Fate of Laukkai at centre of talks between Myanmar junta, Brotherhood Alliance

Recent fighting for control of Laukkai, the administrative centre of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ), may have been the main impetus for talks held last week between Myanmar’s junta and the Brotherhood Alliance, a document seen by Myanmar Now suggests. The document—a four-page draft “consensus” written in Chinese and English—reveals that the talks were held in the Chinese city of Kunming on December 7-8, a week after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a member of the alliance, said it had started to advance into Laukkai after weeks of clashes. On Monday, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun reported that the regime and the alliance had begun Chinese-mediated negotiations in a bid to reach a “political resolution” to the conflict raging across northern Shan State, where Laukkai is located. The MNDAA and its allies, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA), have captured a number of important trade hubs and more than 200 junta outposts in the region since the start of their Operation 1027 offensive in late October. The day before the talks in Kunming, the MNDAA said it had seized another key outpost south of Laukkai. According to the document seen by Myanmar Now, the regime’s chief negotiator, Lt-Gen Min Naing, and representatives of the three ethnic armed groups agreed to implement a ceasefire before the end of December. Once the ceasefire is in place, Myanmar’s military pledges to make “political arrangements” with the MNDAA regarding its demands to “[return] to the Old Street,” the document states, using a literal translation of the Chinese name for Laukkai to refer to the town. Smoke rises from a site bombed in an aerial attack on Namkham on December 12 (Myat Pan/Myanmar Now) In exchange, the MNDAA agrees “not to storm the Old Street” and to “cooperate” with the regime to reopen border trade routes, the document adds. While it is unclear if the “consensus” between the two sides means that the military will allow the MNDAA to take control of Laukkai—which was the group's main base until 2009—without a fight, there are suggestions that this is what China wants. On Sunday, Chinese authorities issued warrants for the arrest of 10 Laukkai-based individuals, including senior members of the Kokang SAZ’s junta-backed administration accused of being ringleaders of massive online scam operations targeting Chinese citizens. This concern is also reflected in the document that came out of last week’s meeting, which includes a pledge from all parties to “completely ban and eliminate the crime of telecommunications fraud in the controlled areas.” But even as the pressure on Laukkai appears to have abated in the wake of the talks, heavy fighting has continued in other areas, including in towns along the China-Myanmar border. On Tuesday, the TNLA reported that its forces were still engaged in fierce clashes with junta troops near Namkham, a border town that it has largely controlled since early November. A spokesperson for the group told Myanmar Now that fighting has also been intense near Namhsan, a town located about 110km southwest of Namkham. “Our operations targeting a junta camp on a hill in the Namhsan area are still ongoing. The regime has used helicopters and heavy artillery” to repel the attacks, the spokesperson said, adding that the military has also relied on heavy firepower, including airstrikes, in recent clashes near Namkham and in the northern Shan State townships of Muse, Lashio, and Hsipaw. Meanwhile, the AA, which ended a yearlong ceasefire with the regime in Rakhine State last month to open a western front in the Operation 1027 offensive, said on Tuesday that the junta has been carrying out airstrikes and navy attacks in the northern Rakhine townships of Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Ann, and Myebon, despite the recent ceasefire talks. This comes after the AA reported on Monday that it had captured another junta tactical base in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township—the second in the township to fall to the group this month. Citing a source who participated in last week’s talks, political analyst Than Soe Naing said that the proposed ceasefire is limited in scope and does not include the TNLA or the AA. “The MNDAA has agreed to the ceasefire to allow [junta] soldiers and commanders, as well as their families and civil servants, to leave for China during a 15-day ceasefire,” he said.

Fate of Laukkai at centre of talks between Myanmar junta, Brotherhood Alliance

While calls for a ceasefire have eased tensions near the Kokang “capital,” fierce clashes between the two sides continue in other areas

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