Aid group urges ceasefire to evacuate trapped people

Aid workers have called for a ceasefire between Myanmarese army troops and ethnic rebels to enable the evacuation of people trapped in a town in the northern border region of Kokang, whcih has been cloaked by a state of emergency

“We are asking both sides to keep a ceasefire for a few days, so we can help to evacuate people. Currently, even our Red Cross logo cannot help to protect people. It's really sad,” a Myanmar Red Cross member said on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Myanmar declared a state of emergency in the Kokang region of Shan State, a predominantly ethnic Chinese northern border area that has seen airstrikes and ferocious gun battles since February 9.

Over the last 10 days, tens of thousands of civilians have already fled the remote and rugged Kokang region, with at least 30,000 crossing the border into China.

Local aid groups have stopped rescue convoys to and around the flashpoint town of Laukkai, where clashes between the army and the ethnic Kokang rebels intensified over the past week.

“We still do not know exactly how many people are still trapped in the Laukkai region... but we evacuated around 30 people from there on Wednesday,” said the unnamed official.

The call for ceasefire was made two days after an attack on a convoy led by the Myanmar Red Cross wounded two aid workers.

Rebels have continued to carry out sporadic ambushes with “small and heavy weapons” on army convoys and camps but have withdrawn “when counterattacks were launched”, state-led newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

“Three tatmadaw (army) personnel died in action and two civilians,” the report said, adding that affiliated rebel groups, including the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the powerful Kachin Independence Army had also carried out attacks.

On February 16, Myanmar’s government said in a statement that it would “continue to perform actions in the Kokang region that are necessary for the safety and security of local people, as well as peace, stability and the rule of law.”

Tensions have been on the rise between the ethnic militants and the government since an attack by the Myanmarese army on a rebel training camp in the north of the country last November killed 23 cadets.

Kokang had been relatively calm since 2009, when Myanmar’s army launched an offensive against the regional rebels.

Myanmar’s government, which replaced the junta rule in 2011, has pledged to end the civil wars, which have been flaring on and off since independence in 1948.

YH/NN/HMV

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