Wa throws cordon round domain

No.04 - 9/2007
17 September 2007
War
 
Wa throws cordon round domain
 
Reports recently received by S.H.A.N. says Wa forces along the Sino-Burma border areas have fanned out along the fringes of their territory following demand by Burma's military rulers to lay down their arms in mid-July.
 
_{^{UWSA troops in Mongla in 2006 Credit: Polack}}

The Wa territory, known as Shan State Special Region # 2 in the official terminology, is bounded by the Nam Ting in the north, China's Yunnan province in the east, the Salween in the west and Kengtung and Mongla (Shan State Special Region # 4) in the south. "The landlocked Wa can be blocked from all sides by the Burma Army except in the east," a source from Kengtung explained. "Their survival therefore depends on keeping their outlet on the Mekong open."
 
Accordingly, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) has recently dispatched 2-4 battalions to reinforce the troops of its ally, National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), along the Lwe river that serves as a rough boundary between the Burma Army and the NDAA-ESS, commanded by Sai Leun from Mongla. The Lwe drains itself into the Mekong at Hsop Lwe.

 

Along the Thai-Burma border, the flap has largely died down though both sides are still on a 24-hour alert especially after an unpublicized visit by the regional army commander Maj Gen Min Aung Hlaing, 4-10 September, in Monghsat and Mongton, opposite Chiangrai and Chiangmai. "Neither side appears to be eager for trouble unless provoked," said a Burma watcher, "at least before the monsoons are over."
 
On 30 August, a senior Wa official had met the Burma Army leaders in Pyinmana, where the new capital is located. Details of the talks however have yet to emerge.

_{Wa office in Mongla Credit: Polack}

Kokang, Wa and Mongla are members of the Peace and Democracy Front (PDF) formed 30 November 1989. "We will hold peace talks with the (Burmese) government based on the principles: We will never fire the first shot and we will never destroy the country," reads the report at its 1994 meeting.