Myanmar military and ethnic guerrilla groups agree ceasefire
12 January 2024, 10:44
The agreement, announced on Friday, was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday.
Myanmar’s military has reached a ceasefire agreement with an alliance of ethnic minority guerrilla groups it has been battling in the country’s northeast.
The agreement was brokered at talks mediated by China on Wednesday and Thursday in Kunming, a Chinese provincial capital about 250 miles from the border with Myanmar, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.
“China hopes the relevant parties in Myanmar can conscientiously implement the agreement, exercise maximum restraint toward each other and solve the issues through dialogue and consultations,” she said at a daily briefing in Beijing.
Major General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesman of Myanmar’s ruling military council, said in an audio note to journalists that the two sides had met in Kunming and after talks, agreed on a temporary ceasefire agreement.
“We will continue discussions. We will continue to work for the strengthening of the ceasefire.” Mr Zaw Min Tun said.
A previous ceasefire pact, reached in mid-December, was not honoured by either side.
Ms Mao said the military and Three Brotherhood Alliance — which comprises the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army — agreed to an immediate ceasefire, the disengaging of military personnel and the settlement of their disputes through negotiations.
“The two sides promised not to undermine the safety of Chinese people living in the border area and Chinese projects and personnel in Myanmar,” she said.
Independent Myanmar media and foreign media with Myanmar-language news services reported similar details, but there was no immediate direct word from the alliance about the ceasefire development.
The media reports said the military agreed to stop aerial bombing and artillery shelling in northern Shan state, which abuts China, and the Three Brotherhood Alliance agreed to halt its offensive and not seek to capture more towns and army encampments.
The reports said the ceasefire will not apply to fighting in other regions of Myanmar.
Myanmar has been wracked by violence that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance launched an offensive against the military in October and took control of Laukkaing, a key city on the border with China, last week.
Their attacks have posed the greatest battlefield challenge to Myanmar’s military rulers since the army takeover.
Much of the fighting is along Myanmar’s border with China, blocking cross-border trade and threatening further political destabilisation of Myanmar, a strategic ally of China that is already tangled in civil war in many parts of the country.
China is concerned about the rising violence and the safety of Chinese citizens in northern Myanmar, China has also been cracking down on cyber-scam operations that have trafficked Chinese workers into Myanmar and forced them to work, including in Laukkaing.
The alliance has claimed widespread victories, including the seizure of more than 250 military posts, about a dozen towns and five major border crossing points controlling crucial trade with China.
Mr Zaw Min Tun said Myanmar and China will continue to negotiate reopening the border trading gates, which were closed after combat began and most or all of which are now in the hands of the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
