Myanmar president orders army to stop attacks on Kachin rebels

Dec 13, 2011

Yangon - Myanmar President Thein Sein has ordered the army to cease all attacks on armed ethnic groups in the country's northern Kachin state, government sources said Tuesday.

The sources said Thein Sein issued the order in a letter to army chiefs on Saturday, specifying that troops should only fire in self-defense.

It said the government did not want any new outbreaks of fighting to harm chances for a ceasefire agreement currently being negotiated with Kachin rebels.

Thein Sein, who has recently stepped up moves to reform the government and ease decades-long ethnic conflicts, instructed military units in Kachin State not to approach rebel camps, an apparent reference to Kachin Independence Army, which has been engaged in fierce fighting with government forces in recent weeks.

Myanmar's Minister for Information and Culture U Kyaw Hsan told reporters in Yangon recently that the Kachin Independence Army was the only armed group still engaged in combat operations with the Myanmar army.

A rebel source in Thailand said Thein Sein's letter was read by Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Sai at a ceremony in Myitkyina City Hall in Kachin State on Monday.

Thein Sein's government recently signed a peace deal with another rebel group in Shan state, south of Kachin state.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Myanmar early this month, said ending the decades-old ethnic conflicts was among Washington's main conditions for full normalizing of relations with Yangon.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1680554.php/Myanmar-president-orders-army-to-stop-attacks-on-Kachin-rebels.