The Burmese military junta came in for flak from the Karenni National Progressive Party after a battalion under the command of Division 55 of the Burmese Army yesterday evening opened mortar fire over the Nya Mo military camp of the Karenni Army on the Thai-Burma border. The firing occurred at a time when the KNPP and the junta are negotiating a fresh ceasefire. A KNPP spokesman said, “We don’t want to continue the talks anymore.”

Three rounds of mortars–MA-8, were fired by the Burmese troops. It sailed over the Nya Mo camp and landed near Mae Shwe Oo village in Thailand, according to a commander of the Karenni Army.

“They opened fire because it’s a significant day for them. They used to open fire like this earlier,” the source said.

Khu Oo Reh, secretary 2 of the KNPP said the offensive ‘should not happen’ during the process of negotiation between the KNPP and the Burmese military junta.

“Today is the junta’s Armed Forces Day. Maybe they opened fire to mark it,” said Khu Oo Reh, “but they shouldn’t open fire over [Karenni Army's] a military camp because there is currently a round of talks on between the two parties. It shows that they don’t care about the negotiation.”

The offensive will create obstacles in the process of negotiation between the two sides, the source added.

“It’s not a problem if we see it from an optimistic point of view. But we don’t want to continue the talks anymore,” said Khu Oo Reh.

Last Wednesday, General Secretary Rimond Htoo of KNPP led a four-member delegation to negotiate with a group of government officials led by Col Myat Win of Burma’s intelligence wing, the Military Affairs Security.

Though a day’s negotiations on the Thai-Burma border town of Tachilek did not show progress for a ceasefire, talks between the two parties are said to continue.

The KNPP reached a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military junta in 1995, but the truce was broken three months later after Burmese troops were deployed in KNPP territory.