Myanmar conflict

Internal conflict in Burma
Date April 1948 – present Location Burma Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Burmese government	Anti-government rebels Various ethnic groups Alleged: France Singapore
Strength
40,000	over 6,000
Casualties and losses
over 7,000 killed

The Internal conflict in Burma is a term that is employed to refer to the current asymmetric low intensity armed conflict in Burma that has existed since approximately April 1948 between the Burmese government and the various ethnic groups in the country. Recently, the conflict has been against the military regime that has ruled the country since 1962. The conflict is the oldest current conflict in the world as of 2008.

The conflict has received international attention by the 8888 Uprising in 1988, activist Aung San Suu Kyi and by the Burmese anti-government protests in August to November 2007. In November 2005, the military junta started moving the government away from Yangon to a location near Kyatpyay just outside Pyinmana, to a newly designated capital city. This public action follows a long term unofficial policy of moving critical military and government infrastructure away from Yangon to avoid a repetition of the events of 1988. On Armed Forces Day (March 27, 2006), the capital was officially named Naypyidaw Myodaw (lit. Royal City of the Seat of Kings), but is commonly called Naypyidaw. Over 7,000 people, almost all participating in anti-government uprisings have been killed in the conflict.

Since 2006, an offensive of the Burmese army against the Karen National Union has been going on in Karen State, resulting in the displacement of tens of thousands. An estimated half a million people have been displaced within eastern Burma due to armed conflict and the forcible relocation of villages.

There is an informal yet relatively widespread controversy about what would be the most accurate term to describe Burma's internal conflict. A common argument would be that a civil war would have started in 1948 as the result of the social, economic and political background of the country and thus current violence could not be considered an isolated phenomenon. This application of the term civil war to the ensuing conflict that began in Burma has been considered debatable by some, as another position held by several analysts would point out that the conflict's characteristics, scale and intensity have not reached those of a full blown civil war.

Today organizations out of the ethnic groups of the Karen and Shan in the east of the country fight above all further against the government while other organizations armistice agreement closed. Also in other regions, there are sporadic battles. Due to the conflicts, around 160,000 Burmese fugitives live in Thailand and many more live in other countries in the region.

Burma gained independence from Great Britain in 1948. Immediately afterwards, communist rebels began an uprising against the new government. Uprisings and ethnic conflicts began breaking out in various provinces of Burma continuing into 1949. The Karen, led predominantly by the Christian Karen National Union (KNU) began fighting for an autonomous Karen state, Kawthoolei,in the eastern part of the country. The situation worsened when Buddhism was made the official religion, and questions regarding the rights of the Christian Karen, Chin, and Kachin peoples under federalism were never really addressed.

Due to the split of the party in power, the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) became used as a transitional military government from 1958 to 1960. In August 2007, about 160,000 Burma fugitives fled to the Thai boundary provinces of Chiang Mai and Ratchaburi. The refugee camps lie mostly directly at the border with Burma. Of the fugitives, about 62% are Karen. Thailand has formed humanitarian organizations to help the refugees.

In recent reports, the Burmese government has accused the governments of France and Singapore for giving incentives to rebels against Burma. France has also planned for talks with Thailand to join the incentives. China and the United Nations have also expressed interest.

See also

• Ongoing conflicts
• History of Burma

External links

• Mizzima News Award-winning India-based news group run by exiled dissidents. See also: Mizzima News
• Democratic Voice of Burma Norwegian-based radio station committed to providing accurate and unbiased news to the people of Burma
• BBC News: The fighting spirit of Burma's Karen (2007)