“The Secretary-General welcomed the announcement by the Government of Myanmar on Friday of a cease-fire in Kachin and has been following the various reports from the ground on its implementation”, according to the statement that ignored reports from the BBC, New York Times, the Irrawaddy and other respected news sources indicating fighting is ongoing.

Although President Thein Sein's office has publicly claimed that government forces would only be shooting in self-defense and wouldn’t engage in offensive actions against the KIO, during the past 72 hours the army has been repeatedly firing on KIO outposts at Hka Pot; located north of Laiza, and Hka Ya Bum; located west of the KIO's headquarters.

During a Monday New York press briefing, Ban Ki-moon's chief spokesperson Martin Nesirky was asked to clarify the UN's stance on the ceasefire in light of the reports of continued fighting. Nesirky ignored Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell’s questions and read Ban's statement without referring to the reports that fighting hasn’t ended.

Ban's statement comes just days after UN's special envoy to Burma Vijay Nambiar completed a visit to the country. During the press briefing, Nesirky revealed that Nambiar visited Kachin state, although it’s unclear who he met with, or what he did during his visit to the war torn state. But a statement issued by Nambiar after leaving Burma stated that during his trip he did meet with several key government ministers including Thein Sein's chief negotiator Aung Min.

The statement released by the Secretary General also reiterated previous calls made by the UN to be allowed “renewed access to vulnerable civilian populations in the area to enable the supply of humanitarian assistance to them”. The government has barred the UN and related agencies from delivering aid to internally displaced people's camps located in KIO territory since June of last year. According to reports from aid workers in Kachin state the situation in the camps is getting progressively  worse.

An estimated 100,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Kachin and parts of north eastern Shan state since a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the KIO unraveled on June 9, 2011. Most of the refugees displaced by the fighting are living in camps in KIO-controlled territory along the Burma/China border. The safety of the refugees is under threat. Last week 3 civilians in Laiza were killed by government – there are 25,000 refugees sheltered in the border town.

Over the weekend government forces continued to shell KIO outposts located less than a kilometer away from the largest refugee camp near Mai Ja Yang -  the second largest town under KIO control.