Bodies of 9 police found amid fighting in north Myanmar

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

The bodies of nine police officers have been recovered from a town along Myanmar's northeastern border, with fighting between the military and rebels showing little signs of abating.

The nine were among 16 officers reported missing since Friday, when combined forces from four ethnic armed groups attacked a police station in the strategic town of Mongkoe in restive Shan State near China's border.

The government claimed Sunday that Mongkoe, which had been under attack by rebels for two weeks, had since been brought under control.

The State Counselor Office Information Committee said Thursday that the bodies of the police officers were found during area clearance operations conducted by the military.

“Three police are still missing while nine were killed and four found alive,” said the statement.

Fighting erupted in Shan state Nov. 20 when the combined forces of the Northern Alliance -- the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army (AA) -- attacked military checkpoints, police stations and a trade zone on the country’s border with China.

Since then, at least 25 people have died in the area, around 50 have been injured, and thousands have been displaced -- some 3,000 fleeing to China to escape the fighting.

On Monday, rebels called on China to mediate to end clashes in the area.

“As most of the fresh fighting is on the Myanmar-China border area, we want the Chinese government's prompt mediation for an end to fighting and to bring border stability,” said a joint statement by the Northern Alliance.

Rebels also demanded the military stop its offensives immediately and withdraw troops from ethnic areas across the whole country.

Last week, Myanmar and China discussed the ongoing fighting in the area, the main trade corridor for the two countries.

A nine-member Myanmar delegation led by Peace Commission chair Tin Myo Win met Chinese senior officials including Foreign Ministry Wang Yi in Beijing during a seven-day visit.

The groups involved in the clashes did not sign up to last year's government-sponsored Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the groups to join the peace process, saying the government “is keeping the peace door open to welcome all relevant stakeholders for participation”.

“In order to immediately end the armed conflict in north-east Shan State, I strongly urge the armed groups to join the peace process by signing the NCA,” State Counselor Suu Kyi said in a Nov. 24 statement.

Suu Kyi warned the rebels that taking up arms to solve political issues only “causes protracted armed conflicts”, with people in affected regions suffering and lagging behind the economic development enjoyed by neighbors.

“Arms will not resolve the issues nor bring about the desired goals of the people,” she said, describing talks as the only way to end armed conflicts countrywide and establish “perpetual peace”.

Myanmar is set to hold a second meeting of the Union Peace Conference -- dubbed the 21st Century Panlong Conference -- in January 2017.