Wa ordered 'to return home'

No.12 - 7/2007
21 July 2007
War
 
Wa ordered 'to return home'
 
Units of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) along the Thai-Burma border have been given instructions by the Burma Army to return to their original areas on the Sino-Burma border, according to Shan and Thai sources.
 
"The deadline is 31 July," said Col Yawdserk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA) South. "Most of the small outposts have been evacuated as a result. But the Wa have so far refused to budge from strongholds like Loi Htwe (Doi Thway in Thai) along the border."
 

Col Yawdserk

Yawdserk said he was unaware of newspaper reports about junta deadline on Wa to respond to its demand by 1 August to disarm.
 
Sources in Tachilek meanwhile report Lt-Gen Kyaw Win, Commander of Shan and Kayah state forces of the Burma Army, is visiting Mongton and Monghsat townships where the bulk of the UWSA's southern forces are located.
 
The Burmese are also trying to stir up trouble between the SSA and the UWSA by spreading rumors that outposts left by the UWSA would be handed over the SSA, according to a Thai security source.
 
The UWSA had already been ordered by Deputy Senior General Maung Aye to move back to Panghsang a decade earlier. Only the intervention by Gen Khin Nyunt, who was then still in power, had saved the day for the Wa at the last minute, said a senior Thai security officer.