “held incommunicado for a month.” The Myanmar army has denied bombing the church.

The men were released from prison on April 20, 2018. But CSW reports that “at least 90 other political prisoners are currently in jail in Burma, including Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists currently on trial. Most of the prisoners are awaiting trial and have not been convicted.”

Genocide

According to Sky News, the military is carrying a campaign of genocide against the Kachin people. Sky News managed to get a small team of journalists into Kachin State, and they reportedly “uncovered evidence that the Burmese military is targeting other ethnic minorities” besides the Rohingya Muslims.

A June 5, 2018 Sky News report posted online claims that “the mainly Christian Kachin people – believe they are being increasingly targeted because the Myanmar military’s persecution of the Rohingya went unpunished.”

Sky News alleges that what its team “found in this forgotten part of the world was worrying evidence of a second genocidal campaign – at least that’s certainly what the Kachin people believe.”

Helping Kachin Christians

“A long term result of persecution of the Kachin is that the young people lack perspective for their future,” said the Open Doors Canada representative. “Education is almost not possible, the state is not interested in educating Kachin people and does not provide funds; there were even reports that the army supports the drug trade for Kachin youth to keep them from taking up arms.”

According to Open Doors in Myanmar, the Christian NGO is “helping the Kachin Christians by conducting biblical persecution-preparedness training through local partners,” and also by “also addressing the needs of Christian children from the war-torn areas and our team is preparing for a children’s trauma debriefing therapy training.”

In addition, Monica Ratra said that “we are also addressing the needs of Christian children from the war-torn areas and our team is preparing for a children’s trauma debriefing therapy training.”

Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on Twitter @GeoffyPJohnston

The Kingston Whig-Standard 2018 ©