On Saturday, May 3 Col. Thet Htun Oo, a commander of the Burmese army Light Infantry Division No. LID No. 88, and ordered his troops to detained 14 Kachin refugees living in from Lagat Yang IDP camp in Man Win Gyi, a town located in southsouth eastern Kachin Sstate, northern Burma on May 3.
The situation in south eastern Kachin state remains tense after Burmese military authorities arrested 14 refugees living in the Lagat Yang camp on Saturday. The camp which was previously under Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) control was taken over last month by Burmese army troops following a series of clashes in eastern Kachin state.
All of the 14 detained men were eventually released on Monday afternoon by their captors from the Light Infantry Division 88. However, Oone man however was detained again less than an hour after his release, according to Naw Din, an aid worker coordinating relief efforts from the Karuna Myanmar Social Services who was quoted by the Irrawaddy on Monday.
The situation in Southeastern Kachin State remains tense after Burmese military authorities arrested the 14 IDP’s at the Lagat Yang IDP camp on Saturday. The camp, which was previously under Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) control, was taken over last month by Burmese army troops following a series of clashes in Eastern Kachin State.
The Kachin News Group (KNG) has learned that Man Win Gyi, a government- controlled town located near the place where to where the fighting has taken place, remains under subject to a night- time curfew. LikewiseIn addition, the Burmese army is still restricting travel along on the road between Man Win Gyi and Bhamo remains restricted by army troops. Previously, the army blocked all travel on this road, a move which delayed significantly delayed aid groups attempts by aid groups to ship relief supplies to Man Win Gyi.
More than 5,000 people have been displaced in Eeastern Kachin Sstate and neighboring Shan sState since renewed fighting broke out in the area region on April 10. The fighting started when government troops attacked KIO positions. The last known clashes took place in Western Shan sState's Muse Township on April 30th close to Kyukok, a town also known as a.k.a Pangsai.
Aid workers tell have told KNG that as of the most recent head count conducted in at the end of April there were more than found that 1,900 newly-displaced people are now staying in Man Win Gyi Town, and an additional 900 displaced people now who have arrived in neighboring Shan sState's Namhkam. An additional 2,000 people refugees remain in China or in IDP camps located in KIO- controlled territory.
It remains unclear how the recent wave of fighting— which is the most serious to hit affect Kachin state in more than a year— will affect impact the upcoming peace talks set to take place in the the Kachin sState capital of Myitkyina early next week. Next week’s round of peace talks will involve aA high- level KIO delegation from the KIO will meeting with their counterparts from the Burmese government and along with government controlled but EU funded representatives from the Myanmar Peace Center, an organization controlled by the Burmese government and funded by the EU which has been pushing for a Rangoon based organization whose staff are strongly advocating for a national ceasefire.
