Myanmar: Govt Targets Kachin Rebels in Timber Takedown

Jan 6, 2015 | Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy
View Original

The Burmese government took a hard line on the timber trade in Kachin State on Tuesday, as state-run media publicly denounced rebels for facilitating illicit cross-border transfers.

The military-owned Myawaddy daily newspaper reported that 122 people—102 of them foreigners believed to be Chinese—were arrested in Kachin State’s Wai Maw Township from Jan. 2-4, carrying documents indicating that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) had authorized timber transport.

A nationwide ban on raw timber exports went into effect on April 1, 2014, though logging has long been a major source of revenue for the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which has been at odds with the government for decades over political autonomy and the right to resources.