Vehicular movement along the Laiza-Myit Kyina Road on the Sino-Burmese border was banned by the Burmese military junta authorities today, local residents said.

Vehicles including passenger buses have been told not to enter Laiza, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed ceasefire group, controlled town on the Sino-Burmese border by the Burmese Army based in Laija Yang, about three miles from Laiza, locals said.

“The ban began this morning. Soldiers at Laija Yang stopped all vehicles and in the morning even people were restricted from entering the town. But in the afternoon restriction was relaxed a little and some motorcycles were allowed passage,” a Kachin youth told Mizzima.

The ban on the movement of vehicles in Laiza came after Burmese authorities on November 17 night, raided the residents of leaders of KIA in Myit Kyina, capital of Kachin state, and seized several Chinese mobile phones.

“The relationship between the KIA and the junta has always been like this. When ever the junta is displeased with the KIA, they do something like this. The junta wants to show the KIA its power,” added the youth.

According to the business community in Laiza due to the instability several traders, particularly jade traders, have gone over to the Chinese side of the border.

Laiza, being a border trade zone, depends largely on border trade and the ban on movement in and out of Laiza has hit the common trader hard, a local businessman said.

With hundreds of vehicles both passenger and cargo trucks moving in and out of Laiza, should the ban continue long, local residents will face a lot of difficulty, the businessman added.

“A day’s ban will not have much impact. But if it continues it will impact not only local residents but also the KIA,” the businessman said.

Since mid-November, the Burmese junta has forced ethnic ceasefire groups in Shan State and Kachin State to sign pre-written statements denouncing the Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement cooperating with the junta for a possible dialogue on behalf of the country’s ethnic minorities.

While several ethnic armed groups agreed with the ruling junta and released statements against Suu Kyi’s statement, the KIA, one of Burma’s longest surviving insurgent group, refused to comply with the junta’s request.

A Burmese military analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border said, the sudden ban on movement of vehicles in and out of Laiza could be directly linked to the KIA’s refusal to release a counter statement.

“The junta’s intentions are obvious. It is to totally disarm and to disband the group. They will do anything to eliminate the KIA,” Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Sino-Burmese based military analyst said.

“But the problem with the KIA is that amongst themselves there are groups that want to go along with the junta though there are a few who have political vision. But with the formation of the Kachin consultative group, they have come to their senses. That’s why they rejected the junta’s pressure to release the statement against Daw Suu,” added Aung Kyaw Zaw.