Tensions rise between Myanmar army, KIA

Military tensions between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army are likely to mount as the two sides have resumed skirmishes and are deploying troops for military action in Mansi, Kachin State, according to officers from both sides.

Skirmishes in and around Nantlinpar village, 45 miles from Bhamo in Kachin state, continued through Monday after starting at the end of October.

“The KIA has deployed its troops, and weapons have also been sent for military action. We knew the KIA would launch a fight against us,” a government military officer told Eleven Media. The reports said that KIA Brigade 12 had taken position at Nantlinpa village and neighbouring areas. “Brigade 27 joined us in the beginning and was militarily active. Skirmishes broke out five times yesterday and three to four times today,” Major June Aung, commander of Brigade 12 told Eleven Media on Tuesday. A government military officer estimated that the KIA had more than 200 troops. Major June Aung said that the government army had about 1,000. The social organisation providing assistance to IDPs said that neither side revealed its exact military strength. Four regiments of the government took position in Nantlinpa village last Saturday. No one was then at the Nantlinpa refugee camp, sources said.

“We arrived here on the order of our superiors. We did not mean to cause trouble for the villagers. We had a plan to give assistance to the IDP camps. This plan will come true only if the KIA accepts it. Our arrival has nothing to do with skirmishes,” the government commander told an Eleven Media reporter on Saturday.

Skirmishes broke out on Sunday and Monday, according to the reporter, who was filing from Nantlinpa village. Government officials said that army troops were in the area to combat the illegal timber trade by reopening the Mandalay-Bhamo highway section, as agreed during peace talks in October. It was the KIA that initiated the fighting with government troops, they say.

“The government troops penetrated the KIA’s position with the purpose of influencing the area, despite the fact that they were there to reopen the Bhamo Road section to combat illegal timber trade. Therefore, the KIA responded by fighting the government troops,” said Major June Aung, adding that the KIA’s Brigade 12 settled in the area adjacent to Sagaing Region and northern Shan State. 

The government troops penetrated KIA-held areas to cut off the illegal timber trade route.

“The government army and the KIA in October agreed that local people could freely use the routes of Monedanepa and Nantlinpa. The KIA had already withdrawn its troops from these routes. But the government army used these routes. The agreement allowed only local people to use these routes but not the government troops,” said KIO spokesman La Nan.

“The government army does not usually use the route of Nantlinpa village, but now it is. The government says that when it went there to provide assistance to the IDPs, the KIA secretly shot it and that the KIA banished IDPs from these routes.” 

According to current reports, there is now no one living in Nantlinpa, Monedanepa, Kaungjar and Kaunglwe villages. About 2,000 IDPs have arrived at Manweinggyi village, among them Kachin and Shan nationals.