Over 3,000 displaced in Myanmar: UN

Over 3,000 people have fled their homes in northern Myanmar following clashes between two ethnic rebel groups, the United Nations said yesterday, raising fears the government's fragile peace efforts could be fracturing.

Heavy fighting in the northern state of Shan broke out last week between the Restoration Council for Shan State (RCSS) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

"We are receiving reports that more than 3,000 people have been displaced in the past week," said Mark Cutts, country head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

He said most of them were being housed in monasteries in the town of Kyaukme and receiving help from local groups and the Myanmar Red Cross.

He did not specify which rebel group was responsible. The region is home to the Palaung ethnic group, whose interests the TNLA says it represents. The RCSS has previously had a small presence in the area and is based further south.

It is a rare instance of the country's ethnic armed groups turning on each other and comes during a complicated transition from an army-backed government to Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party.

The government has tried in recent years to end decades-long civil wars between the military and numerous ethnic armed groups battling for greater autonomy. The outgoing government signed a peace deal with a handful of major groups, including the RCSS, late last year.

But its efforts to sign a nationwide peace deal foundered after the government baulked at including several groups locked in ongoing conflict with the military, including the TNLA.