Burmese army promises ceasefire

The military will observe a ceasefire in its fight with ethnic Kachin rebels with effect from tomorrow, state television reported, but rebels would not immediately commit to uphold the truce.

President Thein Sein issued the ceasefire order to the military hours after a parliamentary motion calling for a truce was unanimously passed.

The order comes a day after China rebuked Burma over the fighting, after an artillery shell flew over its border on Tuesday. Twenty months of fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and Burma's military has displaced tens of thousands of people.