Kachin rebels to free two Myanmar civil servants

2014-05-07

KIA soldiers stand guard as they secure an area on Hka Ya mountain in Kachin state on Jan. 20, 2013. AFP

Myanmar's Kachin armed ethnic group has agreed to free two detained civil servants after the country's military issued a deadline demanding their release as fighting flared between the two sides ahead of peace talks next week.

A government-run newspaper had said that the two staffers of the Kachin State General Administration Department were "abducted" by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on May 3.

A spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, said Wednesday that the rebel group would meet the demand of the military to free the civil servants.

"We received a letter from government army demanding that the two civil servants who were taken by the KIA be released by 6:00 p.m. on May 6," Daung Kha told RFA's Myanmar Service.

"We replied to them that we will release them as soon as they get to KIO headquarters [in Laiza]. They are likely now still on the way there."

Laiza is located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital.

The KIA took three people into custody, including the two government workers, as they rode at the head of a group of 20 people on a motorcycle excursion from Myitkyina to Myitsone along the Ayerwaddy River, according to reports.

Lower Division Clerk Phyo Phyo and driver Mon Kham Naw, along with the third unidentified person, were reportedly stopped by a group of six KIA soldiers and forced into a nearby rubber plantation, though it was later learned that they were taken to Inkhaibum Mountain in Kachin state.

Daung Kha did not provide any information about the third person who was reportedly detained.

A leader of the Myitkyina-based Kachin Peace Creation Group (PCG), which acts as a go-between for the KIA and state government, told the Irrawaddy online journal on Tuesday that the two civil servants had been "mistakenly arrested" during an operation to track down deserters from Brigade 1 of the KIA's Battalion No. 4.

"As soon as the KIO headquarters learned about it, they told their troops to release those two staff," the Irrawaddy quoted Lamai Gum Ja as saying, adding that it was unclear if the third person would be released.

Lamai Gum Ja said that local authorities told him KIA members in plain clothing had been searching for defectors and had also apprehended seven local civilians in two villages near Myitkyina – the same area where the civil servants were taken.

KIA deputy commander-in-chief General Gun Maw told the Irrawaddy that he was unaware of the recent arrests of civilians by his troops, but said he was "sure that they were not arrested because they were government staff."

The arrests came on the same day that the Myanmar army's No. 88 Light Infantry Division arrested 14 people at the La Gut Yan refugee camp for internally displaced Kachin civilians in Man Wain Gyi township after entering the site on suspicion that seven KIA soldiers were hiding there.

All of those arrested were released the following day, according to state media.

Recent clashes

The military and KIA have engaged in a number of pitched battles following the April launch of a government mop-up operation against the rebels in three major areas of Kachin state, displacing an estimated 5,000 people, according to relief groups.

The fighting is the most recent in clashes that have flared on and off since a 17-year cease-fire was shattered in June 2011, during which time some 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes.

But even as military exchanges continue, the two sides are in the midst of a negotiating process that could see the KIA – one of only two ethnic armed group holdouts – enter into a cease-fire agreement with the government.

On Wednesday, the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) confirmed that it will meet with a delegation from the KIO on May 13 following an invitation from the Kachin rebel group last week to bilateral talks.

The meetings between the KIO team, led by Sumlut Gam, and the government team, led by Minister Aung Min from the President's Office, will be held in Myitkyina and last for around two days, special adviser to the MPC Hla Maung Shwe told the Irrawaddy.

He said that talks would focus on both a possible cease-fire deal and current hostilities.

The KIO, whose last high-level talks with government negotiators were in October, has proposed inviting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's Special Adviser for Myanmar Vijay Nambiar and Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Wang Yingfan to the bilateral talks as observers.

It has also suggested that the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), an umbrella organization of rebel groups including the KIO working on a joint cease-fire accord, attend next week's meetings.

KIO leaders have warned the recent clashes could scuttle nationwide cease-fire talks, saying they will not sign the nationwide cease-fire accord if the government tries to force it to the table through "military means."

Reported by Khin Khin Ei for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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