The mainspring of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees fleeing their homes in Shan State stems basically from internal armed conflict, a crisis with a long history.
What holds true for Shan State also applies to other ethnic states, but what is new is the displacement now cropping up in the majority Bamar region, as well as Chin, Kayah (Karenni) and the Tanintharyi Region that have hitherto been relatively peaceful. Major changes have happened in the wake of the February 2021 coup.
For this report, we will focus on Shan State and the historical backdrop to the modern-day disruption that when added up numbers around 1 million or more people displaced, according to conservative estimates.
BACKGROUND
Shan State has a long history of conflict that initially pit Shan resistance forces against the Myanmar state, with a serious exodus happening from 1996 to 1998, and an inter-ethnic conflict prompting turmoil since 2015.
For a number of reasons, Shan State is an important region of Myanmar or Burma. It is the largest state, covering 20 percent of the country’s land mass out of the 14 states and regions and borders Thailand, Laos and China, and also has the largest non-Bamar ethnic group inhabiting it.
“Much of it has been ravaged by five decades of continuous, low-intensity civil conflict as armed groups vied for autonomy, ideology, and business interests, including the narcotics trade,” according to a case study titled: "Displacement and disease: The Shan exodus and infectious disease implications for Thailand", written by Voravit Suwanvanichkij and published by Conflict and Health on 14 March 2008.
After six decades of conflict, there is no sign of an end to conflict.
‘SCORCHED EARTH’ EXODUS
Shan State and the area’s inhabitants continue to feel the repercussions of the crisis wrought by the Myanmar military in the 1990s.
According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), in March 1996, the Burmese military regime forcibly relocated over 1,400 villages throughout 7,000 square miles in Central Shan State. Over 300,000 people were ordered to move at gunpoint into strategic relocation sites. No assistance was provided.
The relocation programme intensified during 1997 and 1998, with people in new areas being forced to relocate, and inhabitants of existing relocation sites being forced to move again. Vast rural areas of 11 townships were turned into depopulated “free-fire” zones.
During 1997 there was a sharp increase in the number of extrajudicial killings by the regime’s troops, with repeated massacres of villagers caught outside the relocation sites. In one township alone, SHRF documented the killings of over 300 relocated villagers.
The villagers in the relocation sites were used for forced labour by the junta troops. They had to work as porters, and build roads, dig ditches, and build fences for military camps without food or pay.
The situation was dire. There were three main patterns of displacement for the relocated villagers. Most
moved to the relocation sites and tried to survive by selling off possessions, working as wage labourers, or begging. Others remained hiding in the jungle near their villages, dodging army patrols to try and cultivate their old farms. Finally, there were those driven to desperation by the lack of food and security who fled to other parts of Shan State or over the border into Thailand.
It was estimated that over 80,000 Shan fled into Thailand during this period and since the Thai policy denied these Shan safe refuge and the right to receive humanitarian assistance, they were forced to survive as illegal migrants, seeking shelter and food at construction sites or on farms, or pursue a subsistence living in camps on the Thai side of the border.
With the armed conflict ongoing and the steady migration from affected war zones into Thailand, over a million Shan may have migrated to Thailand over the years, according to knowledgeable Shan observers based in Thailand.
The refugees have little or no prospect to return due to the central Shan State area being taken over by the Myanmar military or Tatmadaw, which established the Eastern Central Command in Kholam, building vast military infrastructure and garrisons. In addition, the military government is gearing up to build Mong Ton Dam or Tasang Dam that will flood village areas from which villagers have already been evicted.
In 2018, Chinese engineers from the Three Gorges Corporation carried out surveys at the Mong Ton Dam site carrying out tests under tight security. This giant dam, slated to produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity, 90 percent for export to Thailand and China, will flood vast tracts of land in southern and central Shan State which were depopulated by the massive Burma Army scorched earth campaign in 1996-1998. If the dam is built, tens of thousands of displaced villagers will never be able to return home.
UWSA EXPANDS INTO SOUTHERN SHAN STATE
In the mid-1990s, the 20,000-strong Mong Tai Army (MTA) leader Khun Sa surrendered to the Myanmar army due to a split in his army and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) with the help of the Burmese Army occupied the territory dubbed the “171 Military Region” bordering Thailand. The Wa Self-Administered Division is centered on its capital Panghsang, now renamed Pangkham, its northern base adjacent to China.
