 |
| Chinese log-truck convoy in Laiza the KIA-HQ Town. |
For three days from 10 to 12 February
various advancing columns from Burma army violently clashed with armed insurgents from
KIA (so-called Kachin Independence Army) guarding and protecting the illegal
loggers from neighbouring China and captured more than a thousand tons of
illegally-felled logs and logging machinery and equipment.
All clashes were within the territories
controlled by KIA and more than 1,500 tons of valuable teak logs, 41 logging-trucks,
heavy logging equipment, and various assault weapons with tons of ammunitions
were so far captured. The army operation is still going on.
According to reliable intelligence sources two notorious Chinese-Kachin timber billionaires Naw-Taung and Kyoun-Si
from the bordering Yunan State of China had recently visited KIA-HQ town Laiza
on China border and demanded KIA General Gun-Maw to defend their Chinese
loggers and their illegal logging operations inside Burma.
 |
| KIA-HQ Laiza on China border. |
Two Chinese timber-billionaires were extremely
angry at KIA General Gun Maw for his frontline KIA forces cowardly running away
without fighting back and abandoning Chinese loggers and their extremely-valuable
teak-logs into the hands of Burmese Army columns despite the fact that KIA has
accepted many billions of Kyats (exchange rate is now at about 1,000 Kyast a
US$) as logging-license-fees from the Chinese logging companies owned by
Naw-Taung and Kyoun-Si.
The Chinese billionaires are foolishly oblivious
to the very well-known fact that all their multi-million-dollar logging-license-fees
were happily misappropriated and already misspent by Gun Maw and his senior
officers living luxurious lives in Laiza and nearby Chinese safe-heavens and thus
only a minuscule kyats are trickling down to the front line KIA forces who have
to sacrifice their lives and limbs for their novel cause of so-called Kachin
independence.
The obvious result is KIA forces' frequently-repeated
refusals to fight and the depleted KIA field forces fleeing instead of engaging their enemies whenever
they were challenged by the mobile army columns in their own territories.
 |
| Child soldiers of so-called Kachin Independence Army in Northern-Burma. |
But KIA General Gun Maw has still promised
to two Chinese timber-billionaires in their Laiza meeting that their KIA forces
are now fighting back the Burmese Army to protect the Chinese logging interests
inside Burma. They particularly pointed out the fact that they had assigned whole
KIA 24
th Battalion solely for the task.
And in return two Chinese timber-billionaires
Naw-Taung and Kyouin-Si has agreed to provide KIA with all the necessary
weapons and ammunitions free of charge plus all the expenses incurred by the
KIA in recovering their captured teak-logs from Burma Army units.
As a response to recent violent clashes in Kachin State despite
relatively peaceful situation in other Ethnic-controlled areas in Burma’s
jungles the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council) the loosely-formed confederation
of all Ethnic Insurgent armies in Burma has issued a statement strongly urging their
ally KIA to immediately stop defending the commercial interests of illegal
Chinese loggers and Chinese timber-billionaires so that current peace
negotiation process between UNFC and Burmese government would not be adversely affected.
 |
| KIA-protected Chinese illegal saw-mills on the border. |
 |
| Burmese newspaper coverage of captured KIA illegal logging operations. |
 |
| Captured illegal Chinese log-trucks. |
 |
A denuded-hill cleared by KIA's Chinese illegal loggers.
(Burma has banned the log exports but KIA is deliberately ignoring it.) |
