Peace negotiators in Kachin State say they are concerned about the fate of 14 people who have not been heard from since they were taken from a refugee camp by the Tatmadaw on May 3.
A senior official with the Kachin Peace Working Committee, U La Mai Gwangjar, said the 14 camp residents were taken from Lagatyan camp near Man-waing-gyi village in Mansi Township by a group of soldiers headed by a regimental commander at about 4pm.
The committee had written to the Tatmadaw’s Northern Command on May 3 to ask about the 14 and was told that the refugees would be released if they had not done anything wrong.
“But 24 hours have passed and they have not come back,” U La Mai Gwangjar told Mizzima on May 4.
A Mai-waing-gyi village elder, U La Shimyosan, said the Tatmadaw had come to the camp about six hours after an explosion west of the village which left a villager hurt.
Reports said that during skirmishes in the area between Tatmadaw and Kachin Independence Army troops from April 10 to 18, many residents of refugee camps in the area, including Lagatyan, had fled.
Ko Gwan Sha-aung, a coordinator with the non-government organisation, the Mitta Foundation, said said government forces were deployed near the camps and after the fighting and had been making surprise checks of camp residents.
In another development, President’s Office Minister U Aung Min told Mizzima on May 4 that talks had been arranged with the Kachin Independence Organisation in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, on May 13, to discuss the recent fighting.
