Kokang incident
Encyclopedia
The Kokang incident was a violent conflict or series of skirmishes that broke out in August 2009 in the Kokang Special Region (also known as Special Region 1) in Burma's (also known as Myanmar) northern Shan State
. Several clashes between the Burmese military junta
forces (including the Myanmar Armed Forces, also known as Tatmadaw, and the Myanmar Police Force
) and ethnic minorities have taken place. As a result of the conflict, as many as 30,000 refugee
s have fled to Yunnan
province in neighboring China
.
scheduled to take place sometime in 2010.
The Kokang Special region is a self-administrating area in northern Shan State; it has been ruled by chairman Pheung Kya-shin
(Peng Jiasheng, 彭家声) since its establishment in 1989, and is populated mostly by Kokang people
(果敢), the name for Han Chinese
living in Burma. Since its inception, Kokang has been implicated in the illegal drug trade
and trafficking as well as gambling
and prostitution.
Kokang has its own army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army
, with about 1,000 to 1,500 soldiers. Recently there has been an inter-faction split within the army, with Pheung being opposed by deputy chairman Bai Suoqian—while Pheung has opposed efforts to integrate the Kokang army with the Tatmadaw, Bai has supported it and gained the junta's backing. According to the activist newspaper Shan Herald, several factions of the Kokang army have become loyal to the junta, and three high-ranking army officials informed the junta government that Pheung was secretly producing illicit weapons and drugs.
later described the city as a "ghost town
". Chinese officials had to intervene in the face-off, and by 17 August officials claimed that the situation in Kokang was "normal" again.
" staged by Kokang army leaders who had become loyal to the junta.
On 27 August, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army began to open fire on junta troops outside the city; according to a government statement, the Kokang army raided a police checkpoint near the border. Later Wa
, Kachin, and as many as nine other ethnic groups joined in the fighting; the United Wa State Army
, Burma's largest ethnic military force, was also involved in the fighting, as was the National Democratic Alliance Army (also known as Mong La). On 27 and 28 there were more battles in the villages of Yan Lon Kyaik and Chin Swe Haw, near the Chinese border. Across the border, the Chinese army increased its numbers in attempt to maintain border stability.
By late 29 August, the United States-based Campaign for Burma claimed that as many as 700 Kokang fighters, outnumbered by junta troops, had fled, surrendered to the Chinese, and given up their weapons. Kokang soldiers interviewed in China after surrendering also said they had been overrun. While the Kokang army appears to have been routed, the larger United Wa State Army was still active, and Al Jazeera
reported that the government was requesting reinforcements to deal with them; the New York Times, however, reported that the Wa army had withdrawn as early as 28 August. The government issued a statement on 30 August claiming that the fighting had ended, and later formed a new "Kokang Region Provisional Leading Committee" in Laukkai.
From 8 to 12 August, as many as 10,000 residents fled to Yunnan
province in neighboring China, becoming refugee
s. The total number of refugees fleeing in the entire month may be as high as 30,000, according to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees and later the Yunnan
provincial government. Yunnan's police chief later reported that the number of refugees in Yunnan reached 37,000, including Burmese refugees as well as Kokang. Yunnan government officials stated they have established seven locations (particularly near the city of Nansan
, where most of the refugees arrived) to house and treat the refugees; some locals, however, claimed that not all the refugees were being housed, or were being housed in unfinished buildings and tents. According to one refugee, about 13,000 of the refugees were housed in the tents, and 10,000–20,000 more stayed with friends or family in the area. By August 31, some refugees (as many as 4,000, according to local officials, or 2,800 according to the junta government) had started returning to Kokang; by mid-September, Chinese officials said over 9,000 refugeees had returned and Myanmar officials said over 13,000; many refugees, however, were still afraid to go back.
Pheung was also rumored to have fled Kokang, and is currently in China, although his precise location has not been revealed. Before the Kokang forces surrendered, he claimed that he was still controlling them from abroad.
in Burma. The Burmese Foreign Ministry later apologised to China about the incident, but also ran a story on the Dalai Lama
in the government newspaper the Myanmar Times, the first mention of him in the state controlled
Burmese media
for 20 years.
