KACHIN STATE: AN UNEASY "PEACE"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001463

SIPDIS

STATE ALSO FOR EAP/BCLTV; USPACOM FOR FPA
BEIJING PASS TO CHENGDU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2013
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS PHUM BM
SUBJECT: KACHIN STATE: AN UNEASY "PEACE"

REF: A. 02 RANGOON 1684


B. 02 RANGOON 1585

C. 02 RANGOON 1571

Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.5 (B,D)


1. (C) Summary: An Embassy trip to Burma's Kachin State
secured additional support for our WWII remains recovery
operations, but also revealed that the Government's ten-year
old cease-fire agreement with the region's former insurgents
masks deep suspicion of the SPDC and an active desire for
self autonomy. Drug use and HIV/AIDS are on the rise in
Kachin State, but there are few signs of GOB attention to the
development of Burma's northernmost region and the regime's
primary focus is on securing a full surrender of the
independence movement. Much to the chagrin of the SPDC, the
local population retains a close affinity for the United
States, a legacy of American missionaries and close
cooperation between Kachin Rangers and U.S. soldiers during
WWII. End Summary.

Kachin State: A Remote Mixing Pot
--------------


2. (SBU) The DCM and the Defense Attache (DATT),joined by
several other Embassy officers, traveled on October 1-3 to
Kachin State, Burma's northernmost territory, wedged between
China and India. The main objective of the mission was to
secure additional support for ongoing operations to recover
the remains of World War II servicemen, but the trip also
afforded Emboffs an opportunity to meet with a broad range of
groups and ethnic minorities who reside in a region of Burma
rich with a history of conflict and intrigue.


3. (U) Most natives of Kachin State are of Tibeto-Burman
origin and many of the local ethnic groups, as a result of
19th and early 20th century American missionaries, are
nominally Christian. However, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and
animist practices are also influential and the Kachin State
capital city of Myitkyina is a mixing pot of Burma's many
ethnic and religious groups. Until the early 1990s, the
Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its military arm,
the Kachin Independence Army (KIA),controlled most of the
state. The Burmese regime reached a cease-fire agreement in
1993 with the KIA, ending an active insurgency. However,
until just a couple of years ago the SPDC continued to treat
Kachin State as a sensitive area and restricted the movement
of foreigners and many Burmese. The SPDC continues to
designate some remote areas of Kachin State as off limits to
U.S. Embassy personnel, including the jade-mining center of
Hpakan.

Cooperation for Remains Recovery
--------------


4. (U) Thousands of U.S. soldiers were killed along the
"Burma Road" in Kachin State during WWII, aiding efforts to
repel the Japanese invasion of Burma and supplying the China
front with flights over "The Hump." The remains of several
hundred airmen are missing in Kachin State and the Department
of Defense and the U.S. Embassy began recovery efforts in

2002. U.S.-trained Kachin Rangers played an important combat
and intelligence role in defeating the Japanese in the region
and local sentiment remains overwhelmingly pro-American, even
to this day.


5. (C) In Myitkyina, the Embassy delegation met with SPDC
Deputy Northern Commander, Brigadier General San Htun, to
discuss plans for an upcoming investigative mission and a
follow-on site excavation planned for February 2004. BG San
Htun informed the DCM and DATT that he was under strict
instructions from his commanding officers in Rangoon to
support fully the humanitarian/military operation, and added
that he intended to provide complete security for all U.S.
personnel participating in recovery efforts. Regional
military intelligence chief, Lt Col Tin Aung Gyi, said he was
concerned that some of the proposed excavation sites were
remote and inaccessible by helicopter, observing that snakes
could pose problems for the American recovery teams (Note:
LtC Tin Aung Gyi, speaking in Burmese, clarified to the
Deputy Commander that he had referred to the reptile, not the
"other kind of snakes," a thinly veiled reference to KIA
insurgents. End note.)

The Baptists
--------------


6. (SBU) Also in Myitkyina, the Embassy delegation held a
lengthy meeting with the leadership of the Kachin Baptist
Convention (KBC),a powerful association of church groups
founded in 1910 by American Baptist missionaries. With over
300,000 members, the KBC plays an important role in Kachin
politics and social development (former Secretary General
Rev. Saboi Jum helped broker the 1993 cease-fire agreement).


7. (C) KBC leaders were pessimistic about the state of
affairs in Kachin State, criticizing the SPDC for morally
corrupt governance and chastising the KIO for shady
practices. According to the KBC leaders, Kachin State is
experiencing a disturbing growth in prostitution, opium
cultivation and trafficking, and HIV/AIDS. KBC youth leaders
claimed that up to 60 percent of male teenagers in the state
had used heroin or amphetamines, and that many young Kachin
women were entering the sex industry in Rangoon or Thailand.
As a result, the KBC remains closely engaged in the provision
of basic services throughout the State.


