Myanmar alliance says agreed 4-day ceasefire with junta in Shan state

YANGON: An alliance of Myanmar ethnic minority armed groups said on Sunday it had agreed a four-day ceasefire with the junta in northern Shan state following clashes in which its fighters seized territory from the military along a strategic highway to China.

The area has been rocked by fighting since late last month, when the so-called Three Brotherhood Alliance renewed an offensive against junta troops along the road to China´s Yunnan province.

The clashes shredded a previous Beijing-brokered truce that in January halted an earlier push by the alliance -- made up of the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta´ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

“We... showed cooperation with China by agreeing a four-day ceasefire in northern Shan” from 14-18 July, Major-General Tar Bhone Kyaw of the TNLA told AFP.

The new agreement did not cover the neighbouring Mandalay region, where members of the alliance and other opponents of the military have been battling junta troops in recent weeks, Tar Bhone Kyaw said. AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.

Beijing´s top leaders are gathering on Monday for the Communist Party´s secretive Third Plenum -- a key political meeting. In the latest fighting, the TNLA claimed to have captured two towns along the highway that runs from Myanmar´s second city Mandalay to China´s Yunnan province.