Burma Army seeks to block rebel movements

Although small clashes continue each day between the Burma Army and the Shan State Army of Col Yawdserk, the former’s main preoccupation appears to be to deploy its troops at strategic points so to be in a position to take the initiative by the end of the monsoons, according to Burma watchers on the border:

Since June, military units in eastern Shan State are being shuffled from one place to another, worrying both the SSA and the Burma Army’s own ally, the United Wa State Army. For instance, Infantry Battalion 65 long stationed in Mongton, 53 miles north of the Chiangmai border, has been moved to Nakawngmu, 24 miles down south. An armored unit is due to fill up the space vacated by the 65th, according to local sources.

“We are fighting almost everyday,” said an SSA commander, “but we are also watching the Burmese army’s movements closely.”

The fiercest brush between the two sides was on 13 July in Monghai Nerh, 35 miles north of Tachilek, where according to the local sources, the Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 329 suffered 16 killed, including officers. “We don’t know the number of casualties on the Burma Army’s side,” the commander told S.H.A.N., “but we received 4 asterisks (insignias of commissioned officers) from the front on that day.”

The SSA claimed there were 3 casualties on its side. It is especially active in Mongton, Mongpiang, Monghsat, Kengtung, Mongyawng, Monghpyak and Tachilek townships in eastern Shan State, opposite Thailand’s Chiangrai, Chiangmai and Maehongson provinces.

Observers think that despite vows made by Wei Hsuehkang, de facto Commander of the UWSA’s 171st Regional Army, to dislodge the SSA positions along the border, growing wariness on its part over the Burma Army’s latest movements makes it unlikely that there will be further hostilities between the two. “Scarcely a day passes without getting reports about troop convoys moving across the border,” said a Thai security officer.

According to previous reports, Rangoon is planning to disarm all ceasefire groups including the Wa before November, when “the final session” of the National Convention to draft Burma’s constitution is to be convened.