Kayah State ကယားပြည်နယ် | |
|---|---|
| Myanma transcription(s) | |
| • Burmese | ka. ya: prany nai |
.jpg) Htee Zai Kha waterfall, border ofShan and Kayah State | |
 Flag  Seal | |
 Location of Kayah State in Myanmar | |
| Coordinates:19°15′N97°20′E / 19.250°N 97.333°E /19.250; 97.333 | |
| Country |  Myanmar |
| Region | Upper |
| Before becoming State | Part ofFederated Shan States |
| Establishment | 4 January 1948[1] |
| Direct rule by the Government | 1 October 1959 |
| Capital | Loikaw |
| Government | |
| • Chief Minister | TBD[2] |
| • Cabinet | Kayah State Government |
| • Legislature | Kayah State Hluttaw |
| • Judiciary | Kayah State High Court |
| Area | |
• Total | 11,731.5 km2 (4,529.6 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 13th |
| Highest elevation (Nattaung) | 2,623 m (8,606 ft) |
| Population (2018)[3] | |
• Total | 400,000 |
| • Rank | 15th |
| • Density | 34/km2 (88/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Kayah, Karenni |
| Demographics | |
| • Ethnicities | Kayah,Kayin,Padaung,Bamar,Shan,Pa-O |
| • Religions | Buddhism 49.9% Christianity 45.8% Animism 1.9% Islam 1.1% Hinduism 0.1% Other Religion 1.2% |
| Time zone | UTC+06:30 (MST) |
| HDI (2017) | 0.585[4] medium ·3rd |
| Website | www |
Kayah State (Burmese:ကယားပြည်နယ်,pronounced[kəjápjìnɛ̀]), orKarenni State, is astate ofMyanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north byShan State, on the east byThailand'sMae Hong Son Province, and on the south and west byKayin State. It lies approximately between 18° 30′ and 19° 55′ north latitude and between 96° 50′ and 97° 50′ east longitude. The area is 11,670 km2 (4,510 sq mi). Its capital isLoikaw (also spelt Loi-kaw). The estimated population in the2014 Myanmar Census was 286,738, the smallest among Myanmar's seven states. It is inhabited primarily by theKarenni ethnic group, also known as Red Karen[5] or Kayah, aSino-Tibetan people. Even though Kayah State is the smallest state inMyanmar, it is still larger thanYangon Region.
Karenni (Kayah) State is located in the eastern part of Myanmar. The relief of Karenni (Kayah) State is mountainous with theDawna Range and theKaren Hills also known as "Karenni-Karen" mountains separated by theSalween River as it flows through Karenni (Kayah) State.[6] Balu Chaung flows fromInle Lake to Than Lwin River and converges with the Salween in southern Karenni (Kayah) State.
Lawpita Dam, built in 1950 as a bilateral reparation agreement with Japan, is a major hydroelectric production dam that produces a quarter of the total hydroelectric power generation in Myanmar.[7]
Karenni States is the name formerly given to a group of states that includedKantarawadi,Kyebogyi andBawlake. These states were located south of theFederated Shan States and east ofBritish Burma. According to the 1930 census, the states had a total population of 58,761 with Kantarawadi (3,161 square miles or 8,190 square kilometres), 30,677, Kyebogyi (790 square miles or 2,000 square kilometres), 14,282 and Bawlake (568 square miles or 1,470 square kilometres), 13,802.
TheBritish government recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty June 21st[5] with a Burmese KingMindon Min, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither toKonbaung Burma nor toGreat Britain. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated intoBritish Burma. The Karenni States were recognised as tributary to British Burma in 1892,[5] when their rulers agreed to accept a stipend from the British government. In the 1930s, theMawchi Mine in Bawlake was the most important source oftungsten in the world.
The Constitution of theUnion of Burma in 1947 proclaimed that the three Karenni States be amalgamated into a single constituent state of the union, calledKarenni State. It also provided for the possibility of secession from the Union after 10 years.
After this the Bamar government invaded Karenni State and in 1948 August 9th, theKarenni leader U Bee Htu Re started the resistance against the Invading Bamar government and military dictatorship which continues till the present day to regain freedom, self-determination, and to allow Karenni people to live in peaceful harmony with the environment on their own land. Therefore, the 9th August is called "Karenni Resistance Day".
In September 8th 1948, theKarenni leader U Bee Htu Re was assassinated by central government militia for his opposition to the inclusion of theKarenni States in the Union of Burma. Therefore, the date of 8th September is called "Karenni Martyr's Day".
In 1952, the formerShan state ofMong Pai (1901. pop - 19,351) was added to Karenni State, and the whole renamed Kayah State, possibly with the intent of driving a wedge between theKarenni (in Kayah State) and the rest of theKaren people (inKaren State), both fighting for independence.
In 1957, pro-independence groups already active in the area formed theKarenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), backed by its own army, theKarenni Army (KA). Apart from a brief ceasefire in 1995, the KA has been fighting ever since. Rivals to the KNPP include the leftistKayan New Land Party (KNLP), and the Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), both of which are now allied with the Myanmar military.
