No. 07 - 12/2005
07 December 2005

War

SSA clashes with militia

Shan State Army - South guerrillas asking for food at a hilltribe village was attacked by a pro-Rangoon militia on 5 December, reports Crusader from the border:

The SSA patrol from Loi Kawwan, between Thailand's Chiangrai and Burma's Monghsat, was at Shaymi, a village near the main village of Nampong, Loi Tawkham tract, Tachilek township, at 09:30 when the attack took place. In the ensuing fracas, 16 homes and a granary where some 200 baskets of paddy were stored were burned down, according to the villagers.

The surrounded SSA troops managed to slip away when reinforcements from the Burma Army arrived at 13:00.

"Some of our men were wounded, but not seriously," said Maj Liangzuen, deputy commander at Loi Kawwan. On the militia side, 3 had arrived at the hospital in Tachilek on the same day.

The Army drove a truck around Tachilek yesterday exhorting its citizens to make donations for "victims of SURA terrorists" through the public address system. (SURA is Rangoon's name for the SSA 'South'.)

The SSA fears there will be more clashes in future, following recent Burma Army instructions to the militia to "shoot first and question later" any armed group that comes into their assigned area without prior notice. (Present establishment favors the militia, 2 December) "We don't want to fight them," said Lt-Col Gawnzuen, commander of the SSA force at Loi Kawwan. "Lahu and Shans have lived together since time immemorial. Fighting between us will not benefit either. Only the Burma Army will applaud."

Yishay

The Nampong Lahu militia is led by Yishay aka Chaiwat Pornsakulpaisarn who is wanted by Thai authorities on drug charges.