Shan army fights on two fronts

War

Shan army fights on two fronts

The Shan State Army "South" of Col Yawdserk now faces two adversaries, first the Burma Army and now the 171st Military Region, led by Wei Hsuehkang, of the United Wa State Army, according to rebel and civilian sources:

The SSA had 2 clashes its fourth and fifth with the 171st opposite Maehongson's Pang Mapha district yesterday: one across the village of Mailan, Mae Lana tract and another at Kawng Teevee further north. Details are still unavailable.

Meanwhile, sources coming from Shan State report engagements with the Burma Army in Mongyawng, a township on the Mekong, on 1 March that left more 10 casualties on the Burma Army's side. As a result, the Burmese authorities had levied a "donation" of 300 kyat ($0.3) per household to make up for the losses, said locals.

The SSA's Loi Kawwan-based Kengtung Front is active in the area.

Also in early February, an ambush by a unit of the SSA's 198th Brigade at Sanien, west of Panglong, 53 miles east of Taunggyi had inflicted heavy casualties on the Burma Army's Mongpan-based Infantry Batttalion 294. "I saw many women and children crying at Wan Htam (the Battalion post) over the loss of their husbands and fathers on my way here, said a trader from Mongpan.

Reports by the civilians were later confirmed by the SSA. No official bulletins on the events however were posted.

"The SSA has, for more than a year, been unusually silent about its activities," said one of Thailand's top Burma watcher on the border. "It may be trying to please Prime Minister Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai government, but the policy of silence is definitely not working to its advantage."

The SSA has since 1998 produced Lawd Liao (Freedom), a quadrilingual (Shan, Burmese, Thai and English) publication. Its next to last edition came out in June 2003 and its last in February 2004.