By Chris Buckley
Reuters
Saturday, August 29, 2009 8:24 AM
NANSAN, China (Reuters) - Fresh fighting erupted in northeast Myanmar on Saturday after days of clashes and Chinese troops kept a close watch on the tense frontier after one person was killed on the Chinese side of the border.
Tens of thousands have fled to the border town of Nansan in China's Yunnan province after clashes in Kokang in Myanmar's Shan state, following the deployment of Myanmar government troops.
Myanmar citizens housed in refugee camps in the town spoke of days of fear and bursts of gunfire and cannon blasts.
"It's chaos over there now. It's a real war. They keep saying they're going to stop but then it starts again," said Li Jiao, an ethnic Chinese from Myanmar.
Li, in her early 20s, said she had fled to Nansan on Saturday after sounds of gunfire came closer and closer to her village. There was also what sounded like cannon or mortar fire, she said.
China has called on army-ruled Myanmar to maintain stability in the border region and urged further measures to protect the security and legal rights of Chinese citizens there.
In Nansan, the main crossing into Myanmar was closed, and a group of Chinese soldiers kept guard at the checkpoint behind piles of protective sandbags. Some held weapons.
"Taking weapons or ammunition into the country is strictly forbidden," said a banner near the crossing.
At a ridge in cane-covered hills near Nansan, residents of Kokang continued to trudge across into China on Saturday, many clutching bags of clothes or food.
Chinese police guarding the hill crossing said refugee numbers were down compared with the past few days. But refugees arriving on Saturday afternoon said the latest violence may spur more to cross into China, which has set up camps for them.
"Today we saw guns and heard the cannons," said Li Deming, a Myanmar national who reached the border after hours of hiking.
"Everyone is worried about where this will end."
Near the border crossing, dozens of Chinese soldiers armed with semi-automatic rifles stood guard over a group of 50 or so men squatting on the ground in drab military greens. Residents said troops of the Kokang local militia have been fleeing across into China to escape advancing Myanmar government troops.
Beijing is one of Myanmar's few diplomatic backers, often coming to the rescue when it is subjected to pressure by Western governments over issues such as the imprisonment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Reports from Chinese media and Myanmar groups in exile said the fighting began after the Myanmar military, allied with a local splinter group, took control of facilities run by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in Laogai, the capital of Shan state. The MNDAA had observed a ceasefire since 1989.
An NGO worker returning from Lashio, the biggest town in northern Shan state, told Reuters on Saturday, "It had become a ghost town -- completely deserted, not like the usual hustle and bustle." The source asked not to be identified.
Other sources said public transport to Kokang region had been halted. Myanmar state media made no mention of the fighting. The government has made no comment.
BOMB THROWN
Many of the refugees housed in blue tents in Nansan had only a murky idea of the politics behind the warfare.
One who arrived on Friday, Yang Wenhao, said there was talk of brewing conflict even before the gunfire broke out, and he had heard of businesses transferring money to China beforehand.
He said he worked at a hotel casino with over 1,000 employees and many of the workers were angry that the hotel had not given them protection as the hotel had promised.
"They said they'd take care of us if there was fighting but they didn't do anything and we had to flee on our own," he said.
One person was killed and several people were injured by a bomb thrown across the Chinese border on Friday, He Yongchun, deputy president of Yunnan branch of the Chinese Red Cross, told the China Daily.
A man surnamed Li from a health center in Nansan said at least one person was killed and two local farmers wounded in the fighting. It was unclear if he was referring to the same incident reported by the China Daily.
"We have received at least 22 injured people sent from Nansan. Most of them are from Myanmar," a woman working at the surgical department of Zhenkang People's Hospital told Reuters by phone. Nansan is a town in Zhenkang county.
A fresh wave of "furious" fighting erupted in the border area at around 8:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), according to a report on the website of Chinese newspaper Global Times (www.huanqiu.com).
But no firing could be heard from Nansan by mid-afternoon and there were no signs of panic in the town, which normally has about 15,000 residents and a similar size migrant population.
The refugees, some of whom had brought small suitcases or small sacks with pots and pans and rice, were scattered in encampments around the town.
Troops and police guarded the streets while shops and restaurants kept on with business as usual and trucks and a dozen or more buses ferried people away from the town.
Covering an area of over 10,000 sq km, the Kokang region bordering Yunnan has a population of about 150,000. It is home to a large number of ethnic Chinese, many of whom are Chinese citizens who own shops or trading businesses in Myanmar.
