Burma’s Transition to Civilian Rule Hasn’t Stopped the Abuses of Its Ethnic Wars

6 April 2016

TIME - Building an inclusive and durable cease-fire will present a major challenge for Burma's new government under the de facto leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi

“This is the continuation of a very long pattern by the Myanmar army of managing conflict but never solving it,” says Tom Kramer from the Transnational Institute, a policy group of scholars that focuses on democracy, social justice and ecological sustainability. Kramer adds that “divide and rule” tactics have been used by the military for decades"

“The NLD government will have a very hard time to control the conflict because they don’t control the [relevant] ministries, they don’t have a majority in the NDSC, and they aren’t in charge of the Myanmar army,” explains Kramer. “Even if the President says we should stop this conflict and there should be no more offensive operations, it won’t actually have any impact.”

“The [militias] are under the control of the Myanmar military so any unilateral decision by the NLD is not going to disband them,” says Kramer. “They are clearly also not part of the peace process and these militias contribute to enormous militarization in ethnic areas.”

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Ethnic Conflict in Myanmar