Wa bucking up for new showdown

War

Wa bucking up for new showdown

Amid reports of clamor over unprecedented bomb blasts in the capital, the United Wa State Army is speeding up for its 4th attack on the Shan State Army stronghold opposite Maehongson, according to sources from the border:

Some 50 off-roaders carrying Wa troops arrived in Khailong, the UWSA's forward headquarters near the SSA's Loi Taileng, across Maehongson's Pang Mapha district, at pre-dawn hours on Saturday, 7 May. Another contingent of 10 ten-wheel trucks, two of which were draped in thick canvas sheets, also passed through Mongton, opposite Chiangmai, on its way to the battlefield in the west, on the same day. "We heard they were bringing in new weapons," said a Shan source close to the Wa.

The estimated 800 fresh fighters are replacements for the casualties sustained during previous engagements that began in March, he added.

According to SSA reports, the Wa have already suffered some 700 casualties against the SSA's 73:

* KIA = Killed in Action
** WIA = Wounded in Action

The Burma Army that is believed to have assisted the UWSA with heavy weapons support during the previous assaults has reportedly denied the charges. On 24 April, Maj-Gen Khin Maung Myint, Commander of the Taunggyi-based Eastern Region command, told a public meeting in Homong, opposite Maeghongson's Muang district, the Army was not involved in the SSA-UWSA conflict. "We have not taken part in it although our assistance was eagerly sought out by the Wa," he was quoted as saying. (Two days earlier, Burma's information minister Kyaw Hsan, speaking at the press conference, maintained the Army was not involved in the ongoing clashes between the Karenni National Progressive Party and the pro-Rangoon Karenni militia. "They are fighting among themselves," he said.)

A former Shan commander visiting the border town of Tachilek commented that the Wa have been under heavy pressure since the announcement by the US Justice Department on 24 January of the indictment of 8 of its top leaders, that included Wei Hsuehkang, de facto commander of the UWSA's 171st Regional Army attacking the SSA, and Bao Youxiang, its supreme commander. "They are also hoping to clear their reputation by 26 June, the day Bao has been promising to declare Wa areas along the Chinese border drug free," he said. "They believe the defeat of Sao Yawdserk (The SSA leader) would add credit as well as another liberated area of their own along the Thai-Burma border."

Sources however claim the drug entrepreneurs, taking advantage of the all-out attention given to the fighting along the border, are running the blockade placed by Thai border patrols. An insider source confirmed that 800 blocks (280 kg) of heroin was successfully delivered across the border between Mongton and Chiangmai's Fang district on 1 May. The current price in Mongton is 280,000 baht ($ 7,000) per kilogram. The goods had reportedly came out of the Wa refinery in Hoyawd, east of Mongton.