This shake-up enabled the UWSA to conduct a large-scale population transfer, with the approval of the then military regime of General Khin Nyunt, of the Wa ethnic group from the northern Shan State adjacent to the China border to the southern Shan State on the Thai-Shan border to back up its military encroachment.
According to “UNSETTLING MOVES - The Wa forced resettlement program in Eastern Shan State (1999-2001)” The Lahu National Development Organisation in April 2002 writes:
“This report estimates that since the end of 1999, over one quarter of the entire Wa population have been forcibly resettled from their homes near the China border to southern Shan State. Authorized by the Burmese military junta, the United Wa State Party (UWSP) has sent approximately 126,000 men, women and children by truck and on foot over 400 kilometres south to the Thai-Burma border.
This report speculates that the UWSP has carried out the programme to gain territory and economic advantages from border trade into Thailand and Laos.
On arrival in the south, the villagers were settled mainly around existing villages in the townships of Mong Hsat, Mong Ton and Tachilek, lying opposite Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces and Laos.
The lives of the original inhabitants of these areas, mainly Shan, Lahu and Akha, have been gravely disrupted. Their lands and property have been seized by the newcomers, and they have had to face abuses committed by both SPDC and UWSP troops. This report estimates that the number of original inhabitants affected by the resettlement programme is approximately 48,000. Of these, it is estimated that at least 4,500 have fled to other areas of Shan State, while another 4,000 have fled to Thailand. These Shan, Lahu and Akha villagers have no access to refugee camps where they can access protection and humanitarian assistance.”
MILITARIZATION
Because of the militarization of the Thai-Shan border areas it is impossible to make a living by farming
which is the only occupation that could help the displaced villagers survive.
According to the Shan State Refugee Committee (Thai Border) and SHRF report of 23 May 2019, titled,” Shrinking refuge: New threats to refugee security on the Shan-Thai border”:
“Despite an existing ceasefire with the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), the Burma Army has been reinforcing positions around the five Shan IDP camps, building new roads, sending out drones, and on February 2019 fired six 120 mm shells at two IDP locations. Terrified IDPs have been preparing bunkers and carrying out evacuation drills in preparation for further attack.
The UWSA has also been expanding its southern Shan State territories around the IDP camps. In
February 2019 Wa troops seized hill fields near Loi Kaw Wan IDP camp in Mong Hsat Township, in
contravention of a boundary agreement with the RCSS/SSA, depriving IDPs of already scarce agricultural land.”
Thus, the inter-ethnic conflict between RCSS and combined force of Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and UWSA, which has started since the end of 2015 and still ongoing also contributed to the creation of IDPs in northern Shan State and is now spreading to southern Shan State.
There is little doubt that illegal migration to Thailand of the original local inhabitants occurred because of the UWSA expansion along the Thai-Shan border.
IDPS IN SHAN STATE
According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA): “As of 28 February 2022, the number of people internally displaced in Myanmar since the military takeover in 2021 has crossed the half-million mark, reaching some 503,000, up from 451,000 the previous week.”
In southern Shan State, 56,300 IDPs (all towns except Kyethi, Laihka and Mongkaing) and also 6,600 IDPs in northern Shan State (North) were counted, according to the UNOCHA report of March 1, 2022.
In northern Shan State there are some 30 IDP camps, according to Myanmar Information and Management Unit (MIMU) in November 2021, located in Hsenwi, Hsipaw, Kutkai, Manton, Muse, Namkham and Namtu townships, including temporary ones in Kyaukme Township whenever there were armed clashes between the RCSS and SSPP/TNLA combined force.
The influx of IDPs into Southern Shan State is due to the IDPs fleeing the ongoing fighting between the Karenni forces and the Tatmadaw and to a lesser extent the ongoing inter-ethnic armed conflict among the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). But in the northern Shan State, the IDP population has decreased a little to some 6,000 from about 7,000 the previous year. The armed conflict in the northern Shan State is between the Burma Army and EAOs and as well among the EAOs themselves.
For those Shan internally displaced, the chance to return home looks slim or non-existent. For Shan refugees, three generations of displaced face a hardscrabble existence in Thai camps or working illegally in exile.
All in all, the future outlook is bleak for many civilians who call Shan State home.
