On Wednesday, Burma’s state-run New Light of Myanmar claimed that on Monday, December 12, the central government gave a significant amount of aid to needy refugees living in KIO-controlled territory.

Although a UN convoy carrying humanitarian aid did indeed arrive in KIO territory on December 12, the KIO says that the government’s description of the aid convoy is misleading and false.

While the New Light of Myanmar article heralded the donation of relief supplies offered by Burma’s Ministry of Social Welfare and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, it failed to mention that these supplies were included in the UN convoy against the wishes of the KIO, and were ultimately refused by the KIO.

Doi Pyi Sa, chairman of the KIO’s IDP and Refugee Relief Committee (IRRC), said that all of the government’s donated supplies, which totaled five truckloads, were sent back to the government-controlled town of Manmaw (Bhamo) after the four-person UN aid team left Laiza on Wednesday.

The KIO also noted that government aid was delivered to Laiza and not the KIO’s second largest town of Mai Ja Yang, as was erroneously reported in the New Light of Myanmar.

While the KIO rejected the Burmese government’s donations, it accepted two truckloads of family relief kits contributed by various UN agencies, including UNCIEF and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Doi Pyi Sa explained, “The government relief items arrived in Laiza despite the fact that the KIO had previously declined aid offers from the government. We also already officially informed Kachin State Chief Minister Lajawn Ngan Seng that we wouldn’t accept government relief aid”.

(photo caption) Article from Burmese version of New Light of Myanmar about relief convoy to KIO area

Doi Pyi Sa said the government’s donations were rejected due to what he called the “contradictory behavior” of the Burmese government, which included recently offering a ceasefire, and then launching an offensive against KIO positions.

The fact that the UN team consisted exclusively of Burmese citizens but did not include any international UN staff also drew the suspicion of the KIO. As the UN has numerous international staff working in Rangoon and other areas across the country, it is unclear why it chose to send only local staff on the first UN convoy allowed into KIO territory since fighting began in June.

International UN staff working in Burma are typically perceived as being more impartial by Burma’s ethnic rebel groups due to the fact that non-Burmese citizens aren’t susceptible to the same kinds of regime pressure tactics, such as the threat of arrest or harm to one’s family members.

Burmese army ignores Thein Sein’s peace directive

Although Burma’s President Thein Sein publicly released a letter on  December 10 to the commander-in-chief of the military directing the army to end its northern offensive, the Burmese army has continued to fight the KIO. Fighting has been particularly fierce in territory belonging to the Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) third battalion.

Eyewitnesses on the ground in Kachin State report that despite Thein Sein’s peace directive, the army on Wednesday sent more than 500 troops to the Sadung region in preparation for an apparent government offensive.