The United Nations
has also expressed concern about reports of fighting and thousands of refugees fleeing across the border. The United States
government also voiced its concern, and called on the junta to end its military campaign against the cease-fire groups.
Shan State
Shan State is a state of Burma . Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total...
. Several clashes between the Burmese military junta
Military junta
A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
forces (including the Myanmar Armed Forces, also known as Tatmadaw, and the Myanmar Police Force
Myanmar Police Force
Myanmar Police Force, formally known as The People's Police Force , was established in 1964 as independent department under Ministry of Home Affairs. It was reorganised on 1 October 1995 and informally become part of Tatmadaw. Current Director General of Myanmar Police Force is Brigadier General...
) and ethnic minorities have taken place. As a result of the conflict, as many as 30,000 refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s have fled to Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province in neighboring China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Background
Before the events, the military government had a cease-fire with most of the region's ethnic groups since 1989. Since 2008, however, the military junta has proposed that the ethnic armies (so-called "cease-fire groups") be assimilated into the Tatmadaw and converted into "border guards"; most of the ethnic armies have opposed this. Some political analysts claim that the junta's motivation for this proposal is to "disarm" and "neutralize" the cease-fire groups before the Burmese general electionBurmese general election, 2010
A general election was held in Burma on 2010, in accordance with the new constitution which was approved in a referendum held in...
scheduled to take place sometime in 2010.
The Kokang Special region is a self-administrating area in northern Shan State; it has been ruled by chairman Pheung Kya-shin
Pheung Kya-shin
Pheung Kya-shin is the chairman of the Kokang Special Region in Burma and a leader of the Kokang people's army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.-Biography:...
(Peng Jiasheng, 彭家声) since its establishment in 1989, and is populated mostly by Kokang people
Kokang people
The Kokang people are an ethnic group of Burma . They are Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese living in Kokang Special Region. In 1997, it was estimated that the Kokang people, together with more recently-immigrated Yunnanese, constituted 30–40 percent of Burma's ethnic Chinese population.The...
(果敢), the name for Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
living in Burma. Since its inception, Kokang has been implicated in the illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
and trafficking as well as gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and prostitution.
Kokang has its own army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army , formally the Kokang Democracy Party, is a rebel army of Kokang people in northeastern Burma and has existed since 1989. The army, also known as the Eastern Shan State Army, has had a ceasefire with the Burmese government for two decades...
, with about 1,000 to 1,500 soldiers. Recently there has been an inter-faction split within the army, with Pheung being opposed by deputy chairman Bai Suoqian—while Pheung has opposed efforts to integrate the Kokang army with the Tatmadaw, Bai has supported it and gained the junta's backing. According to the activist newspaper Shan Herald, several factions of the Kokang army have become loyal to the junta, and three high-ranking army officials informed the junta government that Pheung was secretly producing illicit weapons and drugs.
Drug raid and standoff
Tensions came to a head on 8 August when the junta military, acting on a tip-off from China, moved into the region for a raid on a gun factory suspected of being a drug front and on Kokang leader Pheung's home. This confrontation, according to the activist newspaper Shan Herald, was only a "stand-off", with no shots being fired; nevertheless, it triggered a mass exodus of locals who were worried about the possibility of violence. and a resident of the Kokang regional capital LaukkaiLaukkai
Laukkai is the capital of Kokang in the northern part of Shan State, Burma. It is situated on the Salween River, which forms Burma's border with the People's Republic of China. It is about 10 miles away from Nansan , China...
later described the city as a "ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
". Chinese officials had to intervene in the face-off, and by 17 August officials claimed that the situation in Kokang was "normal" again.
Violence
By 20 August, however, government troops were beginning to gather near Laukkai, and Kokang leaders reportedly urged residents to "be prepared", which prompted even more people to flee. On 24 August, junta troops captured and occupied Laukkai "without firing a shot". The anti-junta Kachin News claimed that the takeover was aided by a "mutinyMutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
" staged by Kokang army leaders who had become loyal to the junta.
On 27 August, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army began to open fire on junta troops outside the city; according to a government statement, the Kokang army raided a police checkpoint near the border. Later Wa
Va people
The Va nationality lives mainly in Northern Burma, in the northern part of Shan and eastern Kachin States, near and along the border with China. Their defacto capital is Pangkham in the unofficial Wa State in North Eastern Shan state. The majority of the Va live in Burma...
