Fighting between the country’s military, known as the ‘Tatmadaw’, and the armed wing of the KIO (Kachin Independence Organisation) has worsened in recent days as the army battled to regain one of its bases, a government negotiator involved in peace efforts told AFP.
Several video's uploaded to the YouTube website, purporting to be taken in Kachin state in the last few days, show warplanes and military helicopters firing their weapons, and smoke rising after the attacks.
“We heard the military used helicopters and training jets while trying to get their camp back,” said Hla Maung Shwe, who is also an adviser to President Thein Sein.
A report on the military’s Burmese language Myawaddy news website said a key base had been seized from the rebels on December 30 “with the help of air strikes in the region.”
Tens of thousands of people have fled the Kachin region since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the rebels broke down.
The rebels are calling for greater political rights and an end to alleged human rights abuses by the army.
Clashes in Kachin, along with communal unrest in western Rakhine state, have cast a shadow over Myanmar’s widely praised emergence from decades of army rule.
KIO deputy chief of foreign affairs Colonel James Lum Dau said that the fighting in Kachin had become “more serious” since last week, adding that it was concentrated in an area about seven miles (11 kilometres) from the rebel headquarters in Laiza on the Chinese border.
“Before they (attacked) with helicopters, now they are using jets with rockets and bombs,” he said.
A close observer of the situation, who asked not to be named, said there had been a “marked escalation” in fighting.
“They are firing a lot from helicopter gunships and using heavy artillery. It has been very close to the KIO headquarters,” he said.
Myanmar’s new quasi-civilian government has reached tentative ceasefires with most of the country’s other major ethnic rebel groups, but several rounds of talks aimed at resolving the conflict in the country’s far north have shown little tangible progress.
Government spokesman Zaw Htay said the Kachin rebels had not responded to an invitation for further dialogue.
Meanwhile, the UN has appealed to Myanmar’s government to stop blocking aid to tens of thousands of people in rebel-held territory in Kachin state.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged the Myanmar army to stop air raids against the rebels, and to seek a fair and lasting solution to the conflict.
Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said the UN chief “has taken serious note of the most recent reports indicating air strikes against targets in Kachin state.”
“While details of these reports are still emerging and being closely followed, the Secretary-General calls upon the Myanmar authorities to desist from any action that could endanger the lives of civilians living in the area or further intensify the conflict in the region,” Nesirky added.
Ban “urges all concerned parties to work toward political reconciliation in order to build the basis for a fair and durable outcome for all,” Nesirky said.