Clashes Continue at DKBA Asia Highway Toll Booth

[Lite Beer]

Clashes Continue at DKBA Asia Highway Toll Booth
By NAN LWIN HNIN PWINT / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON — Clashes continued in southeastern Burma on Monday between government troops and ethnic Karen rebels in the lead-up to a major conference between the area’s non-state actors and government representatives.

Fighting broke out in Karen State’s Kawkareik Township, near the border with Thailand, late last week as government troops entered the territory administered by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), a splinter group of the state’s dominant Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

DKBA Captain Saw Three Htoo told The Irrawaddy on Monday that clashes have occurred in four locations near the Asia Highway, linking Burma with northern Thailand at Myawaddy.

Representatives of both sides of the conflict were set to meet on Tuesday in the state capital, Hpa-an, to bring about a swift resolution to intermittent clashes that have caused panic among locals and stagnation of trade in the remote area.

Read More: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/clashes-continue-at-dkba-asia-highway-toll-booth.html