Army-rebel clashes open ominous cracks in Myanmar's fragile mosaic
Sheltering at Man Su Buddhist monastery in northeast Myanmar, Mu Mu San and eight other women as well as two children are waiting for relatives they left behind.
The monastery in Lashio town in Shan state is serving as a temporary shelter for people fleeing violence near the Myanmar-China border, some 130 kilometres away.
“My husband and three relatives are still on the way but we haven’t had any news of them,” said Mu Mu San, 32, who fled from Laukkai, the capital of the self-administered Kokang region, which has been the focus of heavy fighting between government troops and ethnic-Chinese rebels.
“Rescue trucks are full of war victims. So they prioritise children and women, so I left my husband and relatives there,” said Mu Mu San.
The Red Cross convoy carrying her and other war victims was shot at by Kokang rebels during the drive away from the border. Two Myanmar Red Cross volunteers were wounded.
Mu Mu San’s group are among thousands who fled Laukkai after fighting erupted 10 days ago. President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency last Tuesday and placed Kokang under army control, with dozens of soldiers and rebels killed in the past fortnight.
The rebels, formally known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), are led by Peng Jiasheng, an 84-year-old fighter of Chinese descent.
“We will keep fighting the Myanmar government until Kokang is recovered,” Peng – who speaks Mandarin with a Yunnan accent – told Chinese media in December, his first interview in five years.
The MNDAA controlled the Kokang region between 1989 and 2009. Myanmar’s army seized the area in 2009 in the wake of a failed peace deal, according to which the rebels were to reform into a border guard force under the control of the military.
Peng refused to bargain, and he and other leaders fled to Thailand. His rekindled fight against the government has been taken up by at least two other ethnic rebel groups.
“We are in alliance. So we must join them in fighting against the government. Otherwise, the next time it will be us,” said Tar Parn La, a spokesman for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army.
Not all rebel groups in Shan state are joining the Kokang fight, however. The powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA), which has been in talks with the government over its nationwide peace deal, said it has no reason to help the Kokang rebels, because it wants peace and stability in the region.
Authorities say the fighting has been prolonged by the involvement of the TNLA and Arakan Army, both of which are fighting government forces in other areas of Shan and in northern Kachin state.
Army chief Min Aung Hlaingon last week warned the ethnic armies that joining the Kokang rebels would be a declaration of war, state media reported.
“They have to take responsibility for it,” he was quoted as saying. The country’s giant neighbour China adds another dimension to the violence. More than 30,000 residents have fled to China’s northwestern province of Yunnan since February 9, according to Yunnan’s Lincang City authorities.
Myanmar authorities meanwhile say Kokang rebels entered Myanmar from China. Beyond the Chinese ancestral link to the MNDAA leadership, Beijing denies any ties to the rebels. It says it respects Myanmar’s “territorial integrity” and would not allow organisations to undermine stability in the border areas.
Whatever sparked the violence, the timing is such that a long-sought peace deal between the government and the country’s myriad ethnic groups could be under threat.
One of the signatories says the Kokang rebels were not invited to take part, leading them to gain power in other ways.
“We are worried it may impact on the ongoing peace process,” said Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung, a central committee member of powerful Karen National Union, representing another ethnic group.
“They demanded that the government accept them as a group in signing the nationwide ceasefire accord, but the government didn’t accept them. So, the fighting starts,” he said. “What else can we do other than fight them to retake our region?” said Kokang rebel spokesman Htun Myat Linn.