8. (C) The KBC leadership reserved its harshest criticism for
human rights abuses attributed to the SPDC. They claimed
that most involuntary portering for military troops had ended
with the 1993 cease-fire agreement, but said the regime
continued to force local populations to provide labor for
infrastructure projects and to participate in the SPDC's new
people's militia. The leaders also noted that government
authorities had forced over 30,000 local residents, including
all students and civil servants, to attend recent mass
rallies in support of PM Khin Nyunt's road map for democracy.


9. (C) According to the KBC leaders, NLD leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's visit to Kachin State in May had many repercussions for
local party members and supporters. Military intelligence
agents arrested NLD partisans and the USDA intimidated
locals, threatening punishment for those who supported the
NLD delegation or even stood on the streets to observe ASSK's
passing convoy. The wife of a homeowner who lodged ASSK in
Myitkyina was arrested shortly after the visit and, over five
months later, remains in detention. USDA officials paid
local unemployed youth and thugs with cash and booze to
harass the NLD convoy and hit vehicles with sticks, and one
bystander who saluted ASSK was severely beaten.

The Catholics
--------------


10. (C) Catholic Church leaders of the diocese of Myitkyina
hosted the Embassy delegation and, much like the Baptist
leadership, expressed deep concern over dramatic increases in
the use of illicit drugs and rising HIV/AIDS infection rates
throughout Kachin State. Senior priests, who represent a
state-wide congregation of over 48 priests and 100,000 active
Catholics, were sharply critical of the SPDC. They expressed
embarrassment, as one priest put it, "for appearing to be
deaf and dumb shepherds" unable to lead their people out from
under the heavy rule of an authoritarian regime.


11. (C) In a formal speech to the U.S. delegation, a senior
priest spoke on behalf of archdiocese Bishop Francis Tang,
who was out of the country during our visit. The speech,
risky by Burmese standards in its political overtones,
recalled cooperation between Americans and the
"temperamentally war-like" Kachins to free the region from
Japanese occupation. The priest said that the Kachin people
have a great desire and drive for self-autonomy, and their
support for allied troops during WWII was symbolic of their
ongoing aspirations for freedom. Privately, the priests and
nuns who met with us were even more fiery in their political
views, with several inquiring as to when the U.S. would send
troops into Burma to oust the SPDC.

Big Brother is Watching
--------------


12. (C) The day after our meeting with the Catholic leaders,
military intelligence (MI) agents descended on the parish
compound and interrogated the priests and nuns about their
hosting of the Embassy delegation. Indeed, MI maintained a
visible presence during our three days in Kachin State,
tailing our small motorcade, staking out our hotel, pressing
all of our interlocutors for details on our meetings, and, in
several cases, discouraging local organizations from meeting
with us altogether. The KIO and a local OSS 101 veterans
group both scrapped scheduled meetings with us due to
heavy-handed pressure by MI officers.


13. (C) Our visit to Myitkyina also included meetings with
several international and local NGOs, including MSF-Holland
(AZD),Metta Development Foundation, and the Shalom
Foundation (the latter two created by Rev. Saboi Jum). While
these organizations are focused on separate priorities--such
as health, agriculture, and conflict resolution--we heard a
common theme about the resolve of the Kachin people to embark
on self-help initiatives in the absence of resources from the
SPDC. While the NGOs muted their criticism of the regime, it
was evident from our visit that the SPDC has done little
since the cease-fire agreement to improve basic needs in
Kachin State.

North of North
--------------


14. (C) The trip to Kachin State concluded with a half-day
visit to Putao, a former British military post (Ft. Hertz)
and Burma's northernmost town. According to DAO records,
this was the first visit to Putao by a U.S. military aircraft
in at least 20 years. The SPDC only recently opened Putao to
foreign visitors and, with the town located in a pristine
Himalayan zone, is beginning to encourage ecotourism in the
region. Our stay was too short to talk politics with the
locals, but we were struck by the diversity of hill tribes
and other ethnic groups, each with their own distinct housing
architecture. Although former dictator Ne Win expelled
foreign missionaries from Burma in the 1960s, American
Baptist and Assembly of God missionaries had also extended
their reach to Putao and one of their legacies is thriving
citrus fruit production.

Comment: Jade for Bridges
--------------


15. (C) The SPDC continues to support our joint humanitarian
remains recovery operations, but the regime is keen to limit
U.S. influence in Kachin State over fears of rekindling an
active insurgency. The upcoming 10th anniversary of the
cease-fire agreement between the GOB and the KIA, coming in
close proximity to the KIO's revolutionary day on February 5,
provides the SPDC with a pretext to seek a full surrender of
the Kachin independence movement. Although the Kachin people
welcome the cessation of open hostilities, a desire for self
autonomy remains strong and there is widespread
disappointment that the cease-fire has not resulted in
greater prosperity and government assistance in such sectors
as health and education. To the contrary, the SPDC is
closely involved in the extraction of wealth from the State's
natural resources such as timber and precious stones,
primarily gold and the world's highest quality jade, which
enriches only a select few locals. In return, the SPDC has
delivered little more than a few token infrastructure
projects.
Martinez