PRO RANGOON TROOPS CLASH DURING CEASEFIRE TALKS

(Kao Wao: January 16, 2004)

A skirmish between the cease-fire New Mon State Party and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army took place on January 16 at the Thai-Burma border while KNU leaders were in Rangoon for a cease-fire chat with the military regime.

According to the NMSP spoke person, the fighting occurred in the early evening when the NMSP fired upon the DKBA when they approached their camp without warning.

On January 6, 2004, a clash between the NMSP and the DKBA occurred near the
Three Pagodas Pass area near the Thai Burma border after the NMSP fighters
tried to stop a group of DKBA members trafficking drugs through NMSP territory.

According to Nai Banya Mon, the NMSP spokesman, one DKBA fighter was killed
and two were seriously wounded while the NMSP remained intact. Three packets
of amphetamine pills and a M-16 assault rifle were also seized from the drug
dealers

"The one in plain clothes with a gun was killed and the other three escaped", said the NMSP officer. The NMSP accused the dealers for shooting the Mon checkpoint from their truck after they first refused to identify themselves as DKBA members.

The NMSP's Drug Eradication Force founded last year is active along the border area under its control.

After the New Mon State Party troops killed the drug dealer, the DKBA troops
moved in over a period of ten days and surrounded the NMSP's camp, local
villagers were tense and frustrated from the situation, says a local villager from Palaing Japan.

The fighting took place during the cease-fire talks in Rangoon with the KNU amid speculation from the democratic camp that the junta might create conflict in territorial control. In the past the regime often resorts to its divide and rule tactic to create confusion and instability among the different ethnic groups; lately the DKBA troops aligned with the junta have expanded control into the Mon areas.

The NMSP entered a ceasefire agreement with the military regime of Burma in
1995 and the DKBA surrendered to the regime after it split from the KNU