Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) needs to follow the military code of conduct as they signed nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the government, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, Secretary of Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

He referred to a fight that broke out between government troops and RCSS forces in Mongkai Township, Shan State on February 27 and 28.

“The RCSS said the army attacked their bases in the township but it is not true. When we entered the area, they attacked us first. Officers and soldiers from the army are killed and some are wounded,” he said.

In former President Thein Sein’s era, the government and RCSS had a bilateral agreement in 2012 and the areas of the RCSS are only Homain and Monhta, according to the agreement. The place where the fighting took place is in Mongkai Township and the RCSS is intruding in the area, he said.

Commander of military security affairs unit in Koelan went to the supervisor of internal relations office of the RCSS on February 22 to inform about the military operation of government troops in Hokae area in Mongkai as they have a tip-off about narcotic drug in the area, he said.

“The army informed about their operation to the RCSS to avoid encounters between government troops and the RCSS forces, which are intruding in the area,” said the Brig-Gen.

The army conducted an operation five days later and the RCSS forces attacked the army first, he added.

“The misunderstanding between lower ranks and upper ranks in the RCSS is rather big. The RCSS/SSA signed the NCA and they need to follow agreements in the NCA and code of conducts,” he said.

The RCSS is one of the ethnic armed groups, which signed the NCA in 2015 in former government era, and the RCSS said on February 28 that they will reconsider the decision to attend the meetings of Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC) and Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC) planned to hold in second week of March due to the fighting.