, Kachin, and as many as nine other ethnic groups joined in the fighting; the United Wa State Army
United Wa State Army
The United Wa State Army is an ethnic minority army of an estimated 30,000 Wa soldiers of Myanmar's Special Region No. 2 led by Bao Youxiang . There is no recognised Wa State in Myanmar, which is divided into divisions, states, and special regions...
, Burma's largest ethnic military force, was also involved in the fighting, as was the National Democratic Alliance Army (also known as Mong La). On 27 and 28 there were more battles in the villages of Yan Lon Kyaik and Chin Swe Haw, near the Chinese border. Across the border, the Chinese army increased its numbers in attempt to maintain border stability.
By late 29 August, the United States-based Campaign for Burma claimed that as many as 700 Kokang fighters, outnumbered by junta troops, had fled, surrendered to the Chinese, and given up their weapons. Kokang soldiers interviewed in China after surrendering also said they had been overrun. While the Kokang army appears to have been routed, the larger United Wa State Army was still active, and Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
reported that the government was requesting reinforcements to deal with them; the New York Times, however, reported that the Wa army had withdrawn as early as 28 August. The government issued a statement on 30 August claiming that the fighting had ended, and later formed a new "Kokang Region Provisional Leading Committee" in Laukkai.
Casualties and refugees
No official casualty count was released in the first two days of fighting, although Pheung Kya-shin claimed that his forces had killed over thirty Tatmadaw troops. One Chinese person was killed during fighting when a bomb went over the border. On 30 August, the junta government released its first figures, claiming that the fighting had killed twenty-six junta troops (fifteen police, eleven soldiers) and wounded forty-seven (thirteen police, thirty-four soldiers), and that eight rebel bodies had been found so far; the figures have not been independently confirmed, however.From 8 to 12 August, as many as 10,000 residents fled to Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province in neighboring China, becoming refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s. The total number of refugees fleeing in the entire month may be as high as 30,000, according to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
High Commissioner for Refugees and later the Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
provincial government. Yunnan's police chief later reported that the number of refugees in Yunnan reached 37,000, including Burmese refugees as well as Kokang. Yunnan government officials stated they have established seven locations (particularly near the city of Nansan
Nansan
Nansan Town is a town under the jurisdiction of Zhenkang County, Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.-References:* - Nansan Town, Zhenkang New Rural Digital Information Network...
, where most of the refugees arrived) to house and treat the refugees; some locals, however, claimed that not all the refugees were being housed, or were being housed in unfinished buildings and tents. According to one refugee, about 13,000 of the refugees were housed in the tents, and 10,000–20,000 more stayed with friends or family in the area. By August 31, some refugees (as many as 4,000, according to local officials, or 2,800 according to the junta government) had started returning to Kokang; by mid-September, Chinese officials said over 9,000 refugeees had returned and Myanmar officials said over 13,000; many refugees, however, were still afraid to go back.
Pheung was also rumored to have fled Kokang, and is currently in China, although his precise location has not been revealed. Before the Kokang forces surrendered, he claimed that he was still controlling them from abroad.
Reaction
Although China has in the past supported the military junta, this time it has warned Burma to end the situation, saying Burma should "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Myanmar border region" and urging Burma to protect "Chinese citizens in Myanmar". Chinese officials were said to be "furious" and "extermely upset" over not being forewarned about the offensive on the border. Chinese and other analysts expressed concern that this conflict could lead to a civil warCivil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in Burma. The Burmese Foreign Ministry later apologised to China about the incident, but also ran a story on the Dalai Lama
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
in the government newspaper the Myanmar Times, the first mention of him in the state controlled
State media
State media or state-owned media is media for mass communication which is ultimately controlled and/or funded by the state. These news outlets may be the sole media outlet or may exist in competition with privately-controlled media.-Overview:...
Burmese media
Media of Burma
The media of Burma refers to print, broadcast and online media in Burma . The media has undergone strict censorship and regulation since the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press; however, the government prohibits the exercise of these rights in...
for 20 years.
The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
has also expressed concern about reports of fighting and thousands of refugees fleeing across the border. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government also voiced its concern, and called on the junta to end its military campaign against the cease-fire groups.