In 1996, Myanmar'sState Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) stepped up its campaign to crush Karenni independence with a population transfer program, forcibly moving villagers to designated relocation sites to deprive the pro-independence forces of bases of support.[citation needed] The Myanmar government has been accused of massivehuman rights violations in the region.[citation needed]
In June 2019, six young Karenni protesters were arrested after being sued by the Kayah State government for calling Chief MinisterL Phaung Sho a "traitor" to Karennis due to a statue of Gen.Aung San being erected inLoikaw, the state capital.[8]
In September 2020, Sho was impeached by the state's parliament and subsequently removed as chief minister by PresidentWin Myint due to his misuse of state funds, withBoss Ko appointed as acting chief minister in his stead.[9]
In the context of the ongoingpost-coupcivil war, on 7 November 2023, theKarenni National People's Liberation Front,Karenni Army, andKarenni Nationalities Defence Force launched a military offensive known asOperation 1107 against the rulingState Administration Council junta. An additional offensive, known asOperation 1111, started on 11 November 2023 with the aim of capturing Loikaw.[10][11]In an interview withThe Irrawaddy on 28 November, the KNDF's deputy commander-in-chief Marwi (Burmese:မာဝီက) claimed that the anti-junta forces controlled 80% of Kayah state and had control over half of Loikaw, where an interim Karenni state government was being established to replace the junta installed state government which had collapsed.[12][13][14]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 126,574 | — |
| 1983 | 168,429 | +33.1% |
| 2014 | 286,627 | +70.2% |
| Source: 2014 Myanmar Census[3] | ||
In 2014, Kayah State had a population of 286,627.
| Ethnic group | Percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karenni | 61.3% | |||
| Bamar | 14.8% | |||
| Shan | 14.3% | |||
| Karen | 7.8% | |||
| Other | 1.7% | |||
| Mon | 0.1% | |||
| Source: 2019GAD township reports | ||||
TheKarenni make up the majority of Kayah State's population, but significant minorities of Bamar, Shan and Karen also inhabit the state. TheShan,Intha, andBamar live in the north andPa-O in surrounding hills. Each group is also known by more than one name. Clearly, ethnicity in Kayah State is a complex issue, made more complex by decolonisation and post-independence politics. According to the 1983 census conducted byUnited Nations and the Burmese government, the Kayah State composed 56.12%, whileBamar (17.58%),Shan (16.66%),Karen (6.45%), mixed races (2.08%), and other groups formed minorities. Ethnolinguists distinguish the following linguistic groups in Kayah State:
After the 2014Census in Myanmar, the Burmese government indefinitely withheld release of detailed ethnicity data, citing concerns around political and social concerns surrounding the issue of ethnicity in Myanmar.[15] In 2022, researchers published an analysis of theGeneral Administration Department's nationwide 2018-2019 township reports to tabulate the ethnic makeup of the Kayah State.[16][15]
According to the2014 Myanmar Census,Buddhists, who make up 49.9% of Kayah State's population, form the largest religious community there.[18] Minority religious communities includeChristians (45.8%),Muslims (1.1%),Hindus (0.1%), andanimists (1.9%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Kayah State's population.[18] 1.2% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.[18]
According to theState Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee’s 2016 statistics, 2060 Buddhist monks were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.4% of Myanmar's totalSangha membership, which includes both novicesamanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu.[19] The majority of monks belong to theThudhamma Nikaya (82.4%), followed byShwegyin Nikaya (17.6%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other smallmonastic orders.[19] 303thilashin were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.5% of Myanmar’s total thilashin community.[19]
The Kayans' traditional religion is called Kan Khwan, and has been practised since the people migrated from Mongolia during the Bronze Age.[20] It includes the belief that the Kayan people are the result of a union between a femaledragon and a male human/angel hybrid.[21]
The major religiousfestival is the three-day Kay Htein Bo festival, which commemorates the belief that the creator god gave form to the world by planting a small post in the ground. During this festival, held in late March or early April, a Kay Htoe Boe pole is erected and participants dance around the pole.[20][22] This festival is held to venerate the eternal god and creator messengers, to give thanks for blessings during the year, to appeal for forgiveness, and pray for rain. It is also an opportunity for Kayan from different villages to come together to maintain the solidarity of the tribe.
The Kayan have a strong belief in augury and nothing is done without reference to some form of divination, including breaking thatch grass, but most importantly consulting the chicken bones.[23] Nowadays the annual Kay Htein Bo festival is always accompanied by a reading of the chicken bones to predict the year ahead. Fowl bone prognostication can be witnessed in the Kayan villages in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province during the annual festival and during “Cleansing Ceremonies” which are held when a family has encountered misfortune. Dreams are also used to make predictions.
As with many other states in Myanmar, which have ethnic minority populations, Kayah State has experienced human rights abuses by the Burmese military junta and the Burmese armed forces.
Villagers live under the constant threat of rape, beatings,arbitrary arrest or execution, conscription asslave labour for the Myanmar army, and having their food and possessions taken without compensation.
