2,000 Villagers Displaced From Fighting Between Burma Army and RCSS/SSA

Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | October 6, 2016

Some 2,000 villagers have been displaced in Shan State’s Mong Kung Township following clashes between Burmese government forces and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) on Saturday, according to an MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

Sai Seng Mong, a Lower House MP from the SNLD representing Mong Kung Township, said that the clashes in his town caused great fear among the local population, compelling hundreds of families to flee their villages.

“Villagers are now suffering because of fighting,” he said. “As some 2,000 people have been displaced, it is very difficult to find places for them to stay.”

“These people are being sheltered at two monasteries in the Donglao town,” added Sai Seng Mung, who is working with local volunteers to provide aid to the refugees.

Following the clashes, some schools have reportedly been closed. Roads are also blocked and many residents dare not leave their houses.

Clashes broke out on Saturday when Burmese army battalion 292 entered Wan Boi village, Donglao village-tract, in southern Shan State’s Mong Kung Township, a RCSS/SSA stronghold, and also the site of a drug rehabilitation center that the Shan militia helps to operate.

Further clashes occurred around the areas of Namlan and Mong Kung Townships.

According to Lt. Col. Sai Nguen, the RCSS/SSA’s Peace Team secretary, the Burmese army issued no warning before the incursion. He said that according to the Ceasefire Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC), a bloc that was formed following the signing of a nationwide ceasefire (NCA) on October 15 last year, armed groups must inform ahead of time if wishing to encroach upon another group’s territory. The RCSS/SSA is one of the signatories to the ceasefire accord.

“It is the Burmese military’s fault,” Lt. Col. Sai Nguen said. “Because they did not follow the agreement.”

Reached for comment, Khuensai Jaiyen, the director of the Pyidaungsu Institute for Peace and Dialogue, or PI, the military manoeuvre was a breach of the NCA.

“If they seek to solve issues by fighting, then what was the point of signing the NCA,” he questioned.

At the time of press, no official talks had taken place between the Burmese military and the RCSS/SSA.