GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE WA

GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE WA

The Wa are reputed to be the original inhabitants of parts of the Shan State and northern Thailand. They belong to the Palaung-Wa group of the Mon-Khmer race. The main indigenous Wa region is located roughly between the Namting River in the north and Namkha River in the south (both are tributaries of the Salween), and China in the east and the Salween in the west, an area of 6,000 square miles, about one-tenth of the total area of Shan State. It is a mountainous land between 600-3,000 meters above sea level. The terrain is rugged and the soil is generally poor. There is almost no flat land. Much of the area is denuded of forest from long time slash-and-burn agriculture and the pressure to grow opium, although in some areas impenetrable jungle remains. The steep-sided mountains make it hard to travel from place to place.

Market in northern Wa area

Population

According to the UWSP leadership, the population of the Wa area in Burma was 500,000 in 1994. The ratio of men to women is one to three, largely because of the many decades of warfare in their area. Children under the age of 15 account for a third of the total population. There are about 11,000 births per year. The Wa constitute 70% of the population. Others are Lahu, Shan, Kachin, Han, Ainee, Lisu, Meo, Palaung, Hwe, Pen, Pulan, Akha, Mien, Karen and Laomia.

The official languages (designated by the current UWSP administration) are Mandarin and Wa. Most Wa can speak but cannot write their own language. Very few know Burmese, although many can speak Shan.

Religion

Most people are animists but there also some Buddhists and Christians. As late as 1973, Wa were still practicing head-hunting. Human heads were displayed on posts at the entrance to each village in order to ward off evil spirits and ensure good harvests.

Most have no education and are illiterate in any language. However, since 1990, a formal system of primary education, in Chinese and Wa, has been developed. Most Chinese teachers are imported.

Agriculture

The Wa grow hill rice in shifting agriculture. Usually the rice harvest provides families with food for only up to half of the whole year. For the rest of the year, they rely mostly on income from opium crops to buy rice. The terrain is suitable for few other crops.Large areas of forests in Wa State have been destroyed to grow opium poppies, leading to serious soil erosion.

Political Background

Until the communists came to the Wa area in 1968, there were many principalities, each under the direct administration of a chief. Some of the territories, called states, were tiny but others as large as 1,600 square miles.

The Wa were left almost untouched by the British and also by the Japanese. Although the British Shan States also included the Wa States, they were not part of the federation formed in 1922. After World War II there was fighting between Wa and Chinese Muslims in the north and among Wa themselves in the south, when the Kuomintang, freshly driven out from the Mainland stepped in. The area was cleared of the Kuomintang only in 1954, when the Wa area and its northern neighbor, Kokang, were jointly created into a special district, with Hopang as its capital, and Mongmai and Pangyang as sub-capitals.

In 1968, the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) entered eastern Shan State and established the People’s Army, in which the Wa constituted the major force. Following mutiny against the CPB by the Kokang on 12 March 1989, the Wa revolted on 17 April and drove out the communist leadership. Soon after, they formed the Burma National Solidarity Party, which was later renamed the United Wa State Party (UWSP), with a military wing, the United State Wa Army (UWSA).

Village in northern Wa area

The Wa leadership began negotiations with Rangoon, and UWSP publications state that a ceasefire agreement was reached on May 18, 1989.

In 1989 war broke out with the Shan Mong Tai Army (MTA), led by warlord Khun Sa, for control of the Doilang-Mongyawn area in southern Shan State, which fell into Wa hands after the MTA, shattered by mutiny, surrendered to the Burmese military in January 1996. However, Shan troops who refused to surrender reassembled as the Shan State Army - South, which continues to operate as an active armed resistance group in the southern Shan area.

The UWSA is reportedly 20,000 strong and boasts to be the largest force among the existing non-junta armed forces. It is also reported to enjoy good relations with the Chinese government.

Administration

The UWSP have established eleven districts in the original Wa area: Yian Chen, Yin Pan, Wang Len, Lien He, Gong Ming Shan, Kun Ma, Ge Long Ba, Na Wi, Pangyang, Ting Aw, Weng Kao, with the territorial capital in Panghsang. They have also established another three districts: Mong Pawk, Ho Tao and Mong Ngen, south-east of Panghsang.

A southern division has also been set up in part of Monghsat township bordering Thailand since the Wa takeover of the area from the Mong Tai Army in 1996.

However, Rangoon has only recognized 6 townships in the former Wa States, namely: Hopang, Mongmai (Mongmau), Pangwai, Man Hpang, Nahparn and Pangyang.

(N.B. The report shall adopt the said 6 townships for its convenience.)