Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok, Sai Khur Hseng, of the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation, questioned the “silence” of the international community about the ongoing fighting which has displaced 10,000 civilians since early October.

He said: “Why don’t they say anything about it? Or do they think that Shan State is not part of Burma?”

He added: “[They] were happy with the election and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signing, but they ignore the current conflict in the country.”

Despite previous ceasefires fighting between the Burma Army and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) resumed on 6 October. Since then, central Shan State has only experienced four days with no fighting.

Charm Tong, a Shan human rights activist and a spokesperson for the coalition of CBOs at the conference said: “Keeping silent about Naypyidaw’s latest attacks and war crimes is giving the green light to these atrocities.”

The Shan coalition urged international governments to condemn Burma government actions against civilians, and called for an immediate end to both military reinforcements and offensives in the ethnic areas.

“Sai Khur Hseng said: They should not solve the problem with the armed forces. When there is fighting, the civilians are the victims—not only Shan people but also other ethnic groups like Ta’ang, Lisu and others.”

He also called for compensation saying: “The government must be responsible for the loss of citizens’ property.”

The statement released by the CBOs also said that increased economic and strategic ties with Burma were responsible for the international community’s inaction over recent aggression towards ethnic people by the Burma Army.

Representatives from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) attended the event along with media agencies and members of the Thai and Shan communities.

By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Edited in English by Mark inkey for BNI