Another screw on Wa

Politics

Another screw on Wa

The Wa, long under the doting wardship of ex-strongman Gen Khin Nyunt, have been dealt another blow when they were recently notified by Burma Army authorities to keep them informed of their movements, reports King Cobra from the Chiangmai border:

Since 5 November, Wa vehicles leaving either Wanhong or Mongyawn, opposite Chiangmai's Mae Ai district, for neighboring townships are required to apply for letters of authorization from Monghsat's principal unit, Infantry Battalion 49. In addition, any cars going across the Salween must carry passes issued at either Mongpiang or Mongton, both of which are townships adjoining the river.

Sources however have no knowledge of whether the same measure applies to the Wa-controlled areas further north.

"In the past, the United Wa State Army's standard retort to any official attempt to stop or search their vehicles would be, ' Please ask Gen Khin Nyunt first' ", said the source from Monghsat. "Now the time has come for them to take their medicine."

The Wa and other ceasefire groups have been spared from the ongoing campaign against unlicensed automobiles. Some of them were seized during the earliest days of the crackdown but were returned later.