The Irrawaddy reported on Thursday that the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic Kokang ceasefire group, ended a two-decade ceasefire with the Burmese regime. Several instances of fighting broke out along the Sino-Burmese border, aggravating the month-long refugee crisis in the northeastern Shan State.
The Burmese army conducted a drug raid on MNDAA Chairman Peng Jiasheng’s house earlier this month and has been building up its military forces in the Kokang region of the Shan State. The military build-up has caused a mass refugee crisis across the Sino-Burmese border. Tens of thousands of Burmese civilians, many ethnic Chinese Kokangs, have fled their homes for China’s Yunnan Province since early August.
Follow STANDburma on Twitter (twitter.com/STANDburma) to receive more updates on the conflict in the Kokang region.
– Daniel Solomon, National Burma Education Coordinator (burma@standnow.org)