The No. 2-ranking member of a government-backed militia has helped seize large tracts of land from farmers in north Burma to make way for gold mining operations, local media report. Padip Gam Awng, a leader in the Lawa Yang militia, a group in Kachin State that split from the rebel Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and now has government support, drove dozens of families from their land in the past year to make way for the mine project, the Kachin News Group reported Wednesday. Most of the families received little or no compensation, the news group reported.
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