New Myanmar clashes leave 1 dead, dozens injured

[David]

AP


BEIJING – Fresh fighting erupted Saturday in northeastern Myanmar after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels drove tens of thousands of people into China, and a bomb tossed across the border killed one person and injured others.

Up to 30,000 people have fled into China from Myanmar's Kokang region, according to reports received by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Most of the people injured in the clashes and in the hospital are ethnic Chinese from Myanmar, said an official from Zhenkang County People's Hospital, who refused to give her name. At least 25 people have been admitted, she said.

Chinese soldiers are now guarding the border area, which has been sealed off, said a staffer at the Zhenkang County Public Security Bureau, who only gave his surname, Hui. The camps where some refugees are being housed are under strict control, he said. "Ordinary people cannot go near this area. Even police must be in uniform and police vehicles to come close."

The fighting near the border has threatened communist China's goal of stability ahead of the sensitive Oct. 1 celebration of its 60th anniversary. It also could strain China's close relationship with Myanmar's military junta. Already, China has told Myanmar to stop the fighting.

Tensions have spilled over into China as the junta tried to consolidate control over several armed ethnic groups along its borders to ensure that next year's national elections, the first in nearly 20 years, go smoothly. The ethnic groups are wary of a plan to team up rebels with the military as border guards, which they fear will erode their relative independence.

One person was killed and several were injured when a bomb was thrown across the border into China, He Yangchun, a Yunnan province Red Cross official, told the English-language China Daily. No other details were given. Calls to the Red Cross and local government officials rang unanswered Saturday.

Heavy fighting resumed Saturday morning, said Hui, the Chinese official.

"It seems that gunfire and artillery fire this morning is stronger than last night. Last night, it almost stopped and was pretty quiet. But this morning, at 7 or 8 a.m., the gunfire and shelling restarted. I can still hear the shooting right now," he said.

The provincial Yunnan government has said about 10,000 people from Myanmar's Kokang region — an area with many ethnic Chinese in northern Shan state — have crossed into China, and Chinese authorities are housing some in seven camps in and near the border town of Nansan.

The UNHCR said the numbers could be much higher. "Our information is that as many as 30,000 people may have taken shelter in Nansan since Aug. 8, saying they were fleeing fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic minority groups," said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the area remained tense Saturday, with "some small clashes" between the Kokang ethnic army and Myanmar government forces.

Worried about the potential for instability along its border, Beijing has told Myanmar to stop the fighting.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Friday that China hopes Myanmar can "properly deal with its domestic issue to safeguard the regional stability in the China-Myanmar border area."

China has long maintained close ties with the military junta, offering diplomatic support while conducting border trade and oil and gas deals that have given an economic lifeline to the ruling generals, who face sanctions from the United States and the European Union.

Myanmar's state-controlled media has not publicly addressed the violence.

Details of the fighting were murky, although reports say militants who have long fought for autonomy for the Kokang minority attacked police near the town of Laogai on Thursday, killing several officers.

Xinhua cited sources saying the fighting started Thursday with three battles in the Kokang region.

Myanmar's central government has rarely exerted authority over Kokang and essentially ceded control to a local militia after signing a cease-fire two decades ago. The region is one of several areas along Myanmar's borders where minority militias are seeking autonomy from the central government.

But tensions have been rising as the junta prepares for next year's national elections. Earlier this year, it started pressing ethnic groups and their armed factions into teaming up with the military to become border guards. The effort appears to have met widespread opposition.