Coup Plotters Broken Up

Coup Plotters Broken Up, Mong Sala Back In The Saddle

It was learned yesterday evening that coup leaders from a ceasefire group in northern Shan State were in hiding after the detained leadership miraculously escaped and reclaimed its power on Sunday. 

S.H.A.N.'s source in northern Shan State said Khong Lao-Su and Li Na-ming, the two leaders who mutinied on 24 October against the incumbent Mongkoe Defense Army leadership, went into hiding when Mong Sala, the detained leader, escaped on 2 November and came back in force three days later. 

6-days after the mutiny, Col. San Pwint, one of General Khin Nyunt's trusted aides, was in Mongkoe to talk with the coup leaders. "Whether or not Rangoon supported the Khong-Li clique, actions taken by the military authorities led to the belief that Rangoon supported it against Mong Sala," he said. 

The next day, IB 312, commanded by Lt-Col. Sein Win, arrived in Mongkoe. Wa units coming from the south in order to "mediate" between the two warring factions were barred from entering the territory. The road coming from Panghsai in the west was also blocked in order to check attempts by possible supporters of Mong Sala to come to his rescue. 

The charismatic Mong Sala, who is reported to be wanted in China for drug offenses, was secretly freed by his guards, after demonstrations were held by the local populace in support of him. 

The mutineers' Battalion 817, reduced to no more than 80, is still waging a sporadic hit-and-run campaign against Mong Sala, according to the source. 

Mongkoe is known as the first town taken by the Communist Party of Burma on 1 January 1968 when it launched its northeastern campaign to establish a liberated area in Kokang and Wa areas.