On january 19th, when President Thein Sein announced a ceasefire, the guns were quiet long enough for civilians to climb up to the last hilltop stronghold of the Kachin Independence Army (kia), just 5km (3 miles) from Laiza, its administrative headquarters. Kachin soldiers were digging out the bodies of four of their colleagues whose bunker had taken a direct hit from Burmese army guns. They then crouched nervously in bunkers dug deep into the hill's red soil, expecting the ceasefire to be broken by more attacks from government mortars, ground-attack aircraft and helicopter gunships.
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