The past 72 hours have seen more fighting between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and government forces, this despite the fact that both sides are expected to meet for peace talks next week.
Local residents in the northern Shan township of Namtu told the Kachin News Group that on Thursday Burmese soldiers and troops from the KIO's armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) traded gunfire in two different places near the projected route of the 800km Shwe gas and oil pipeline project. Namtu township which is under the control of the KIO's Battalion 8 was also the scene of fighting on Wednesday in the Bang Wa area.
On Wednesday in Manje (Mansi) township in southern Kachin State troops belonging to the KIA’s Battalion 12 fought off government forces from the Light Infantry Division No. 99 for nearly three hours, according to eyewitnesses in the area.
This fighting occurred in an area beyond Mong Hkawng when a Burmese army column of about 200 troops attempted an advance on the Kachin positions, said KIA officers based on the front line.
At the beginning of this week fighting broke out near the KIA’s Battalion 9 base in Daklek Bum mountain, situated between Kutkai and Nampaka next to the Mandalay-Muse Chinese border trade route. At least five Burmese soldiers died and more than 7 appeared to have been seriously injured during clashes, witnesses reported to the Kachin News Group. A KIA soldier suffered a minor injury during the fighting, said a KIA officer at the front line.
The Burmese army troops were from the Nampaka-based Infantry Battalion No. 123, while the KIA forces were from Battalion 9.
The recent push by the Burmese army on Kachin positions before peace talks appears to be a repeat of a similar strategy used by the Burmese side last month. During the week that preceded talks between the two sides on January 18 the Burmese army made repeated advances on KIA bases in Northern Shan State especially Kutkai township, Namtu township and Muse township.
The KIO is presently Burma's largest ethnic armed group still fighting the government. Over the past few months the KIO has repeatedly made demanded that a political dialogue be part of any peace talks between it and retired general turned President Thein Sein's government.
