Note: google translate
Burma Søren Bendixen had to seek shelter in a cave during the visit in northern Burma.Foto: Zhang Qunyi © DRWritten by: Søren Bendixen
Actually it should have been a quiet day for soldiers from Kachins Uafhængighedshær. The enemy, the Burmese army has namely declared a ceasefire. A sentence of one year and a half long war in northern Kachin State.
The rebel army takes us to the front through the trackless jungle. We will investigate if the ceasefire holds. As soon as we arrive, it is clear that something is wrong. A badly wounded soldier to run to safety in the nearest village. He has been hit by fragments from one of the countless mortar shells that Burma army sends down the rebels.
As the wounded soldier is carried away, there is still at the front. The soldiers show us around in their primitive fortress on a mountaintop. They point to the nearest mountain and says that even though we can not see the Burmese soldiers, they are very close.
Shortly after the start bombing again. It echoes in the hills when mortar shells hit the ground. It will not be long before we can hear the unpleasant hissing sound of shells passing over our heads. We hide in small caves, rebels have dug into hillsides.
The truce broken
For nearly 20 years, there was a ceasefire between the two sides, but it was broken and a half years ago. Burmese government had signed an agreement with a Chinese company to build a large dam.
Kachins Independence Army soldiers refused to leave the area, war broke out and dam construction suspended. Up to 100,000 people have been forced to flee. The Christians kachinere feel oppressed by the Burmese regime and fighting for greater autonomy.
The area is rich in natural resources, and kachinerne will decide the wealth. The planned dam was the famous drop that made the cup to overflow.
Burma has undergone a great development over the past two years. The former military moves towards democracy.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been free from prolonged house arrest and was elected to the national parliament. Political prisoners have been freed, foreign sanctions have been lifted and the government has managed to make peace agreements with ten ethnic minorities who have fought against the government.Fragile peace
The fierce battles between kachinere and government forces is a serious threat to the positive development. Burma is an ethnic patchwork and kachinerne is far from the only ones who feel oppressed. The peace agreements signed with other groups, can quickly be put at risk if the government does not keep its promises.
And when you are in a cave in the mountains and hear the shells fall, it's pretty clear that the Burmese army does not respect the ceasefire it had promised. Government soldiers are quickly shot up on our whereabouts, we take flight through the jungle, while soldiers from both sides continue their struggles from mountaintop to mountaintop.
