Truce Brings Only Grief

Truce Brings Only Grief, Says Ceasefire Leader 

Ten years after signing truce with Burmese Junta, conditions have worsened for both his group and the local people, reads a report from a Shan commander of the Shan States Army North, a copy of which S.H.A.N. received recently. 

In his letter written to Sao Loimao, Chairman of the SSA-North, dated 24 June, Ltc. Saimo, Commander of the Third Brigade, reported that his unit's "feet are shackled" and that its movements had been confined to a small area in northern Shan State. 

Before 1989, the year the SSA-N, along with other groups like Kokang and Wa, signed a truce with the Burmese Army, the Third Brigade's operational zone, he said, stretched as far as Namhsan in the north, Mongmit and Mongkut (Mogok in Burmese) in the west, the foothills of Burma, Nawngkheo and Thabeikkyin in the south and Namtu and Lashio in the east (about 5,000 square miles). 

The unit is now wedged inside a small strip of land bordered by Namhsan, Namtu, Hsipaw and Kyaukme, no more than a tenth of its former area. 

According to ceasefire terms, he could no longer operate inside five miles of each side of the motor roads. 
"Worse, we were barred from carrying arms, when we have to move our troops across towns since mid-1997", he said. 

Another grievance was that the Third Brigade were stopped by the SPDC from the logging business. "Some might say 'what's wrong with that? The government is only trying to conserve the forest, isn't it?'" said DIN, S.H.A.N.'s northern reporter. "What's wrong is that trees are being felled in large numbers in the other parts of the Shan State, in some cases, by the Burmese troops themselves". 

The rice supplies from the Burma Army also ceased about the same time (i.e. mid-1997), Col. Saimo said. 
The worst thing was that while the SSA was being prohibited from recruiting, local people were being forced to serve as militia men, known as Anti-Insurgency Units, he said. "The rural areas nowadays are no longer different from the period while we were still fighting". 

According to his detailed report, a militia force had been formed in each of the 12 villages around his area, comprising 377 men with 412 small arms, most of them M-21 and M-22 automatic rifles. "Each village has to be responsible for the arms and the upkeep of the militiamen", said Saimo. "K. 4,500 for each piece of arms and K. 10,000 monthly pay for each militiaman, he said. Also another batch of militia, totalling 600 men, has been forcibly formed recently in 12 other villages". 

DIN added that so far the Third Brigade's grievances were yet to be addressed. 
Related News: See "Elderly Men Pressganged To Become Militia"