Myanmar’s military takes “four wounds” to defeat rivals | Conflicting Issues

On May 24 in Myanmar’s Kachin state, 13-year-old Awng Di went to his aunt’s house at noon to feed his chickens. Thirty minutes later, heavy artillery landed on the chicken coop; Awng Di died before reaching the nearest hospital.

“Our family has never done anything political. We are just trying to survive,” Awng Di’s mother told Al Jazeera. “Now, I want to curse [the military soldiers] every time I see them. ”

The town of Momauk, where Awng Di hails from, has been the scene of tensions between the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar army, and the Kachin Armed Forces, since April. Increasing violence in Momauk and other parts of Kachin State has killed more than 11,000 people, according to UN estimates.

Conflict in Momauk has escalated into a full-blown civil war since the military resumed on February 1, when long-running tensions between Tatmadaw and Myanmar border forces have resumed or intensified, security guards have come in cities that had never before seen war.

In response to an increase in weapons, Tatmadaw has set up airstrikes and groundbreaking protests in the area, evicting 230,000 people since the government resumed. The military has also seized and burned houses, blocked access to relief services, blocked water, cut off telephones, connected, and killed volunteers who wanted to provide assistance.

According to Naw Htoo Htoo, director of the Karen Human Rights Group program, Tatmadaw’s violence has been plagued since the government launched another four-pronged approach, which the military began using in Karen State in the 1960’s and since then civilians a few others.

“[The Tatmadaw] does not use the word ‘cut four‘however, but this approach is similar to the four wounds that have been used on people over the age of 70,’ ‘says Naw Htoo Htoo.

Through a strategy that combined to prevent people from getting food, money, smart people and job seekers, the process is testing the hunger to help veterans and transforming civilians into non-combatants.

In addition to the Karen government, the military has also used the system in areas such as Kachin and Rakhine, the most popular in northern Rakhine State in 2017 where ‘official activities‘We sent thousands of Muslim Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh.

According to Kim Jolliffe, an independent researcher focused on security and conflict in Myanmar, the four cuts are “not only regarding civilians as” money launderers “but as a vital weapon in the war.

“They are being subjected to horrific atrocities and see their lives being deliberately destroyed so that the military does not have access to security and military facilities,” he told Al Jazeera.

Indiscriminate violence

Since the conspiracy, Tatmadaw seems to be expanding its use of circumcision throughout the region, including the predominantly Amamar areas. Toward the end of March, after security forces seized a house in the center of Magway city in Gangaw province, locals began waging war with machine guns. Tatmadaw responded with a deadly bomb and machine guns that killed four people and left more than 10,000 fleeing the country, according to a Myanmar Now media group.

The Magway Region in Pauk also witnessed violence on the night of June 15, when more than 200 houses in Kinma village were set on fire. killing an elderly family who were trapped in their home. Two Kinma people who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity said they were unaware of any controversy that led to the fire, but according to Myanmar Now, it came just days after clashes between human rights activists and plainclothes police and soldiers.

One of the villagers told Al Jazeera that he saw at least nine people in plain clothes enter the village at 11am on June 15, setting fire to houses and shooting cattle, pigs and buffaloes in the village.

Mr Tatmadaw said the case was 40 “terrorists” and that journalists who were told he was going to burn down the village wanted to discredit it.

A military spokesman did not respond to repeated calls from Al Jazeera to ask for comment on violent incidents or to use the “four-way” method.

Now, Kinma residents are scattered in nearby villages or in dense jungle shelters, where they are starving, according to Than Tun Aung, a well-known name as one of the two Kinma people interviewed by Al Jazeera . “Gathering aid is difficult because there may be police or soldiers on the road,” he said. “We’re always alert and ready to run.”

‘All lives are at stake’

The Kayah government and surrounding areas of southern Shan State, which had been peaceful before the insurgency, have also been under heavy pressure from Tatmadaw since May 23, when the so-called Karenni Army defeated police in Moebye town of Shan Town. of the Pekon State and the rapid fighting spread throughout the region. While human rights activists made war crimes and weapons, Tatmadaw set up what the UN called a “non-racial insurgency”, firing rifles and ammunition into security bases and evicting 100,000 people, many of whom live in nearby forests.

