Burma - central government attacks Kachin Independence Army - air strikes -

http://www.rfa.org/burmese/commentaries/kachin-air-strike-01082013193915.html informal summary -/ It's in the 2010 "constitution" that the ground forces do not always need to obey the president, so this seems to be pre-planned./ Both sides should stop. KIA had a 17 year ceasefire, unlike KNU, whose ceasefire is quite recent./ However, KIA found that during the ceasefire period, the Burmese army and the cronies took advantage of them./ The present strategy by the "new government" seems to be to cut off the KIA's main economic base at the Hpakant Jade Mines, and to attack Laiza, the KIA headquarters./ The estimates of civilian refugees has increased from 60 to 80 to 90 to even 100,000./ In this cold winter weather, there is no help that we heard of from the "new" Burmese government, nor from China and the UNHCR and the international NGOs cannot go there./ Former captain in Burmese Army Sai Win Kyaw, based in USA said that though govt's policy may "succeed" in short term, in long term this cannot be solved by military means -/ Host - Khin Maung Nyane at RFA/ informal translation and summary- kmk/