The vacated villages

The LNDO has not managed to conduct interviews directly with Wa who can testify at first hand to what has happened to villages vacated in the northern Wa area by the resettlement. However, several sources have reported hearing indirectly that villagers have been brought in from the China side of the border to replace the resettled villagers.

One 73-year-old Wa who was relocated from the northern Wa area in May 2001 to southern Mong Ton township was interviewed by an LNDO informant at the Thai-Burma border in late 2001. He reported hearing from Wa villagers who were resettled after him that his house had already been occupied by newcomers from the China side of the border.