IDP SITUATION FROM EASTERN KACHIN STATE

More Kachin Refugees Increase, Int'l NGOs Denied Access

The Burmese government continues to deny the UN and international aid organizations access to war refugees in conflict zones in Kachin State, northern Burma, where thousands of local villagers have been displaced by fierce fighting between government troops and Kachin rebels.

Local relief workers estimate that there are more than 34,000 war refugees in the town of Laiza, which hosts the headquarters of the rebel Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the militia that has engaged the Burmese army for the past six months.

At least 7,000 local civilians were displaced in the first week of December from 30 villages in the townships of Momauk, Waimaw and Bamaw, all of which are close to the Sino-Burmese border, as clashes intensify between the two sides, according to local aid groups(More++click+++)