Choice of villages to be resettled

Various evidence, including lists of populations to be resettled drawn up in 1994 by UWSP, lists of the villages actually resttled during 1999-2001, and LNDO interviews, shows that most of the Wa villagers chosen for resttlement came form the areas closest to the China border.

The following list is a summary of the populations chosen for resettlement which was decided on as early as 1994. It can be seen that the highest numbers of villagers were to be resettled from Yian Chen, Gong Ming Shan amd Kun Ma districts, all adjoining China.

According to information available to LNDO, the actual numbers of villages resettled during 1999-2001 to the south from each township in the northern Wa area are as follows:

*    According to 1974 Burmese government lists

**  See Appendix 2 for detailed lists of villages.

The above list, and the map (opposite) showing villages resettled, shows that the highest proportions of villages moved were still in the northernmost townships of the Wa area bordering China.

Furthermore, although LNDO does not have statistics for percentages of households resettled from each village, interviews carried out by LNDO confirm that the villages where high percentages of households were moved were in the areas of townships adjoining China. (Appendix 2 shows lists of percentages of households moved from the Pang Yang area, where on average 30-50% of the households of chosen villages were designated to move. However, it has been reported that up to 100% of households in villages along the China border were ordered to move.)

That higher numbers of villagers were moved from the areas along the Chinese border supports the speculation that the Wa leaders were planning to bring in villagers from across the border in China to replace them.

However, another reason why a proportionally higher number of villages has been moved from these northern areas appears to be because they are the home areas of two of the most influential UWSA leaders based in southern Shan State. Wei Hsiao Kang (head of UWSA Division 171) was from northern Mong Mai township, and Wei Sai Tang a.k.a. Ta Tang (head of UWSA Brigade 894) was from the Kun Ma District of Pang Wai township. It has been speculated that they wanted to bring villagers loyal to them from their home areas to increase their support bases in the south.

Although the stated reason for resettling the villagers from these areas to the southern Shan State was that the area in the north was infertile and only good for growing opium, it is notable that some of the areas from which villagers were resettled were actually quite fertile. For example, the northern border area of Mong Mai was well-known as being prosperous. According to one Wa interviewee, local authorities were keen to move away the local populations in order to exploit the natural resources in the area:

“In the Yawng Parit and Aik Soi areas in Mong Mau district, there was more opium than in ours. This was the part of the Wa area where most opium was produced and where most other crops could be grown. Most of the villagers were rich. There were also silver deposits in the area. The Wa leaders and Chinese government made 10,000 villagers there move out because they wanted to mine for silver. While we were walking (to southern Shan State), we were passed by villagers from Yawng Parit and Aik Soi villages, who were being moved in trucks.” (LNDO interview #2)

The ethnicity of the villagers chosen for resettlement was predominantly Wa, with a very small percentage of Lahu being resettled.

Apart from villages in the Wa territory of Burma, there are also consistent reports that villagers from areas across the border in China, (according to one interviewee, up to 25,000 people) were also brought into Burma for resettlement in the south. LNDO has not managed to ascertain the exact origins of those resettled from inside China.