(Additional reporting by Huang Yan and Aung Hla Tun in Yangon; Editing by Tom Miles, Nick Macfie and Louise Ireland)
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082900660_2.html
Reuters
Saturday, August 29, 2009 8:24 AM
NANSAN, China (Reuters) - Fresh fighting erupted in northeast Myanmar on Saturday after days of clashes and Chinese troops kept a close watch on the tense frontier after one person was killed on the Chinese side of the border.
Tens of thousands have fled to the border town of Nansan in China's Yunnan province after clashes in Kokang in Myanmar's Shan state, following the deployment of Myanmar government troops.
Myanmar citizens housed in refugee camps in the town spoke of days of fear and bursts of gunfire and cannon blasts.
"It's chaos over there now. It's a real war. They keep saying they're going to stop but then it starts again," said Li Jiao, an ethnic Chinese from Myanmar.
Li, in her early 20s, said she had fled to Nansan on Saturday after sounds of gunfire came closer and closer to her village. There was also what sounded like cannon or mortar fire, she said.
China has called on army-ruled Myanmar to maintain stability in the border region and urged further measures to protect the security and legal rights of Chinese citizens there.
In Nansan, the main crossing into Myanmar was closed, and a group of Chinese soldiers kept guard at the checkpoint behind piles of protective sandbags. Some held weapons.
"Taking weapons or ammunition into the country is strictly forbidden," said a banner near the crossing.
At a ridge in cane-covered hills near Nansan, residents of Kokang continued to trudge across into China on Saturday, many clutching bags of clothes or food.
Chinese police guarding the hill crossing said refugee numbers were down compared with the past few days. But refugees arriving on Saturday afternoon said the latest violence may spur more to cross into China, which has set up camps for them.
"Today we saw guns and heard the cannons," said Li Deming, a Myanmar national who reached the border after hours of hiking.
"Everyone is worried about where this will end."
Near the border crossing, dozens of Chinese soldiers armed with semi-automatic rifles stood guard over a group of 50 or so men squatting on the ground in drab military greens. Residents said troops of the Kokang local militia have been fleeing across into China to escape advancing Myanmar government troops.
Beijing is one of Myanmar's few diplomatic backers, often coming to the rescue when it is subjected to pressure by Western governments over issues such as the imprisonment of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Reports from Chinese media and Myanmar groups in exile said the fighting began after the Myanmar military, allied with a local splinter group, took control of facilities run by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in Laogai, the capital of Shan state. The MNDAA had observed a ceasefire since 1989.
An NGO worker returning from Lashio, the biggest town in northern Shan state, told Reuters on Saturday, "It had become a ghost town -- completely deserted, not like the usual hustle and bustle." The source asked not to be identified.
Other sources said public transport to Kokang region had been halted. Myanmar state media made no mention of the fighting. The government has made no comment.
BOMB THROWN
Many of the refugees housed in blue tents in Nansan had only a murky idea of the politics behind the warfare.
One who arrived on Friday, Yang Wenhao, said there was talk of brewing conflict even before the gunfire broke out, and he had heard of businesses transferring money to China beforehand.
He said he worked at a hotel casino with over 1,000 employees and many of the workers were angry that the hotel had not given them protection as the hotel had promised.
"They said they'd take care of us if there was fighting but they didn't do anything and we had to flee on our own," he said.
One person was killed and several people were injured by a bomb thrown across the Chinese border on Friday, He Yongchun, deputy president of Yunnan branch of the Chinese Red Cross, told the China Daily.
A man surnamed Li from a health center in Nansan said at least one person was killed and two local farmers wounded in the fighting. It was unclear if he was referring to the same incident reported by the China Daily.
"We have received at least 22 injured people sent from Nansan. Most of them are from Myanmar," a woman working at the surgical department of Zhenkang People's Hospital told Reuters by phone. Nansan is a town in Zhenkang county.
A fresh wave of "furious" fighting erupted in the border area at around 8:15 a.m. (0015 GMT), according to a report on the website of Chinese newspaper Global Times (www.huanqiu.com).
But no firing could be heard from Nansan by mid-afternoon and there were no signs of panic in the town, which normally has about 15,000 residents and a similar size migrant population.
The refugees, some of whom had brought small suitcases or small sacks with pots and pans and rice, were scattered in encampments around the town.
Troops and police guarded the streets while shops and restaurants kept on with business as usual and trucks and a dozen or more buses ferried people away from the town.
Covering an area of over 10,000 sq km, the Kokang region bordering Yunnan has a population of about 150,000. It is home to a large number of ethnic Chinese, many of whom are Chinese citizens who own shops or trading businesses in Myanmar.
(Additional reporting by Huang Yan and Aung Hla Tun in Yangon; Editing by Tom Miles, Nick Macfie and Louise Ireland)
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082900660_2.html
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