The Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a humanitarian relief service helping oppressed ethnic minorities in Myanmar, has called for an end to the junta regime that overthrew the elected government in early February and its subsequent violent attacks on civilians as well as ongoing attacks on ethnic minorities in far-flung parts of the country. For nearly 30 years, the FBR has worked with local ethnic pro-democracy groups to train, supply, and coordinate mobile multipurpose relief teams to provide critical emergency medical care, shelter, food, clothing, and human rights documentation in their home regions. It currently has more than 100 multiethnic, multifaith relief teams providing services across Myanmar, and separate teams in Syria, Iraq, and Kurdistan.
FBR’s founder and director Dave Eubank was born in Texas and grew up as the son of Christian missionaries in Thailand. The former U.S. Army Special Forces and Ranger officer recently spoke with reporter Nandar Chann from RFA’s Myanmar Service about the similarities and differences between the conflicts in Myanmar and Syria and a possible solution to the current crisis in Myanmar. The following Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
RFA: You have years of experiences assisting people amid civil wars in both Myanmar and Syria. Are there any indications that the current situation in Myanmar could lead to a Syria-like situation?
Dave Eubank: We are involved in Syria, and we lost one of our team members there. We have a team there right now. We’ve been involved in Burma for over 28 years, and there are some similarities. In Syria, you have a full-on civil war. In Burma, you’ve had a civil war for over 72 years between the ethnics and the Burmans. Since the coup, however, the Burmese military has turned its focus and attacked the people in the cities, killing over 750, and attacked the ethnic areas. There are air strikes every day right now in Kachin state with thousands of people displaced. In Kayin state, there were air strikes, and there is an ongoing ground offensive right now. Over 25,000 people have been displaced in northern Kachin state. The difference though between Burma and Syria is that in Syria you had many large outside forces helping. You had the Turks behind one faction in northwest Syria. You had the Americans supporting and still supporting the Kurds and Arabs and others in the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria. You have the Russians and Iranians supporting Assad’s dictatorship in the eastern and central part of Syria. You had ISIS supported by many other groups. And the level of armaments, weapons, aircraft, bombing, and fighting was intense. That’s what we don’t see in Burma. I don’t see any large-scale, direct, outside help in Burma. So right now it remains a long, slow conflict.
RFA: What are the similarities and differences between the two conflicts, such as involvement of foreign troops? As we’ve seen, the Myanmar junta is intent on maintaining power and has turned a deaf ear to international calls to end its deadly crackdowns.
Dave Eubank: Some people have compared the situation in Burma to that of the civil war in Syria. Well, Burma has been in a civil war for 72 years, and over a million people have been internally displaced throughout that time, and millions more have fled the country. There already has been a civil war between the ethnics and successive regimes of dictators. Right now, the Burmese military, in addition to attacking the ethnics, which has increased since the coup, has turned its focus to fighting its own people, killing over 750 men, women, and children in the streets of the cities. It’s a terrible situation, and I pray that they stop or that their hearts will change or that there will be intervention to make them change. We’re not against the military or police. They are a needed part of this country. But the way you stop a civil war is to act in justice, in mercy, and in love.
RFA: Do you see a possible political solution to the current situation in Myanmar or is armed struggle is the only option to end military rule?
Dave Eubank: My hope for Burma is that the dictatorship will change and that we’d all be reminded that the line of good and evil is between them and us, and also that these people have human hearts. Every day we get to decide whether we’re doing this for love or for some other reason. My idea of a solution is that the dictators’ hearts will change. They will step down, and then we could work together for a new Burma. In the meantime, I appeal to the international community for direct humanitarian assistance to the thousands of people displaced by new attacks since the coup began and to the people in the cities who also have been displaced, wounded, or shot. They need direct help. We also need political recognition from the international community for the ethnic groups as well as for the new National Unity Government, and for it to stand behind those people. We also need intervention, either indirect support for the people who are getting killed, or direct support. Either way, you cannot just watch people get killed and say you can’t do anything, so my prayer is that the world will come together and help make a change. I’ve already seen the people of Burma — the Burmans as well as the ethnics — working together in a new kind of unity I’ve never seen before. We’re helping displaced people. There are people, displaced ethnics as well as people from the cities and people who want get the country back, so I see this as a great opportunity for a new Burma.
Reported by Nandar Chann for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
