The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Friday that “an increase in insecurity and the displacement of thousands of people over the past weeks in southern Kachin State and northern Shan State” has made access to those displaced by recent armed conflict “increasingly difficult.” The UN estimates that over 3,000 people have been displaced by recent fighting in these two neighboring regions.
The UN and other aid groups fear that conditions will worsen significantly during the rainy season which will begin very soon. Florent Turc, Field Coordinator for the French NGO Solidarités International, was quoted in the UN statement as saying that “The approaching rainy season will bring higher risks of flooding and water-borne diseases, so water, sanitation, and hygiene will increasingly be a priority in humanitarian interventions over the next weeks.”
“The deteriorating security situation is already hampering access to the affected areas and the poor conditions of the roads during the rainy season will make it even more difficult to respond from now on,” Turc added.
The recent round of clashes between Burma’s army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) began on 10 April in southeastern Kachin State and continued for much of April. Clashes in neighboring northern Shan State also began in April and have continued until as recently as May 12.
On May 10, fighting broke out in northern Shan State's Muse District between the villages of Mone-ko (or Munggu) and Paung Hsing. These clashes involved troops from the Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalions 507 and 568 fighting an alliance of troops from KIA Battalion 38; Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) Battalion 818; and troops loyal to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) faction that controlled Kokang until 2009. The TNLA has been a close ally of the KIA in fighting against the Burmese army, which is also known as the Tatmadaw.
Kachin News Group obtained information about the battle in Muse from a statement issued by the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of Burma's armed ethnic groups of which the KIA is a key member. The UNFC statement said that seven Tatmadaw troops died in the clashes on May 10th and then provided details of another battle that occurred two days later between TNLA Battalion 256 and Tatmadaw Light Infantry Division 77 near Munpat and Hsam-ngam villages in the northern Shan State township of Namsam.
Last week, KIO leaders and their counterparts from the Burmese government met for peace talks in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State. However, no significant breakthroughs occurred during these talks. The KIO also held an open forum in Myitkyina last Wednesday, where a large number of people gathered to voice their concerns about the conflict and listen to comments made by KIA Major General Gun Maw and leaders of other UNFC armed ethnic groups.
