From the KNO

U Maran Bawk La passed away this morning the 23rd of January in Myitkyina, Kachin State at the age of sixty.

U Bawk La graduated from Rangoon University in 1973 with a B.A. and subsequently practiced law, completing his MA in 1979. He was a member of the Myitkyina Bar Association until his license was revoked in 1988.

Bawk La was a steadfast political activist throughout his life. In 1963 he joined the Kachin Independence Organization until he was arrested for his underground activities in 1965 and imprisoned for sixteen months. In 1971, he was again imprisoned for eleven months for his participation in the underground student union at Mandalay
University.   more »

World’s largest tiger reserve being ravaged by Burmese junta’s greed for gold

Valley of Darkness, a new report by undercover local researchers, exposes how Burma’s military junta is promoting extensive gold-mining in the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Kachin State, devastating not only the environment but also local communities.

The junta has expanded control of the valley, confiscating farmlands and homes to accommodate its military infrastructure, and selling off vast tracts as gold-mining concessions. The valley’s forests and waterways are now being ravaged by over 100 hydraulic and pit mines using mechanized pumps and dredges and dumping mercury-contaminated tailings. Thousands of desperate migrants from all over Burma are working in squalid mining communities throughout the once pristine valley, where drug addiction and HIV/AIDS have become rampant.

“Under the regime’s increased control, the rich resources of Hugawng valley have turned out to be a curse.” said Tsa Ji, one of the authors of the report. “Only the junta and a handful of businessmen are benefiting from the gold while the local people suffer the consequences.”   more »