Burma Army attacks NCA signatory RCSS/SSA-S in eastern Shan State
A clash between the Burma Army and the Restoration
Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) on New Year’s Eve marked
the first outbreak of conflict between government forces and an ethnic armed
group signatory to the country’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
According to an RCSS/SSA-S spokesperson, fighting
occurred at about 1 p.m. on December 31 in Mong Peng Township in eastern Shan
State’s Kengtung District. The clash allegedly lasted one hour and involved the
Burma Army Battalion No. 278 and RCSS/SSA-S troops.
“They [the Burma Army] attacked us. We lost one
soldier and another one was injured,” said Col. Sai La of the RCSS/SSA-S. “But
no casualties from Burma’s side have been reported.”
A source close to the Burma Army in Kengtung, who
spoke to SHAN on the condition of anonymity, alleged that Batallion No. 278
“got the command” to attack when RCSS/SSA-S troops entered territory claimed by
government forces.
Sai La responded by saying that the RCSS/SSA-S has
been active in the disputed area in Mong Peng Township since the days of the
Mong Tai Army (MTA), referring to the Shan State force led by Khun Sa who later
surrendered to the Burmese military government in
1996.
He also pointed out that the group’s longtime presence
in the area could be vouched for by the region’s locals.
“We do not understand why they attacked us,” he said,
of the Burma Army.
Sai Khuensai, an advisor to the RCSS/SSA-S and the
managing director of the Pyidaungsu Institute, told SHAN that the Burma Army’s
actions in Mong Peng might dissuade non-signatory ethnic armed groups from
signing the NCA and taking an active role in the peace process.
The RCSS/SSA-S was one of the country’s eight ethnic
armed groups—of more than 20—to sign a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with
representatives of Burma’s government on October 15 of last year. The next step
in the country’s peace process is a national political dialogue is scheduled to
begin on January 12.
In September, SHAN reported
that U Hla Maung Shwe, a senior advisor at the Myanmar Peace Center, said that
the NCA might only “reduce” fighting. In the same article, Sai La, of the
RCSS/SSA-S, worried that clashes could continue as long as the territories of
government and ethnic armed groups are not clearly defined.
By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Tags: News, War
