Burma: UN fears generalized conflict, rebel groups face junta
Protest message on the ground alerting the United Nations to the Burmese situation, in Rangoon, April 14, 2021. AFP - HANDOUT
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2 min
Burma risks sinking like Syria into a generalized conflict, warned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
Since several ethnic rebel groups have rallied to the civil resistance, increasingly violent fighting has erupted especially in the north and northeast of the country where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is stepping up attacks and carrying out attacks. in the face of the junta's responses.
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The fighting is centered around the Alaw Bum military base, located on a strategically important hill near the Chinese border.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked and captured this base on March 25 - which since 1987 had been occupied by the Burmese army (Tatmadaw).
Since then, the junta has tried to retake the hill, deploying several hundred ground troops and at least two fighter planes.
To no avail, if we are to believe the local
Myanmar Now
and
The Irrawaddy
newspapers
.
The army would have suffered heavy losses, including the commander of an infantry battalion.
“
Everything is under the control of the KIA,
” said Colonel Naw Bu, spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army.
In 2015, ten rebel groups signed a ceasefire.
But
the coup of February 1
shattered it.
Several rebel factions have already joined the civil resistance in order to increase the pressure on the junta.
Since then, heavy fighting has broken out in several regions, raising fears of a general conflagration.
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To read also: Burma: red paint to denounce the dictatorship
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