UN chief urges KIO and Burma govt work for peace as some fighting continues

Barmese peace negotiator U Aung Min (left) and Dr. La Ja of General Secretary of KIO.

Following peace talks between Burma's military and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in China on Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on both sides to “continue their efforts towards genuine and sustainable peace in Kachin”.

The Secretary General noted the joint announcement issued by both sides following the peace talks which outlined a mutually agreed “framework for de-escalation of the violent conflict”. Ban added that he hoped “that the latest developments would result in a silencing of the guns in Myanmar for the first time since its independence.”

Despite the goodwill generated by the recent peace talks sporadic fighting continues throughout Kachin and part of north western Shan states. Yesterday afternoon the army and KIO troops exchanged gunfire for more than 2 hours in the Kutkai district near the Huhpyet to Jahkrai road. Meanwhile in eastern Kachin state the Burma army attacked a KIO post at Law Hkawng near Chipwe.

Ban Ki-moon's Special Adviser on Burma Vijay Nambiar was in Kachin state earlier this week where he visited internally displaced person's camps near Myitkyina the Kachin state capital.  While in Kachin state Nambiar also met “civil society groups and other stakeholders”, according to the UN announcement.

Shortly after Nambiar completed his visit a presidential spokesperson told reporters that the UN would soon be allowed to resume aid shipments to non-government controlled parts of Kachin state. From April until June last year UN relief teams were allowed to make aid shipments to refugee camps in Mai Ja Yang, the KIO's second largest town. After June the UN has prevented from making any more deliveries to non-government controlled parts of Kachin state for “safety reasons”.

www.kachinnews.com
www.burmese.kachinnews.com
www.kachin.kachinnews.com