ConflictBarometer_2015
ConflictBarometer_2015
ConflictBarometer_2015
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ASIA AND OCEANIA<br />
Additionally, Tholath Ibrahim, who had been Defense Minister<br />
under Nasheed, was sentenced to ten years in prison for<br />
his involvement on April 10. On May 1, clashes erupted between<br />
the police and approx. 10,000 opposition supporters,<br />
leaving two policemen and several others injured. A total<br />
of 200 protesters, among them AP President Sheik Imran<br />
Abdulla, were arrested. After Nasheed's sentence had been<br />
commuted to house arrest on July 19, he was transferred<br />
to prison again on August 23. The police dispersed ensuing<br />
opposition protests.<br />
Yameen claimed to have been subject to an assassination attempt<br />
when an IED exploded on his speedboat on September<br />
28 and injured three people. Yameen suspected Vice President<br />
Ahmed Adeeb to be behind the attack, who was then<br />
arrested on October 24 on Yameen's orders. However, the US<br />
Federal Bureau of Investigation asked to examine the case<br />
later stated it could not find traces of an IED. On November 4,<br />
Yameen declared a state of emergency for 30 days claiming<br />
a threat to national security as security forces allegedly had<br />
found arms and IEDs close to his palace in Male. A few days<br />
later, Yameen lifted the state of emergency. On November<br />
27, thousands of opposition supporters started a 72-hour<br />
protest in Male demanding the release of Nasheed and 1,700<br />
oppositional detainees. The police injured several protesters<br />
with pepper spray and tear gas, among them former ministers<br />
and high-ranking members of MDP.<br />
The UN, USA, India, and several European countries repeatedly<br />
criticized the developments in the Maldives.<br />
mmu<br />
MYANMAR (BUDDHISTS ROHINGYAS /<br />
RAKHINE STATE)<br />
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2012<br />
Conflict parties:<br />
Conflict items:<br />
Buddhists vs. Rohingyas<br />
subnational predominance, other<br />
The violent crisis between the Buddhist majority and the<br />
Muslim Rohingya minority over subnational predominance in<br />
Rakhine State continued.<br />
On February 1, three military personnel and five members<br />
of the nationalist-Buddhist ''969 movement'' robbed a Rohingya<br />
neighborhood in Anak Parang, Rathidaung Township,<br />
Rakhine State. The attackers injured six Rohingya protesting<br />
the incident.<br />
The next day, the Assembly of the Union adopted a law guaranteeing<br />
temporary registration certificate holders, most of<br />
whom being Rohingya, the right to vote for a referendum<br />
on constitutional reforms. After protests against this law<br />
were held by Buddhist monks throughout February in several<br />
towns in Rakhine State and Yangon Region, President Thein<br />
Sein announced that the permissions would expire on March<br />
31. On July 5, the government started to issue new identity<br />
cards to the former holders of temporary registration certificates<br />
or ''white cards.''<br />
In the course of the year, four bills proposed by the Buddhist<br />
ultra nationalist group ''Association for Protection of Race<br />
and Religion'' (Ma Ba Tha) were approved by the Assembly of<br />
the Union. For instance, these laws restricted inter-religious<br />
marriage and religious conversion. Human rights groups considered<br />
them to mostly affect ethnic and religious minorities<br />
negatively. Throughout the year, refugees from Myanmar and<br />
Bangladesh stranded in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.<br />
For instance, in May, at least 3,500 Rohingya and Bangladeshi<br />
fled their countries. Many of the Rohingya refugees had been<br />
confined to camps under inadequate basis of existence.<br />
After the UN and the US put pressure on Myanmar to solve the<br />
root causes of the refugee problem, hundreds of Buddhist<br />
monks and activists staged a protest against the Rohingya<br />
and international criticism in Yangon Region on May 27. The<br />
Deputy Foreign Minister Thant Kyaw stated that the government<br />
was not willing to discuss the migrant movements if it<br />
was considered a Rohingya issue since this ethnic group did<br />
not belong to the Burmese people. On November 10, the<br />
government officially rejected key recommendations, such<br />
as improving Rohingya's rights, made by the UNHRC during<br />
its Universal Periodic Review. tno<br />
MYANMAR (KIA, KIO / KACHIN STATE)<br />
Intensity: 4 | Change: | Start: 1961<br />
Conflict parties:<br />
Conflict items:<br />
KIA, KIO vs. government<br />
autonomy, resources<br />
The limited war over autonomy and the control of jade, ruby,<br />
farmland, and timber between the Kachin Independence<br />
Organization (KIO) and its military wing Kachin Independence<br />
Army (KIA), on the one hand, and the government, on the<br />
other, continued. In mid-2014, the conflict had spilled over<br />
from Kachin State to neighboring Shan State, where several<br />
armed groups, especially the Ta'ang National Liberation Army<br />
(TNLA)continued to align their forces with the KIA [→ Myanmar<br />
(MNDAA / Shan State)].<br />
During fighting in the first half of the year, at least 80 people<br />
were killed, over 200 injured, and more than 3,000 forced to<br />
flee their homes.<br />
For instance, on January 15, fighting erupted between KIA<br />
fighters and the Burmese military, Tatmadaw, in Hpakant,<br />
Kachin, after KIA had temporarily abducted the Kachin State<br />
Minister for Transport. At least ten people were killed, 30<br />
injured, and more than 2,000 people fled the region due<br />
the fighting that saw the use of heavy weaponry including<br />
artillery shells and bombs.<br />
From May 6 to 26, fighting between KIA and government<br />
troops were observed on a daily basis near the abandoned<br />
village of Nam Lim Pa, Kachin. The military employed both<br />
air force and approx. 1,000 troops on the ground. Exact<br />
casualty numbers remained unknown. On July 14, Tatmadaw<br />
launched an attack against KIA in Kaung Kha village in Muse<br />
Township, Shan. The army fired artillery shells into the settlement,<br />
leaving one civilian dead, two injured, and approx. 140<br />
displaced. On September 8, the Union Peacemaking Working<br />
Committee held exploratory talks over a nationwide peace<br />
agreement in the capital Naypyidaw. Meanwhile, KIA and<br />
TNLA forces clashed with Tatmadaw troops in Muse Township's<br />
Mong Paw, Shan, causing approx. 200 villagers to flee.<br />
On October 6, Tatmadaw troops fired 60 mm and 120 mm<br />
artillery against KIA militants in Hpakant, Kachin. The fighting<br />
resulted in several injured people on both sides. Between<br />
November 16 and 19, the military used one fighter jet, two<br />
helicopters, and ground troops to expel KIA members from<br />
their 8th Brigade headquarters close to Mohnyin, Kachin.<br />
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