"Myanmar jade traders squeezed between junta and rebels", 5 November 2021

Myanmar jade traders are running from junta troops and dodging rebel attacks to sell dwindling volumes of the green gemstone, as the billion-dollar industry loses its shine months on from the coup. [...]

Fighting around the Hpakant jade mine in northern Kachin state -- the largest in the world -- has squeezed digging already hampered by the pandemic, cutting supplies of one of the country's most lucrative exports. [...] Myanmar is the world's biggest source of jade, with the industry largely driven by insatiable demand for the translucent gem from neighbouring China. [...]

"Sometimes, people panic when soldiers come patrolling, and they run ... If one person runs, others start running. Then soldiers fire warning shots to control the situation." [...]

Two days later the market re-opened and authorities began collecting fees again -- one of the many levied on the gem that finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between armed ethnic groups and the military. [...]

A bomb exploded near the market a week after the traders returned and while there were no casualties the same group promised to set off more if people continue trading there. [...]

A second blast hit the market on Thursday, killing a police officer, local media reported, and sending traders fleeing.

The same day authorities announced that any shop in the complex that failed to re-open by November 5 would be "temporarily seized". [...]