Burma-Myanmar: Kokang rebels of Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) declare unilateral cease-fire with Myanmar troops
Myanmar’s armed ethnic Kokang group declared a unilateral cease-fire with Myanmar forces on Thursday in a bid to end four months of hostilities with the national army along the Chinese border to bring stability to the region and prevent the clashes from disrupting general elections scheduled for later this year, an official with the group said.
“We have declared that we will not launch an offensive because people have been suffering over four months because of the war,” Tun Myat Linn, spokesman for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Kokang army, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“We are also concerned that the war could harm the general election. But, if they [government troops] attack us, we will have to fight back,” he said, describing the MNDAA’s stance as “defensive.”
The fighting, which started in northern Shan state in February, has resulted in hundreds of deaths and displaced tens of thousands of residents, many of whom fled over the border into China.