Deadly armed clashes between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continued in Kachin and Shan states on Monday, according to KIA officials who said they believe the latest military offensives by the government side are aimed at taking control of their major strongholds.
Since Thursday, fighting has been reported at a number of locations considered to be key defensive positions en route to Pajau and Laiza, the KIA's two most important bases of operations.
One focal point has been Lung Zep Kong, a hill near Waimaw Township in Kachin State that lies along the way to Pajau, while sporadic fighting has also been reported in the village of Nam Sen Yang in Kachin State and in Tamonye, near Kutkai Township in Shan State.
“Government troops have mounted three major assaults on this hill since Friday, the latest one this morning, when it sent a strong force of around 600 men in an effort to occupy it,” said KIA Col Zau Raw, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday.
“We believe that these military operations show they intend to occupy Pajau.” he added.
According to KIA spokesman La Nan, fighting continued today at all three locations, with heavy casualties reported at Lung Zep Kong, most of them on the Burmese side, as the KIA mowed down soldiers ordered to take the hill.
“The government soldiers simply charged up the hill, leaving our soldiers with no option but to shoot them down,” said La Nan, adding that there were at least 30 bodies scattered around the area following fighting over the weekend.
The KIA spokesman said that at least 82 armed clashes have taken place since the beginning of October. Fighting first broke out in June, near Chinese-built hydropower plants in Bhamo Township, Kachin State, ending a 17-year-old ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
Even before the outbreak of fighting in June, however, tension had been growing over the government's insistence that the 10,000-strong KIA join a Border Guard Force (BGF) under Burmese military command—a demand the KIA rejected outright.
During two subsequent rounds of peace talks, the government offered the KIA a chance to renew the 1994 ceasefire agreement, but rejected the group's demands for a political dialogue between all ethnic armed groups and Naypyidaw.
The government has since then apparently shelved the controversial BGF plan, recently renewing temporary ceasefire agreements with the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic armed group in Burma, and another its much smaller ally, the Mongla group, based near the Chinese border.
Asked if the KIA would accept a ceasefire if government dropped the BGF demand, as it did with the UWSA, La Nan said the group would not accept another temporary ceasefire without achieving its political rights.
With much of the recent fighting taking place near the Sino-Burmese border, there have been reports that hundreds of Chinese army troops have been stationed along the border to prevent an influx of refugees and to maintain control over Chinese territory.
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