"TheSPDC also arbitrarily closes roads for non-military travel in Karenni State,further restricting villagers movements. Landmines are often planted along roads to prohibit the villagers' movements. Villagers, fearful of landmines and potential injuries, further restrict their own movements.
Even with a valid travel pass villagers are still vulnerable to abuses and exploitation. There have been reports of arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and rapes of villagers who have had permission to travel. Villagers have also been shot at when they have been outside of their communities."[24]: [27]
It has also been alleged[by whom?] that the relocation centers have inadequate access to water, food, medical services, and educational facilities.[citation needed] As of April 2024, more than 80% of the state's population is classified asinternally displaced.[25] Thousands ofKarenni people are inrefugee camps inThailand.[citation needed]
"Currently there are 4,800 IDPs in eight forced relocation sites throughout Karenni State. These relocation sites are a result of the Burmese military regimes massrelocation program in Karenni State in 1996. Following the collapse of the ceasefire between SLORC and the KNPP, tens of thousands of people were forcibly evicted from their homes during this program.
"Most relocation sites are located close to military camps, army bases and along main roads. This increases the vulnerability of exploitation and abuse. IDPs aresubjected to force labour demands from the soldiers and arbitrary taxation (essentially theft). IDPs are also vulnerable to torture; murder and rape by soldiers and their movements are heavily restricted.
"The relocation sites are also inadequate to sustain a healthy and economically viable livelihood. The majority of relocation sites do not have sanitation facilities, electricity or access to safe drinking water. The land surrounding the sites is often barren and over populated. As productive land has usually been claimed by the original inhabitants or confiscated by the soldiers, opportunities to farm are limited. There are also very few employment opportunities in forced relocation sites."[26]
The state capital isLoikaw. The state is divided into 4 districts[27] which are divided into 7 townships with 106 wards and villages.
Loikaw District(လွိုင်ကော်ခရိုင်) | Loikaw Township(လွိုင်ကော်မြို့နယ်) • Shadaw Township(ရှားတောမြို့နယ်) |
|---|---|
Demoso District(ဒီမိုဆိုခရိုင်) | Demoso Township(ဒီမိုဆိုမြို့နယ်) • Hpruso Township (ဖရူဆိုမြို့နယ်) |
Bawlakhe District(ဘော်လခဲခရိုင်) | Bawlakhe Township(ဘော်လခဲမြို့နယ်) • Hpasawng Township(ဖားဆောင်းမြို့နယ်) |
Mese District(မယ်စဲ့ခရိုင်) | Mese Township(မယ်စဲ့မြို့နယ်) |
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| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(July 2015) |
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(July 2015) |
Kayah State has various ways transportations, such as:
Loikaw Airport is the only airport in Kayah State, with flights toYangon,Mandalay andHeho.
Kayah State is served by Loikaw Bus Station and Loikaw Railway Station as land transportation.
Kayah State has a primarily extraction-based economy. The main crop isrice, mostlyirrigated, with other important crops including millet, maize, sesame, groundnut, garlic, and vegetables. Mineral products includealabaster,tin, andtungsten. Valuable woods such asteak andpine were once produced, but the forests have largely been stripped bare byillegal logging authorised by theTatmadaw (Burmese military). Thehydroelectric power plant at Lawpita Falls outside of Loikaw is of strategic importance, as it supplies over 20% of Myanmar's total electrical power.
Kayah State has theoreticaltourist potential, if the political situation is resolved. The state has rugged mountains, river streams, lakes and waterfalls; however, transport and communication are difficult. At present, Kayah State is open to outsiders by permit only, which can be difficult to obtain depending on the current military situation. Even with a permit, usually only a 25 km (16 mi) radius around Loikaw is allowed. The central government effectively controls only Loikaw and parts of the western half of the state.
As of 2018, the state is the most electrified in Myanmar, at 87%.[29]
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities ofYangon andMandalay. According to official statistics, Kayah State has the lowest number of public schools in the country.[30] Loikaw University is the state's main university.
| AY 2002-2003 | Primary | Middle | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schools | 338 | 33 | 12 |
| Teachers | 1565 | 352 | 160 |
| Students | 29,200 | 13,200 | 4900 |
Kayah State, most ofMyanmar, has poor health care facilities due to the alleged mismanagement by the Burmese military junta andeconomic sanctions by the US government. Although health care is nominally free, in reality patients have to pay for medicine and treatment even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. As Kayah State is perhaps the most isolated state in Myanmar, it has great difficulties in addressing health concerns.
In 2016, Loikaw General Hospital was upgraded with the 1.945 billion yen funding fromJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).[31] The following is a summary of the public health care system in the state.[32]
| 2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist hospitals | 0 | 0 |
| General hospitals with specialist services | 1 | 200 |
| General hospitals | 6 | 141 |
| Health clinics | 9 | 144 |
| Total | 16 | 485 |
Places adjacent to Kayah State | |
|---|---|
Capital:Loikaw | ||
| Bawlakhe District |  | |
| Demoso District | ||
| Loikaw District | ||
| Mese District | ||
| cities and towns | ||
