Troops from the Burma Army and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) fought in eastern Shan State’s Mongton Township on Wednesday morning, just 10 days after a meeting in Naypyidaw aimed at preventing conflict. 

The fighting occurred on Ho Nam hill near Mong Eit village at around 8:30 a.m. on March 25, lasting around 30 minutes. 

“Three Mongton-based battalions of the Burma Army tried to pass through our area without reporting. That’s why the clash occurred,” Maj Sai Kham San, an RCSS spokesperson, told SHAN. 

The three military columns involved were reportedly LIB 519, IB 225 and 277. 

“Our Mongton Liaison office will discuss this issue with the respective officials from the Burma Army in Mongton. If the discussion does not go well, we will go and discuss it with high-ranking officials in Naypyidaw,” Maj Sai Kham San said. 

The spokesperson said he did not know if there were casualties on either side. 

SHAN repeatedly reached out to the Tatmadaw’s True News Information Team for comment, but no one had responded at the time of reporting. 

The Burma Army and the RCSS had multiple clashes in Mong Kung, Kesi and Mong Nawng townships between February 27 and March 3, leading to the RCSS’s withdrawal from a military camp on Loi Don mountain in Mong Kung. 

They met for in talks in Naypyidaw on March 15 and “discussed not clashing again,” RCSS spokesperson Col Oum Khur told SHAN at the time. 

The Burma Army is now building its own base in the same location in Mong Kung, with villagers reporting that they have been forced to provide building materials to the military. 

The RCSS is one of 10 ethnic armed organizations signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement with the Burmese military and government, yet disputes over implementation, territory and militarization continue.