(Reuters) - "A ceasefire deal to end Myanmar?s long-running ethnic insurgencies is not possible as long as fighting persists, the leader of the country?s largest rebel group said on Friday. Myanmar?s semi-civilian government drew international praise in March after 16 rebel groups signed a draft ceasefire accord aiming to end six decades of armed conflict. But brutal fighting between government forces and rebels has flared in the remote northeastern Kokang region since February, spilling over the border into neighboring China, where five people were killed by stray bombs last month. "Until and unless the fighting stops, the nationwide ceasefire agreement will be merely words written on a piece of paper," said Bao Youxiang, the leader of the 30,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), which did not sign the draft pact. Bao made the comments at a summit of 12 insurgent groups in the town of Panghsang, the de facto capital of UWSA-controlled territory on the China border, and they were included in a Burmese-language translation of the speech seen by Reuters..."