There have been fresh reports of Burmese government troops conducting military offensives against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), bringing into doubt the effectiveness of a recent presidential order to the army not to engage the ethnic armed group except in self-defense.

On Sunday, Christmas day, three columns of government army troops launched a late-night assault on a KIA base located between Kutkai and Manton townships in Shan State, according to a high-ranking KIA military commander.

“Government reinforcement troops arrived in the area on Monday morning and continued the push to  to occupy our base there,” said Brig-Gen Zau Raw, the KIA commander in Shan State, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

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Although this could not be independently verified, photos recently obtained by The Irrawaddy show KIA soldiers wearing gas masks in battle zones in Kachin State.

The armed clashes in this strategic resource-rich region near China's southwestern border continued despite the fact that President Thein Sein, the ex-general who heads Burma's new quasi-civilian government, issued a written statement signed on Dec. 10 ordering the army to halt military operations against the predominantly Christian KIA except for self-defense purposes.

“It seems that the order is no longer valid, since government troops have resumed their attacks,” said Zau Raw. “We don't know if the army is listening to President Thein Sein or not.”

However, the president's political adviser, Ko Ko Hlaing, rejected suggestions that the army is ignoring the president's orders, saying that the fighting in northern Burma is continuing because the two sides have been unable to build enough confidence to bring it to a complete halt.

“The president's order stated that the army should not attack except in self-defense. It is hard to tell who initiated the attacks, but there is no doubt that we will try to make peace with all ethnic groups, including the Kachin,” he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Noting that the army's chief, Gen Min Aung Hlaing, is a member of the National Defense and Security Council, a top governing body established by the Constitution and chaired by the president, he added: “Our country is no longer an autocratic state as before.”

Recently, the Burmese government has signed or renewed ceasefire agreements with major ethnic armed groups, including the Shan State Army-South and the United Wa State Army, and has been holding peace talks with ethnic Karen and Mon armed groups.

In November, government officials held similar talks with the KIA in the Chinese border town of Ruili, but the government's rejection of KIA demands for a substantive political dialogue leading to autonomy in Kachin State prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Since June, when a 17-year ceasefire between the KIA and the Burmese armed forces collapsed, some 40,000 refugees in Kachin State and northeastern Shan State have been forced to flee fighting.

On Dec. 12, the government allowed UN relief agencies to provide aid to refugees in Laiza, where the KIA has its military headquarters, for the first time. However, funding shortages have since brought relief efforts in the area to a halt, according to UN officials in Rangoon.