Brussels, 16/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - “Deeply concerned” about the continuous fighting in Kachin State in Burma/Myanmar, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton urged all parties on Tuesday 15 January to engage in dialogue towards a settlement immediately, her spokesperson stated in a press release, recalling also that the EU continues to stress “the urgency of providing unhindered access for humanitarian relief to the displaced population”. He said that the continuous fighting puts at risk the nationwide peace process and the progress already made. “The latest reports of the shelling of Laiza and the resulting deaths of innocent civilians are particularly troubling. They point to a dangerous escalation of the conflict leading to more suffering for the people of Kachin”, the spokesperson added. The fighting between an armed ethnic rebel group and the Burmese military, which resumed in June 2011, has recently intensified with the army's use of aviation. According to rebel reports, army shelling killed three people in Laiza, a town on the border with China, on 14 January. (CG/transl.fl)