Ethnic violence erupting in Myanmar?

NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Myanmar's military, during fighting in Kachin state, may have committed abuses that bear the hallmarks of an ethnic campaign, a rights group said.

Fighting between the military in Myanmar and the Kachin Independence Army erupted during the summer. Human Rights Watch said the conflict has featured forced labor at the hands of Myanmar's armed forces and left roughly 30,000 Kachin civilians displaced.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asian director at Human Rights Watch, said, in a statement, that thousands of people fled from their homes at the height of the rainy season because they feared attacks by Myanmar's military.

"Renewed fighting in Kachin state has meant renewed abuses by Myanmar's army against Kachin villagers," she added.

Human Rights Watch said a September decision by Myanmar's President Thein Sein to scrap a controversial hydropower dam project on the Irrawaddy River in Kachin state may have rekindled regional tensions.

In September, Human Rights Watch observed that sexual violence and torture against ethnic communities were on the rise in northern Myanmar. The number of reported rape cases increased to 37 in parts of Kachin state, with at least 18 cases reported in an eight-day period in June.

The military in Myanmar had said it has troops in the north to convince armed ethnic groups to come under a single authority.