Burmese soldiers sign up with Shan rebels

Burmese soldiers sign up with Shan rebels

Freedom News, the bulletin of Shan State Army "South", the remaining major armed opposition in Shan State, announced yesterday 3 enlisted men from the Burma Army had "defected to the SSA with their weapons." 

The three were privates Zin Thu Win, 27; Sun Min U, 17; and Zin Won, 19. All were from IB 226 that is facing SSA's positions across Chiangmai's Wiang Haeng District. 

Their complaints, according to Shan spokeswoman Khurhsen Heng-awn, was that they were fed only two poorly meals a day and had to work hard all day, digging trenches and building fortifications. They were also prohibited from speaking to people across the border in Thailand under threat of up to 20 year jail sentence. 

In the past, the Shans had often forwarded deserters from the Burma army to other Burmese majority groups like All Burma Students Democratic Front. At present, there is also a "Burma Liberation Army" under the leadership of Naing Maung, a former warrant officer working with the Karenni Army, one of SSA's main allies.