Congregations, where some need shelter, have been repeatedly attacked, including Sacred Heart Church in the town of Kayah State Loikaw, which was shot down on May 24, killing four people.

Providing care to Kayah and Shan is difficult and risky. Tatmadaw has shut down supplies to conflict-ridden towns, killed and arrested volunteers, and killed two refugees as they tried to take rice from their homes.

Joseph Reh, a volunteer volunteer in the town of Pekon who wished his name to be withheld for security reasons, told Al Jazeera that his team initially used white flags to provide assistance and hoped it would protect them, but security forces fired shots.

His team kept food and rescue supplies at the school, but initially could not distribute the goods because of the threat. On the evening of June 8, when volunteers tried to carry bags of rice to people who had fled to the mountains, he said security forces chased the group’s car, forcing them to return.

“Because of this, they found a place where we store food and our belongings,” said Joseph Reh. “They came to the school, took all our belongings from the field, and burned” that same night. Overall, he said more than 80 bags of rice were destroyed, as well as other dry food warehouses, medical supplies, ambulances and vehicles.

“They destroyed things that should not have been destroyed and that were not related to the military they were fighting,” said Joseph Reh. “The food he burned was only for the homeless … The ambulance he burned was not related to the war. It said SALVATION and had the symbol of the red cross.”

According to Joseph Reh, the security forces rushed to the mountains for the next two days, refusing to provide assistance.

In addition to the lack of food and other necessities, the homeless often lack access to medical care. In the Chin State town of Mindat, where security forces seized firearms and searched for their weapons in mid-May, Tatmadaw launched a massive disarmament that displaced more than 20,000 people. At least six migrants have died due to lack of medical care, according to Radio Free Asia.

“Everything is in the hands of the military and all lives are at stake,” said Salai Shane, the pseudonymous of a senior volunteer team leader in Mindat. He described the “extreme” in trying to find homeless people.

Demonstrators in Mandalay prepare to burn coffin of warlord Min Aung Hlaing on July 3. The use of military force against protesters is fueling growing anger in the government [File: Time For Revolution via Reuters]

On June 13, one of his group vehicles was hijacked on the way from Pakokku, in the Magway region, to Mindat, where he was carrying food and raincoats; Salai Shane was unable to contact the driver. Soldiers arrested a member of the gang on June 19 and confiscated his motorcycle and relief supplies for the homeless. One week in jail, he was beaten and interrogated, according to the story of Salai Shane.

With volunteers shot dead in Kayah State, Salai Shane says he is too scared to give aid on foot. “Sometimes there can’t be a motorcycle and we have to carry it ourselves several times,” he said. “When we were in the woods or in the woods, we could be killed and our bodies disappeared.”

Soldiers cause anger

According to independent researcher Kim Jolliffe, Tatmadaw is determined to do “incomprehensible things” for the general public in order to remain in power. “It knows the only way to fight the opposition is to beat all the opponents to a strong submission,” he said.

But while the four-pronged approach may require people to refrain from armed conflict or weaken the mind, Naw Htoo Htoo of Karen Human Rights Group says the approach should go back.

“In the near future, there may be further difficulties in disarmament due to shortages of food and water and economic shortages, but in the long run, [the Tatmadaw] they will not be able to control anything, ”he said. “Just as they oppress people, so do ordinary people, because when they deliberately hurt anyone, people hate them.”

Tatmadaw’s victims since the government’s cover-up told Al Jazeera that their experiences had strengthened their hatred for the security forces and made them more determined to destroy.

Kinma VIllage burnt remains. Locals say the military set fire to their homes. An elderly couple could not escape and died in the fire [File: Pauk Township News via AFP]

Than Tun Aung from Kinma village told Al Jazeera: “It is impossible for us to see the military properly.” “We just want to continue to live peacefully as farmers … We must end this war or we will suffer for the rest of our lives.”

In Mindat, Salai Shane said the same thing. “If the security forces can defeat the militants and remove them from the area, we can resume business and agriculture and live a better life,” he said. “We cannot separate the two: the armed forces are civilians, because we all hate the military and want to eradicate it. Banning civilian aid may delay the military, but it will not stop it.”