Burma army continues shelling and looting Kachin state

Burma's military continued to attack Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) positions throughout Kachin and north western Shan states over the last week. This despite repeated claims from senior government officials including President Thein Sein himself that the fighting in northern Burma has finished.

On Tuesday evening government troops from Light Infantry Battalion No. 432 fired 81mm artillery at the Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) Kung Law, also Konlaw post located near Momauk, also N’Mawk in eastern Kachin state. The shelling took place at about 7 PM, according to KIO sources.

On Monday afternoon a convoy of 39 trucks from Artillery Battalion 88 returned to Myitkyina carrying furniture and motorcycles which appear to have been looted from abandoned homes in Nam San Yang village. Homes in the village, which is close to the KIO's de facto capital Laiza, have also had their roofs stripped of metal, according to eyewitnesses.

Fighting in northern Shan state between KIA forces and army troops broke out on the weekend and continued on Monday, according to KIO officials. On Saturday at one PM Burma army forces from the Namtu based Infantry 130 and their colleagues from the Kyaukme based Infantry 502 attacked a KIA post at Man Dung.

Although there were no casualties from the Kachin side, government shelling burned several civilians’ homes in the area completely to the ground. Monday saw both sides trade fire near Man Dung post again.

The continued fighting in northern Burma comes as Thein Sein's nominally civilian government makes repeated claims that there isn't any. "There's no more hostilities, no more fighting all over the country, we have been able to end this kind of armed conflict," Thein Sein claimed during a joint press conference with Austria's President Heinz Fischer earlier this month. Thein Sein was in the Austrian capital as part of a 10 day visit to Europe. Late last week Thein Sein went to New Zealand and then Australia, the first such trip by a Burmese head of state to the “land down under” since the 1970's.

During Thein Sein's visit to Canberra, the Australian government announced the reestablishment of long dormant military ties between the two nations. Although an arms export ban remains in place Australia's military will now teach Burma's military about disaster relief and “human rights”. Following similar long standing training programs the Australian military has had with Indonesia, a program which human rights groups regularly condemn as inadequate and inappropriate.

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