*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) BANGKOK, Thailand - August 28, 2009: Fighting between an ethnic militia and government security forces broke out Thursday in northeastern Myanmar, breaching a two-decade cease-fire, according to several unconfirmed reports originating from the area. 
Refugees from Kokang in Myanmar's Shan State arrive with their luggage at Nansan town in Zhenkang County in Yunnan province August 25, 2009. Tension between Myanmar government troops and an armed ethnic group has sparked an exodus of thousands of people into China from northeastern Myanmar, activists and witnesses said on Wednesday. Picture taken August 25, 2009.
Several minorities living in military-ruled Myanmar's border areas have for decades struggled for autonomy. The military regime that seized power in 1988 agreed to cease-fires with more than a dozen groups, decreasing - though not eliminating - fighting that had long wracked the country.
Several of the groups have been deeply involved in the production of heroin and other illicit drugs, though they claim to have gotten out of the trade.
Troops belonging to the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army - representing the Kokang minority - staged a morning attack Thursday on a police post along the border with China near the Myanmar town of Laogai, according to the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based group lobbying for democracy in the country.
It said several police officers were killed and the rebels temporarily occupied the post.
The Kachin News Group, an online news agency reporting on the Kachin minority that also resides in northern Myanmar, reported the attack as well as several other clashes.
Tensions between the Kokang and the government have increased lately with the ethnic group's defiance of an order to have its guerrillas incorporated into a border guard force under command of the army.
The ruling junta plans a landmark election next year, the first since 1990's abortive polls, the result of which were ignored by the military when the National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
The military has been anxious to assure stability ahead of the polls, and has begun tightening up control on the so-called cease-fire groups, most of which have an uneasy relationship at best with the central government.
On Wednesday, Myanmar ethnic groups and Chinese media reported that thousands of people fled the area into China this month after tensions between the Kokang and government started to surge.
Some 10,000 fled the Kokang area in Myanmar's northeastern Shan state between Aug. 7 and Aug. 12 following a military confrontation, The Chongqing Evening Post reported Wednesday.
The immediate trigger to the current confrontation was an Aug. 8 raid on the home of Kokang leader Peng Jiashen - also known as Phon Kyar Shin - ostensibly to look for illegal drugs.
Peng's troops in the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army began to mobilize, but were forced out of Laogai on Tuesday by government soldiers and members of a breakaway Kokang faction.
According to the U.S. Committee for Burma, Peng on Thursday issued a statement calling for talks with the government and a withdrawal from the area of newly deployed government forces. He was also said to have denounced the breakaway faction.
Refugees from Kokang in Myanmar's Shan State arrive with their luggage at Nansan town in Zhenkang County in Yunnan province August 25, 2009. Tension between Myanmar government troops and an armed ethnic group has sparked an exodus of thousands of people into China from northeastern Myanmar, activists and witnesses said on Wednesday. Picture taken August 25, 2009.
Several minorities living in military-ruled Myanmar's border areas have for decades struggled for autonomy. The military regime that seized power in 1988 agreed to cease-fires with more than a dozen groups, decreasing - though not eliminating - fighting that had long wracked the country.
Several of the groups have been deeply involved in the production of heroin and other illicit drugs, though they claim to have gotten out of the trade.
Troops belonging to the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army - representing the Kokang minority - staged a morning attack Thursday on a police post along the border with China near the Myanmar town of Laogai, according to the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based group lobbying for democracy in the country.
It said several police officers were killed and the rebels temporarily occupied the post.
The Kachin News Group, an online news agency reporting on the Kachin minority that also resides in northern Myanmar, reported the attack as well as several other clashes.
Tensions between the Kokang and the government have increased lately with the ethnic group's defiance of an order to have its guerrillas incorporated into a border guard force under command of the army.
The ruling junta plans a landmark election next year, the first since 1990's abortive polls, the result of which were ignored by the military when the National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
The military has been anxious to assure stability ahead of the polls, and has begun tightening up control on the so-called cease-fire groups, most of which have an uneasy relationship at best with the central government.
On Wednesday, Myanmar ethnic groups and Chinese media reported that thousands of people fled the area into China this month after tensions between the Kokang and government started to surge.
Some 10,000 fled the Kokang area in Myanmar's northeastern Shan state between Aug. 7 and Aug. 12 following a military confrontation, The Chongqing Evening Post reported Wednesday.
The immediate trigger to the current confrontation was an Aug. 8 raid on the home of Kokang leader Peng Jiashen - also known as Phon Kyar Shin - ostensibly to look for illegal drugs.
Peng's troops in the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army began to mobilize, but were forced out of Laogai on Tuesday by government soldiers and members of a breakaway Kokang faction.
According to the U.S. Committee for Burma, Peng on Thursday issued a statement calling for talks with the government and a withdrawal from the area of newly deployed government forces. He was also said to have denounced the breakaway faction.
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