BURMESE ARMY GETS TOUGH WITH CEASE-FIRE GROUPS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000260 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PINS BM SUBJECT: BURMESE ARMY GETS TOUGH WITH CEASE-FIRE GROUPS REF: A. RANGOON 156 ¶B. RANGOON 82 ¶C. RANGOON 43 Classified By: Poloff Dean Tidwell for Reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Burmese military recently detained four Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers near Bhamo, Kachin State. The Burmese accused them of traveling outside their territory while armed. Separately, a Burmese unit opened fire on Shan State Army - North (SSA-N) troops inside the SSA-N's authorized brigade headquarters and injured three. These actions followed stern warnings from the Burmese regional military commander to the cease-fire groups to focus their energies on agriculture and planting castor oil plants and to refrain from political and military activities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Ethnic Kachin sources told poloff that on February 11 the Burmese Army detained four Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers whom the Burmese claimed were armed and not in their designated territory. The detainees are from KIA's 3rd Brigade that operates in Mansi Township near Bhamo. Earlier the Burmese Army claimed that the KIA had established a guard post outside its territory. After bilateral discussions, the KIA ordered its troops to vacate their post. According to Kachin sources, the relocation took place quickly and the families of the Kachin troops had to remain behind. The Kachin claim the officer and three soldiers were returning to visit their families when detained. The two sides are negotiating for the release of the soldiers. This latest incident comes six weeks after a Burmese Army unit launched an unprovoked attack on a KIA outpost and killed three KIA soldiers and two Kachin civilians (ref C). ¶3. (C) According to a Shan source, an armed unit believed to be under the control of the Burmese Army's NE Regional Command attacked troops of the Shan State Army - North's (SSA-N) 3rd Brigade as they met in an assembly hall at their Mong Kha base on February 10. After opening fire from the perimeter of the camp, the soldiers withdrew into the surrounding jungle. According to the source, the SSA-N took three injured junior officers for treatment at a local hospital. ¶4. (C) The attack on the SSA-N camp occurred days after the NE Regional Commander warned SSA-N's General Loi Mao on January 30 not to recruit new soldiers, procure new arms, or hold war exercises. He threatened severe punishment for violations of these orders. The NE Commander ordered the Shan to focus instead on economic development, especially the cultivation of castor beans, which the GOB calls "physic" beans, for biodiesel, part of the GOB's latest mass propaganda campaign to reduce dependence on imported fuel. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: The GOB's ultimate goal is to disarm all cease-fire groups. These latest attacks and intimidation of soldiers of cease-fire groups, together with earlier attacks and surrenders (reftels) could force some to submit to regime authority, but it could also encourage some to return to active insurgency. However, based on our conversations with representatives of the cease-fire groups, they do not seem to relish either option. END COMMENT. VILLAROSA