Rebels Say Clashes Persist in Myanmar

BANGKOK—Ethnic Kachin rebels in Myanmar's troubled north said Saturday that army attacks on their positions were still under way, dismissing announcements from the military that it had imposed a unilateral cease-fire.

Earlier

• Myanmar Crackdown on Rebels Intensifies

Myanmar's military and government declared a halt to weeks of escalating fighting, without reaching actual agreement with the rebels, on the eve of an international donors' conference this weekend where President Thein Seinunveiled a timeline for reforms in the country's transition to more democratic rule.

It also follows increasing international appeals for a halt in the hostilities, especially from influential neighbor China, which has been struck by stray bombs and has seen refugees from the fighting cross its border.

Government information organs reported that the cease-fire would go into effect at 6 a.m. Saturday, but fighting around Kachin positions was continuing hours later, Kachin officials reported, including what "sounded like two bombs,'' said Larip, who goes by one name, the head the Kachin Development Networking Group, a civil society organization.

An official from the Kachin Independence Organization, the ethnic group's political wing, told The Wall Street Journal that the cease-fire declarations were a "one-sided statement" and maintained that fighting continued at Laiza, the group's headquarters, which many residents have fled in recent weeks. A separate KIO statement said that fighting was also under way elsewhere.

Ye Htut, Mr. Thein Sein's spokesperson, claimed that the continued fighting was instigated by the rebel forces who ignored the government-declared cease-fire by attacking police stations, burning buildings, and attacking civilian cars with mines. The rebels couldn't be reached for comment on the allegations.

Speaking to representatives from the World Bank, the IMF and other international organizations in the capital, Naypyitaw, Mr. Thein Sein said that he was urging rebels to participate in peace negotiations. Hla Maung Shwe, an independent peace facilitator who has arranged meetings with the government and Myanmar's myriad ethnic rebel groups, said Mr. Thein Sein had ordered the army to stop any offensives in Laiza.

The country's Parliament approved a resolution Friday calling for an end to the fighting and echoing military claims that its operations were conducted in self-defense. It urged a permanent peace settlement once fighting stops.

Fighting between the rebels and Myanmar's military forces—known as the Tatmadaw—resumed 18 months ago following a 17-year cease-fire. The Kachin Independence Army has control over large parts of Kachin state, where many China-backed development projects are located.

Recent weeks have seen some of the most forceful attacks on Kachin rebel strongholds, with the rebels reporting that three civilians were killed at Laiza this week. Military forces employed jets and helicopters, which the government has said was a tactic to specifically hit military positions and avoid civilians.

The fighting had raised questions about the control exercised by Mr. Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government over the military, which ruled this Southeast Asian country for decades until a transition was launched in 2010. The government has been trying to project stability to encourage foreign investment and further democratic reforms. The government has insisted that the military has acted in self-defense.

Human-rights groups have warned of an estimated 15,000 internally displaced people are sheltered in poor conditions in makeshift camps outside of Laiza. "Lots of residents cross over to China and stay with relatives there or rent houses there," Mr. Larip said. "All the camps are full."

Myanmar has been beset by unrest from ethnic rebel groups seeking local control or outright independence for decades along its borders. The previous military government eventually struck peace agreements with most of them. The Kachins are the most significant group currently still fighting. Mr. Thein Sein's government is also contending with violent strife between minority Muslim Rohingyas and majority Buddhist Rakhines in western Rakhine State.

Myanmar's military had declared Friday that it would stop attacks against rebels around the town of Lajayang, near Myanmar's northeastern border with China, starting Saturday morning because it had achieved its goal of securing an army outpost there that had been surrounded by insurgents.

An official with the Kachin Independence Army confirmed Lajayang was quiet, but he said fighting was taking place in at least three other rebel positions in the region on Saturday. The official declined to be identified because he isn't a spokesman for the rebel group.

The two sides have been fighting for 1 1/2 years, but the latest combat has represented a major escalation because the government employed fighter planes and helicopter gunships in its attacks starting on Christmas Day. Many of the skirmishes have centered on Lajayang, which is about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, from Laiza, a town that also serves as a political headquarters for the guerrillas.

The rebel official said fighting Saturday was taking place at Hka Pot and Hka Ya Bhum, both rebel-held hilltop posts located to the north and west of Laiza, respectively. He said fighting was also taking place in Hphakant, more than 160 kilometers farther away.

He said the army had launched new offensives in each of the locations, but it was impossible to verify the claims.

Ye Htut, a spokesman for President Thein Sein, accused rebels of attacking a police station in Hphakant before dawn on Saturday, killing two police.

He wouldn't comment directly on the reports of new fighting, but he said the army has "reiterated its commitment to the president's instruction to stop offensives except for self-defense."

The upsurge drew calls from the international community for the two sides to put down their arms and negotiate, but there was no public indication of any direct talks taking place.

Tension with ethnic minorities fighting for greater autonomy in Myanmar is considered one of the biggest long-term challenges for reformist President Thein Sein, who inherited power in 2011 from the army, which ruled for almost half a century.

The Kachin, like Myanmar's other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They are the only major ethnic rebel group that hasn't reached a truce with Thein Sein's administration.

A cease-fire that held for nearly two decades broke down in June 2011 after the Kachin refused to abandon a strategic base near a hydropower plant that is a joint venture with a Chinese company. The conflict has forced about 100,000 Kachin from their homes since then, and many are in camps near Laiza, where they have been digging bomb shelters and bunkers out of fear of air and artillery attacks.